Hunt Russet Apple Tree | Bare Root, Zone 4

Representative photo of russeted apples ripening on the tree, not Hunt Russet itself

Hunt Russet Apple (Spring 2027)

$84.99

Reliable shipping

Flexible returns

Pollination Needs a partner

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

See trees that will pollenize it Apple Pollination Map

Ripening

Will it finish before your first hard freeze?

Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)

Disease resistanceNot tested yet

Apple scab : Unknown, no published data yet
Cedar-apple rust : Unknown, no published data yet
Fire blight : Unknown, no published data yet
Powdery mildew : Unknown, no published data yet

Scored 1 to 5. Higher resists better, and ? means no published data yet.

See it on our apple disease chart (opens in a new tab)

At a glance: Hunt Russet Apple is an apple tree rated hardy to zone 4 from other growers' reports (winters to -30°F), and not self-fertile, so it needs a different variety nearby as a pollenizer (bloom group 4 of 7, mid for an apple or crabapple).

Hardy to	Zone 4 to 8. A bare number means the whole of zone 4, colder half included (winters to -30°F). Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator.
Chill hours	About 1,000 hours (700 to 1,200). Our estimate. No published figure exists for this variety yet. Montana winters give it plenty. In milder climates, make sure your winters average at least this much. Check your chill hours or see our sources.
Pollination	Needs Cross-Pollination. Bloom group 4 of 7 (mid), late spring here. Plant a different apple or crabapple variety that blooms in groups 3 to 5. It has good pollen, so it can also pollenize other apples blooming at the same time. Good partners we carry: Otterson Crabapple, Trail Crabapple, Alexander Apple, Burgundy Apple and 103 more. Apple Pollination Map.
Rootstock and size	Bud 118: semi-dwarf in our dry Montana soils, semi-standard on paper, about 12 to 18 ft tall unpruned. Stands on its own, few suckers. Plant about 15 ft apart. Our rootstock guide.
Good for	Fresh eating (8/10), winter storage (8/10), pies and baking (7/10), hard cider (6/10), canning and freezing (6/10), drying (6/10). Scores are our 1 to 10 ratings, but we're still new to this one, so they lean on published descriptions and other growers rather than our own harvests. 8 and up makes our Best Of lists.
Deer	A deer favorite. Fence it or cage it.
What you get	Bare root, 5-7 ft. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out.

We don't have long-term data from our own mother trees of Hunt Russet yet, so everything below is secondhand for now.

Overview

Hunt Russet is an old Concord, Massachusetts russet and one of the great keepers. Fedco passes along a note from Maine pomologist Eugene Carpovitch, whose Hunt Russets kept for "an astounding one year in the root cellar!"

Origin and History

It came from the Hunt family farm in Concord, Massachusetts, and it's old. Downing wrote in the 1870s that it originated "nearly 200 years since," and S.A. Beach in The Apples of New York (1905) quotes a Hunt family member saying at least 150 years. So it goes back to at least the mid-1700s. It's also been called Golden Russet of Massachusetts, Fay's Russet and Russet Pearmain, but Beach makes clear it's a different apple from the New York Golden Russet. DNA work with the Maine Heritage Orchard found that Hunt Russet and Blue Pearmain are the parents of Black Oxford.

Fruit and Uses

Beach describes it as "medium size, golden russet with broken patches of smooth bright red on the cheek. It is quite attractive for a russet apple, excellent in quality and a good keeper." The flesh is "whitish tinged with yellow, rather fine, tender, juicy, subacid, sprightly becoming mild, not sweet as some have stated, very good to best." Beach gives its season as January to April or later. It's a fresh-eating apple, and Trees of Antiquity also lists it for pies and cider.

Growth Habit and Spacing

Ours are on Bud 118 semi-dwarf rootstock. Plan on about 15 feet between trees, up to 18 feet for airflow. Beach calls the tree moderately vigorous, upright spreading and productive.

Pollination

It needs a pollenizer. Fedco says it blooms mid-season, so pair it with something like Blue Pearmain, Haralson, Macoun, Cortland, Wolf River or Kerr.

Cold Hardiness

Fedco rates Hunt Russet zone 4, and it's been grown in Maine for a long time. We haven't found a documented survival temperature. We've listed it at zone 4.

Here are more photos of Hunt Russet from Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners.

About the photo: this isn’t Hunt Russet itself. Photos of Hunt Russet are either under copyright or simply unavailable, so we picked the open-source image that looks closest to the fruit. Photo: “Russet apples” by grassrootsgroundswell, via Flickr, licensed CC BY 2.0.

Questions we get about Hunt Russet Apple

Does Hunt Russet Apple need a pollenizer?

Yes. Hunt Russet Apple needs pollen from a different variety that blooms at about the same time. Plant a different apple or crabapple variety that blooms in groups 3 to 5. It has good pollen, so it can also pollenize other apples blooming at the same time. Partners we carry include Otterson Crabapple, Trail Crabapple, Alexander Apple.

How cold hardy is Hunt Russet Apple?

We list Hunt Russet Apple at zone 4, which means winters down to about -30°F. That comes from Fedco's zone 4 rating and its long record in Maine, not from a documented survival temperature or our own winters yet. We'll update it once we have our own data.

How many chill hours does Hunt Russet Apple need?

About 1,000 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 700 and 1,200. Nobody has published a chill figure for it, so that's our estimate from its relatives and origin. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

How big does Hunt Russet Apple get?

We graft Hunt Russet Apple onto Bud 118 (semi-dwarf in our dry Montana soils, semi-standard on paper), which makes a tree roughly 12 to 18 ft tall if you never prune it. Plant about 15 ft apart.

What is Hunt Russet Apple good for?

Our top use scores for Hunt Russet Apple are fresh eating (8/10), winter storage (8/10), pies and baking (7/10), hard cider (6/10). Since we're still new to it, those scores lean on Beach, Fedco and other growers rather than our own harvests. Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.

Is Hunt Russet Apple disease resistant?

We don't know yet. Nobody has published solid disease data on Hunt Russet Apple for apple scab, cedar-apple rust, fire blight and powdery mildew, so we list it as unknown instead of guessing. That doesn't mean it's weak. Plenty of the plants we grow have never been through formal disease trials. Our apple disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Will deer eat Hunt Russet Apple?

Yes, deer love it. Protect Hunt Russet Apple with a fence or a cage, especially while it is young.

What arrives, and when does Hunt Russet Apple ship?

A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. Sizes offered: 5-7 ft. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.

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Pollination partners

Trees that will pollenize Hunt Russet Apple

Hunt Russet Apple needs a different apple or crabapple nearby to set fruit. Every tree below blooms at the same time and has pollen that works for it. Plant partners within about 100 feet.

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

Pollination Needs a partner

Pollen Good pollenizer

107 trees we carry will pollenize it. Showing the best matches, in-stock first.