Redford

Origin. Redford originated from a cross, Wolf River x Malus niedzwetzkyana, made in 1924. It is a sister seedling of Redfield (see Redfield). The breeding record number was 2468, and the seedling number was Station 4876. It was selected in 1935 from a population of 46 seedlings. Without a thorough second test, it was introduced in 1938 (Table 2). It was named for the village of Redford in Clinton County, New York.

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

Tree. Tree characteristics are summarized in Table 5. Redford trees are medium in size, height, and vigor; upright; spreading; medium in density; and have a vase form. Trees are only light croppers but bear crops annually (Table 5). Trunks are stocky. The trunk bark is gray with a reddish tinge, and the bark is somewhat shaggy. The twigs are long, medium in thickness, glaborous, and slightly reddish in color.

Flowers. Like Redfield, Redford is more useful as an ornamental tree in the spring than it is for its fruits in the fall. The blossoms are a deep pink but not so dark as Redfield. Redford trees bloom very early in the spring, 4 days earlier than Delicious (Table 6). It is the earliest blooming cultivar introduced at Geneva. It is diploid (Table 4), and the pollen is viable.

Fruit. Redford fruits are illustrated in Figure 26. Their characteristics are summarized in Table 8. The average ripening date at Geneva is October 12, 2 days after Delicious (Table 7). The average number of days from full bloom to harvest is 151, 6 more than Delicious. The fruits hang well onto the tree after they have ripened.

Redford fruits are large, up to 3 inches in diameter. Fruit sizes are only moderately uniform. They are round-conic and only moderately symmetrical, with unequal halves. The stem is short and slender. The cavity is acuminate, medium in depth, and narrow. On half of the fruits, the cavity is moderately russeted. The cavity is usually very slightly lipped and somewhat compressed. The calyx is small and open. The calyx lobes are short, narrow, and acute. The basin is medium in depth and width, abrupt, and generally furrowed.

The skin is thick, tender, slightly rough, rather dull, and without bloom. The skin color is 100 per cent bright to very dark red blush without striping. The ground color is pinkish or somewhat yellowish. Usually a portion of the skin is covered with a network pattern of thin russet lines. The dots are light brown russet, few, small, and conspicuous. The calyx tube is large, very long (15 mm), narrow (5 mm), and funnel shaped. The stamens are basal. The core is medium sized (20 mm wide) and usually closed. The carpels are round and not tufted. The seeds are numerous, dark brown with a pinkish tinge, large, wide, plump, and acute.

The fruit flesh is pink in the outer half and cream-colored in the inner half. It is sometimes pink just outside the carpels. The flesh is semifirm, coarse, tender, rather dry, sour, and very poor in quality. Exposed flesh oxidizes at a medium rate. The fruit is a fair keeper. The approximate storage life at 31° F is 100 days (Table 10).

Commercial Usefulness. Redford is useful mainly as an ornamental tree and is recommended only for that purpose.

Nursery trees of Redford were sold by the New York State Fruit Testing Association for 17 years, 1938-54 (Table 2). In the 1960-68 period, it was not sold by any commercial nursery.

In 1963, a survey of apple clones in the United States (79) showed that Redford was tested at experiment stations in New York, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

It is recommended to the reader that he read the comparison between Redfield and Redford described under Redfield.

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