Scrumptious® Apple Trees

Scrumptious® Apple Trees: Eating

With a powerful honey-like sweetness, contrasted by a pleasant dose of acidity, and a fruity hint of strawberry, Scrumptious is an early apple that stands out from the rest.
Sun-ripened fruit are bright red with a dappled touch of yellow, and the white flesh is fairly crisp and very juicy.

A comparatively new variety, savvy gardeners recognise it as one of the finest early croppers around. Ready to harvest in early September, the fruit (like almost all early apples) do not store well.

The trees are not especially vigorous, which is good for most gardens and for training on wires.
A really tough breed, we recommend it for both cold and damp regions.

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: Sweet-sharp pink flushed flesh
• Spur bearer (good for cordons & espaliers)
• Self fertile. Pollinator.
• Pollination Group C.
• Harvesting: September - October.
• Stores 1 - 2 weeks
• Recommended for wire training & small gardens
• Great disease resistance
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Scrumptious 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.

Disease Notes:
Resistant to scab and mildew.
Susceptible to bitter pit if not mulched & watered adequately. 

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Scrumptious, 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, but we use the less vigorous M9 for our ready-made cordons.
Dwarf patio trees are on M9.

Pollination Partners for Scrumptious

Your trees are self fertile, making decent crops without a pollination partner, but still perform best with one.
Scrumptious 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 greasebands are effective, organic pest prevention.

Did You Know?

Scrumptious is a cross between Golden Delicious, Worcester Pearmain and Discovery, bred by Hugh Ermen in the early 1980's, during his time at the Brogdale Horticultural Trust. He is probably the greatest post-war apple breeder.

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: Scrumptious is a spur-bearer, suitable for cordons and espaliers.
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 Sizing.

7.5 & 12 litre Potted non-patio trees are not meant to be kept in pots; they will be fine for up to 12 months until planted in the ground. Keep well watered (but not soaked).