Late-Ripening Apple Trees

Apples that come ripe in October here in Missoula. These are the keepers. Pick them late, put them in the root cellar or fridge, and they carry you into winter, a lot of them getting better in storage. The tradeoff is they need a season long enough to finish before a hard freeze.

More about late apples

For storage, Arkansas Black, Black Oxford, Newtown Pippin, Golden Russet and Hunt Russet are about as good as it gets. Northern Spy and Belle de Boskoop are top pie and cooking apples, and Ashmead's Kernel and Evercrisp are great fresh.

For colder sites, Spartan and Frostbite are rated to zone 2b, and Prairie Spy, Sandow, Northwest Greening and Tropical Winter take zone 3. For cider, Binet Rouge, Brown Snout, Franklin and Yates all finish late.

If your fall freezes come early, check before you plant. Our ripening map shows which of these finish before your average freeze, at your own town. Our best apples for winter storage list has the top-scored keepers.

Questions we get

What's the best late apple for storage?

Arkansas Black, Black Oxford, Newtown Pippin and the russets. They keep for months and a lot of them get sweeter in storage.

Will a late apple ripen in my area?

It depends on your fall. Type your town into our ripening map and it shows which ones finish before your average freeze.

What's the hardiest late-ripening apple?

Spartan and Frostbite, rated to zone 2b.

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