Ah, Apple Tree, how I adore you.. I have ordered in a few new apple trees that are harder zoned for the farm this year. I have some lovely apple tree’s on the farm but the extreme cold this winter got me thinking.. Maybe I should add a few more that can handle colder winters.
The Sweet Sixteen Apple Tree is one of them. I got two of them as I am totally in love with how they are talked about.. these sound like the must be so interesting for fresh eating but to have that flavour blend made into apple sauce.. Its a way to create a new apple sauce without needing all the other extra’s!
“the Sweet Sixteen apple tree offers a truly unique taste, with a blend of spice, sweet, vanilla and cherry flavours. It is a must taste!”
“The Sweet Sixteen is a medium sized, sweet flavoured apple, with an acidic hint, that is crisp and very juicy. It is an attractive apple; yellow in colour with red stripes; and is known for its unique taste, ranging from hints of cider, spices, anise, cherry, vanilla bourbon and nuttiness to name just a few! The flavour is already good before the apple is completely ripe; at this point it has more tartness and the cherry flavour is more pronounced; but at full ripeness its taste is really amazing; on our table it’s the apple everyone reaches for first!
It’s a wonderful apple to eat fresh but also gives excellent results when cooked. The taste is even more refined when the summer is not too hot. Its fruit matures on a three week period and will keep for about 4 months in a cool room.
The Sweet Sixteen apple tree has resistance to most diseases. Hardy to zone 3b, it’s quite vigorous and easy to grow.”
And a little of this tree’s history!
“The Sweet Sixteen apple can be traced back to the work of Dr. William H. Alderman. In 1936, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Dr. Alderman crossed the varieties Minnesota 447 (also known as Frostbite) and Northern Spy, to produce an apple tree that he named MN1593. In 1947, a series of tests on the MN1593 variety were carried out. This continued for 31 years until Sweet Sixteen was released to nurseries in 1978. You can see Dr. Alderman in the photo. Just as we are, Dr. Alderman was also promoting standard rootstock on apple trees when growing in northern areas.”
What a amazing tree! I can’t wait to get mine.. Want one and you live in Canada (other then B.C.) you can have this interesting apple tree sent to you though the post in bare root. We can compare notes growing it and seeing how it turns out 🙂
All information in “X” comes from the Hardy Fruit Tree’s website including the photo used! Please note that I am not getting anything back for promoting this tree or this nursery.. I am just so excited about some of the things I have ordered from them that I have to share!
Is anyone out there growing this apple? Have you eaten one? What did you think of it? do you love it? hate it? bla.. didn’t live up to the hype?
Just another Day on the Farm 
We just put in one Sweet Sixteen apple tree last year. Haven’t gotten to harvest from it yet, but looking forward to it. We chose it for the same reasons you did. Looking forward to getting a very small harvest off it this year, and more and more in the future.
Hello Willow Creek 🙂 That’s awesome, How old is your tree? I am getting a three year old and they say harvest at seven, so unless its early, I will not be getting anything from it soon, but I have often found that they can produce just a few tasting apples between four and six 🙂 I hope you will come back and tell me how it goes.
Ours was 4 last year. They said we could do a 10% harvest this next year (he said take off 90% of apples it makes when they are tiny and let it grow 10% of them), then 50% the year after, and then full. I hope that is the right way to do it. We haven’t had time to do much research on caring for apple trees and these are our first two.
That sounds about right, I do the same on the younger tree’s and even bushes, I will take all the fruit off so that they focus on growing. I wish you could come to the pruning workshop in two weeks as we will be covering how to prune to have everything produce the most fruit. I will be doing a number of follow up blogs on it with detailed photos and even a few video’s of us working in our own yard.
I look forward to reading those posts and seeing the videos…we really need to learn about how to take care of these things and life has kept me away from being able to research. I have wished many times I could come to your workshops when I see them on your blog…but at least I can read the posts!
We also put in a Red Prairie Spy, have you tried that one?
I do not have that one.. I did see it on the list, I got two other kinds, I will share them in their own posts.
Literally minutes away from me! Imma gonna have to look at these guys.
Wow, that’s awesome for you.. they have crazy amounts of outstanding trees for sale, and if you can get them at the really small size, good prices, plus you can clearly do the pick up.. I thought about driving out.. I still might on one of their very few days they are open. They are only open for pickup days twice a year.. otherwise, If I read it right. I decided that for this year at least that I would have it shipped to me.