Dunning

Origin. Dunning originated from the cross, Early McIntosh x Cox Orange, made in 1923 (see Early McIntosh). The breeding record number was 23119, and the seedling number was Station 4526. It was selected in 1935 from a population of 47 seedlings. It was introduced in 1938 (Table 2), only 3 years after selection and without benefit of second test. Dunning was named in honor of David M. Dunning, trustee 1885-1940 Auburn Savings Bank, Auburn, New York. He was interested in early ripening, sweet apples.

Dunning was briefly described in the Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties (31).

Tree. The tree characteristics of Dunning are summarized in Table 5. Dunning trees are large, vigorous, upright, spreading, tall, and round-topped. Trees are medium in productivity and are strongly alternate in their bearing habit (Table 5). The trunk is stocky. The trunk bark is medium in shagginess, reddish brown, and with much gray scarfskin. The branchlets are slender, long, and glaborous. The leaves are numerous, medium sized, medium in width and length, oval, taper-pointed, medium in thickness, rugose, dark green, pubescent, and crenate. The foliage is dense but it becomes sparse at the end of the summer. The petiole is medium in length, slender and pubescent.

Dunning blossoms in mid-season, 1 day before Delicious (Table 6). It is diploid (Table 4) and the pollen is viable.

Fruit. Dunning fruits are illustrated in Figure 6. Their characteristcs are summarized in Table 8. The average ripening date at Geneva is August 30, 6 weeks before Delicious (Table 7). They ripen unevenly. The average number of days from full bloom to harvest is 105, 40 fewer than Delicious. The fruits do not hang well after they have become fully harvest ripe.

Dunning fruits are small to medium, 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 inches in diameter. In seasons in which trees bear crops, they bear heavily and fruits are small. This can be corrected by the use of blossom thinning sprays. The fruits are round-oblate, nearly symmetrical but slightly bulged. The stem is short to medium in length and rather slender. The cavity is acute, medium in depth and width, russeted on 90 per cent of the fruits, almost symmetrical but slightly compressed, with 10 per cent of the cavities lipped. The calyx is closed and small. The calyx lobes are medium in length, broad, and acute. The basin is shallow, medium in width, obtuse, symmetrical, and very slightly furrowed.

The skin is medium in thickness and toughness, smooth, glossy, and covered with bloom. The skin cracks in years having dry weather and more than average sunlight. The color is similar to well-colored Early McIntosh, one of its parents. The fruit is 80 per cent rather dark red, striped on the side of least color. The skin sometimes has scarfskin. The dots are numerous, small, light brown russet, conspicuous, and sometimes with short, horizontal russet lines on the side with least color. The fruits are not particularly attractive in appearance. The calyx tube is short, narrow, and conical. The stamens are almost marginal. The core is medium sized and somewhat open. The carpels are ovate with a few slightly tufted, transverse cracks. The seeds are medium sized, wide, acute, and plump.

The flesh is whitish cream colored, rather soft to semifirm, fine grained, tender, somewhat dry, and aromatic. The flavor is sweet. Dunning is one of the few early, sweet, red apples. The eating quality is good. It is a dessert type. The storage life is short, about 20 days at 31° F (Table 10). The shelf life after storage is only a few days.

Commercial Usefulness. Nursery trees of Dunning were sold by the New York State Fruit Testing Association for 18 years, 1938-55 (Table 2). In the period, 1960-68, Dunning trees were sold by two commercial nurseries (Table 3).

In 1954, Dunning was tested at experiment stations in Iowa, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Ottawa. In 1963, a survey of apple clones in the United States (79) showed that it was then tested at experiment stations in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. In 1968 (184), it was tested at experiment stations in New York, Ontario, and Pennsylvania.

In 1958, Dunning was listed as a new summer apple for home and garden in Oregon (247).

In 1965, Nitschke (170) described Dunning as a high quality dessert apple.

In Iowa (62), Dunning trees produced medium crops and ripened 7 weeks before Jonathan. The fruits were small and pale red. It was of poor commercial value.

Dunning never became commercially important. It has no potential commercial value. It is not recommended for planting.

— Roger D. Way, Apple Cultivars Introduced by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1914–1968 (1971)