Red Falstaff Apple Trees

Red Falstaff Apple Trees: Eating

The Red Falstaff is a sport of the famous Falstaff that, thanks to its richer colour, has become more popular than its parent. The deeper red colour is the only real difference; otherwise, they have the same scrunchy bite, tartly sweet flavour and high juice content that is great for use as a sharp element in a cider blend.

In a sunny year, fruit from the South will take on a shiny, cricket ball red colour but a slightly streaky, paler colour is more common after most British summers.
Get picking in the first week of October; they store until the end of December, so we suggest that you juice and then freeze extra fruit if you have too much.

Highly recommended for the drier Eastern side of the UK. Compact tree with slight weeping habit.

Browse our range of apple trees, or all our fruit trees.
Read our guide to buying apples.

Delivery season: Bareroot plants are delivered in late Autumn to Spring, about November-March inclusive. Pot grown plants, year round. 

Features:

• Eating & juicer: Medium sharp and fruity
• Useful for blended ciders
• Partial tip bearer
• Weeping habit
• Self fertile.
• Pollinator
• Pollination Group C.
• Harvesting: October/November
• Stores 1 - 2 months.
• Recommended for the East side of UK
• Also good for the North
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Red Falstaff Apples

Apples like rich, well drained soil, and will thrive on clay in locations that do not get waterlogged in winter.
A full day of sun and shelter from the wind is ideal.

Your trees have a bit of a weeping habit, and frost resistant flowers.

Disease notes:
Susceptible to scab, not recommended for humid areas

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Red Falstaff, the UK standard for medium-sized trees, ideal for gardeners. It gives a half-standard about 4m tall, and a bush about 3m. 
MM106 maidens are suitable for cordons and espaliers.

Pollination Partners for Red Falstaff

Your trees are self fertile, making decent crops without a pollination partner, but still perform best with one.
Red Falstaff is in Pollination Group C, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups B, C and D.

Use our Fruit Pollination Checker to quickly find pollination partners, or Apple Pollination Guide to learn more.

Growing Mini Patio Trees in Pots:
Dwarf trees do well in large containers of rich potting soil. During summer, it is essential to provide consistent moisture, without overwatering, and to feed lightly. 
Change as much of the compost as you can every three years.

Notes on planting apple trees:
All fruit trees like a rich soil with decent drainage, protection from the wind and plenty of sun. Apple trees like clay soil, as long as it is not prone to bad waterlogging.

Prepare your site before planting:
Improving the soil helps trees establish quickly and be productive for years. Preparing weeks or months in advance gives best results: fill the planting hole back up, don't leave it open to either dry out or fill with water.

• Destroy weeds and grass,
• Dig the soil over, remove stones, then mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades, unless you are on heavy clay:
• On thick clay soil, only dig over the soil to break it up. Apply organic matter as a mulch over the soil after planting.

Spacing apple trees:

• Freestanding bushes: 15-18 feet (5-6m) between trees and rows.
• Freestanding half-standards: 18-30 feet (6-10m) between trees and rows.

In general, allow 1 more metre between rows than between trees along the row.

• Wire-trained cordons: 60-100cm apart along a row.
• Espaliers: 10-18 feet (3.5-6m) apart.

• Watch how to plant a fruit tree for a bush or half-standard.
• To grow a cordon or espalier, you need to install sturdy training wires.

Pruning apple trees: 

• Maidens can be pruned in any style, including into bushes or half-standards.
• Bushes - start here when you buy a bush.
• Half-standards - start here when you buy a half-standard.

Accessories:
For bush and half standard apple trees, a tree planting pack, which includes a wooden support stake & rubber tie (a bamboo cane is enough support for a maiden), and a biodegradable mulch mat, with pegs, to preserve soil moisture stops and prevent weeds.

We strongly recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all transplanted trees.

Winter wash and grease are effective, organic pest prevention.

Did You Know?

An apple sport is a tree that was grafted from a branch of another apple tree that, for some reason produced fruit that was a bit different from the apples on the tree's normal branches. In many cases, the fruit of the sport is a deeper colour than the parent's, which tends make them more attractive to buyers - the tree itself is usually identical to the parent.
The original Falstaff was bred from Golden Delicious and James Grieve in the 1960's by Dr Frank Alston in the East Malling Research Centre, Kent. The Red Falstaff Sport appeared in the late 1980's and swiftly became a hit with growers and consumers.

Apple Tree Delivery Shapes:

Most of our fruit trees are delivered in up to 3 shapes (maiden, bush, and half standard), and you can buy selected varieties as ready-made cordons and/or potted mini patio trees: scroll up to see what's in stock. 

Maiden:Unbranched tree, the most basic starting size, which you can train into the other forms (apart from mini patio trees).
Bush: Freestanding tree with a short trunk about 60cm tall. It will grow to about 3m. Ideal for small gardens.
Half-Standard: A freestanding form with a trunk about 120cm tall. It will grow into a full sized, "normal" apple tree, about 4m. Ideal for orchards, easy to mow underneath.

Cordon: Red Windsor is more of a tip-bearer than a spur bearer, so not ideal for cordons and espaliers, but a fan (which has more tips) would be fine.
Mini Patio Tree: Only sold pot-grown, these use a dwarfing rootstock to drastically reduce the tree's vigour and restrict the mature size. They are suitable for large patio containers, and for small gardens where a normal-sized bush or half-standard form won't fit.

Guide to Fruit Tree Sizes.