Apple Tree - Kingston Black

Apple Tree - Kingston Black

Kingston Black is probably the best vintage cider variety. Although susceptible to canker and scab, if you want only one variety of cider apple Kingston Black is probably the one, although Dabinett,Yarlington Mill and Foxwhelp also make excellent quality single varietal cider. Kingston Black cider is justifiably among one of the most expensive you can buy, and has recently been championed by producers like Julian Temperley.

Supplier : Adam's Apples

Depending on the tannin and acidity of their juice, cider apples are divided into bittersweets, bittersharps, sweets, and sharps. Most cider orchards are a mixture of varieties, making a blended cider, but there are some individual ciders made - for example, Kingston Black. They will only grow in the West, where conditions suit them, and are particularly concentrated in Somerset and Herefordshire. See our section on Pollination Groups to help you select your apple trees.

As the norm we use M106 (or "MM106") rootstocks for all of our apple trees, and sometimes the larger M25. These rootstocks were created specifically for use in the UK and produce healthy, heavy cropping trees for our weather conditions. M106 produces a medium sized apple tree, around 4 metres tall, which can also be trained into a fan, cordon or espalier. M25 rootstock will produce the 6m standard trees of a traditional orchard, where they would be planted between 6 and 8 metres apart.

Please refer to our size guide for details.

Our Kingston Black apple trees are bare root, so they are only available between November and April. During lifting season, there will be a delay between placing the order and dispatching due to pressure of orders, which are dealt with in date sequence, and the weather. Orders taken from June-October will be confirmed in late October/ early November after a nursery stock take, for dispatch from November. Please consult our planting and care guide on receipt of your order.

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