Skip to product information
Representative photo of red-striped apples over pale yellow on the branch, not Starkey itself
  • Representative photo of red-striped apples over pale yellow on the branch, not Starkey itself
  • USDA pomological watercolor of the Starkey apple
  • Representative photo of red-striped apples over pale yellow on the branch, not Starkey itself
  • USDA pomological watercolor of the Starkey apple
Starkey Apple (Spring 2027)

Starkey Apple (Spring 2027)

$59.99
Rootstock/Size

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: Starkey Apple is an apple tree we've estimated at zone 4 (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 9. 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 (800 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. Not self-fertile. Plant a different apple or crabapple variety nearby that blooms at about the same time (bloom groups 3 to 5 on our chart). Good partners we carry: Otterson Crabapple, Trail Crabapple, Alexander Apple, Burgundy Apple and 103 more. Bloom group is our estimate from the variety's origin and relatives. 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 (7/10), cooking and roasting (6/10), winter storage (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, 4-6 ft. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out.

This is our first year growing Starkey, so everything below is secondhand until we get more long-term data from our own mother trees.

Overview

Starkey is an old Maine apple, red striped, and good for both eating and cooking. It's a fall to early winter apple rather than a long keeper.

Origin and History

According to S.A. Beach's The Apples of New York (1905), Starkey originated on the farm of Moses Starkey in North Vassalboro, Kennebec County, Maine. Beach said it was "said to be popular in market" in Maine, and worth testing in New York. We haven't found a date or parentage for it.

Fruit and Uses

Beach describes the fruit as "of good size, fair, well colored, largely striped and splashed with red, pleasant subacid, excellent for dessert or culinary use." The skin is pale yellow, washed or blushed with red and striped with carmine, and the flesh is whitish, firm, crisp and juicy, lively subacid mellowing to mild. His season for it was October to January in New York.

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 says the tree is hardy and vigorous, gets fairly large and spreading, comes into bearing young, and is a good cropper every other year.

Pollination

It needs a pollenizer. We're estimating it blooms mid-season, so pair it with something like Haralson, Macoun, Cortland, Frostbite, Wolf River or Kerr.

Cold Hardiness

Beach called the tree hardy, and it comes from central Maine, but nobody we've found has put a number on it. We've listed it at zone 4 for now as an estimate, and we'll update it once we've wintered our own trees.

Image credit: watercolor of the ‘Starkey’ apple by Deborah Griscom Passmore, USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

About the photo: this isn’t Starkey itself. Photos of Starkey are either under copyright or simply unavailable, so we picked the open-source image that looks closest to the fruit. Photo: “Wet apples on tree” by Michael Palmer, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Questions we get about Starkey Apple

Does Starkey Apple need a pollenizer?

Yes. Starkey Apple needs pollen from a different variety that blooms at about the same time. Plant a different apple or crabapple variety nearby that blooms at about the same time (bloom groups 3 to 5 on our chart). Partners we carry include Otterson Crabapple, Trail Crabapple, Alexander Apple.

How cold hardy is Starkey Apple?

We list Starkey Apple at zone 4 for now, which means winters down to about -30°F. Beach called it hardy but nobody has put a number on it, and we haven't wintered our own trees yet, so zone 4 is an estimate. We'll update it once we have.

How many chill hours does Starkey Apple need?

About 1,000 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 800 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 Starkey Apple get?

We graft Starkey 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 Starkey Apple good for?

Our top use scores for Starkey Apple are fresh eating (7/10), cooking and roasting (6/10), winter storage (6/10). Since we're still new to it, those scores lean on Beach's description rather than our own harvests.

Is Starkey Apple disease resistant?

We don't know yet. Nobody has published solid disease data on Starkey 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 Starkey Apple?

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

What arrives, and when does Starkey 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: 4-6 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.

Pollination partners

Trees that will pollenize Starkey Apple

Starkey 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 Not tested yet

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

See every pairing on the Apple Pollination Map Starkey Apple's bloom group is our best estimate. Watch it bloom and tell us what you see.

You may also like