The 'Holsteiner Cox' apple is an old apple variety with good utility properties. However, if you want to grow this real North German, you have to put in the effort and choose the right location.
The apple variety 'Holsteiner Cox' is a northern German variety from Schleswig-Holstein. It is widespread near the coast, where it is of great regional importance as one of several main varieties. The old variety is more of a candidate for ambitious hobby gardeners due to its high need for care and medium susceptibility to disease, but with sufficient care it produces large and aromatic fruits.
Synonymous names for 'Holsteiner Cox' are 'Holsteiner Gelber Cox', 'Vahldiks Seedling' and 'Vahldieks Cox III'.
Tip: There are two so-called mutants of the 'Holsteiner Cox' variety. They are the result of random mutations and have been multiplied because of their interesting, different appearance. The mutant 'Ina Cox' is characterized by a much more pronounced red coloration of the shell, while the mutant 'Tambustar' stands out with its clearly striped red colouration. Taste and growing characteristics are very similar to the original 'Holsteiner Cox' though.
Holsteiner Cox: Profile
| Synonyms | 'Holsteiner Gelber Cox', 'Vahldieks Sämling', 'Vahldieks Cox III' |
| Fruit | medium to large; greenish-yellow ground color with light red top color |
| Flavour | juicy, slightly aromatic, slightly acidic |
| Yield | medium to high; mostly regular |
| Harvest time | from mid-September |
| Maturity for pleasure | October to December |
| Shelf Life | good; refrigerated until January |
| Growth | medium to strong |
| Climate | humid-cool climate; not suitable for cold winter locations and high altitudes |
| Diseases and Pests | medium susceptibility to apple scab, peak drought, tree canker, viral susceptibility and powdery mildew; strongsusceptible to fireblight |
Origin and history of the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple
The 'Holsteiner Cox' apple was discovered in 1920 in the garden of the fruit grower and painter Johannes Vahldiek. It is believed that the variety originated around 1900 as a seedling of a 'Cox Orangerenette'. Johannes Vahldiek lived and worked in Eutin in Schleswig-Holstein from 1877, where he was considered a we althy eccentric who only sold one of his paintings during his lifetime. After his death in 1914, the apple varieties in his garden were examined, examined and numbered. Today's 'Hosteiner Cox' was given the name 'Vahldieks Seedling No. 3' and was soon highly valued and diligently propagated in the local gardening association. After the Second World War, the Chamber of Agriculture also tested the variety and attested its good suitability for propagation and professional cultivation. The solid triumph of the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple began in 1959 at the latest, because that year it was classified as "outstanding" at the Federal Horticultural Show. Even today, the big, yellow-red apple still has a secure footing on the market in northern Germany, even if it doesn't even appear in the nationwide statistics.
Apple variety ‘Holsteiner Cox’: taste and characteristics
The 'Holsteiner Cox' apple is medium-sized to large (fruit diameter up to 15 cm), flat and medium-bellied or stalked with barely visible ribs. The calyx is flat and the calyx is wide open. The medium-thick skin of the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple is greenish-yellow and only 20 to 50% flamed with a light red overcolor. The shell bears small lenticels, which are visible as fine shell dots. The stalk cavity is often cracked and heavily rusted in a ring shape. Beneath the colorful skin is a yellowish-cream flesh with a soft to medium-firm consistency and coarse cells. The 'Holsteiner Cox' tastes juicy, slightly sour, slightly aromatic and is therefore similar to its parent variety 'Cox Orangerenette'.
Special features of cultivation & care
An apple tree of the 'Holsteiner Cox' variety requires a little more care due to its typical growth characteristics and susceptibility to disease and is therefore an option above all for professional commercial cultivation or ambitious hobby gardeners.
Growth: Depending on the rootstock used, the 'Holsteiner Cox' tree grows medium to largestrong and produces a lot of shoot growth even in full yield. The central axis of the tree is weakly promoted, so that broad, flat-oval crowns are formed, which often have to be thinned out because of the good branching of the shoots.
Roots: The 'Holsteiner Cox' can be grown extensively as a standard on vigorous rootstocks such as M11 or seedling rootstocks on meadow orchards. However, this form of cultivation only succeeds near the coast, where there is a constant wind and humid, s alty air.
On slow-growing rootstocks such as M20 and M27, the 'Holsteiner Cox' can even be cultivated in pots and as a trellis, what the maintenance effort is significantly reduced. In commercial cultivation, it is common to grow the 'Holsteiner Cox' on the M9 or M27 rootstock and to cut it as a slender spindle, as far as the natural crown development allows. On these small rootstocks, the variety absolutely needs a stable support stake for life to support the heavy crown.
Location: For he althy development, the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple tree needs nutrient-rich and sufficiently moist soil, but this must only be of medium quality. The tree loves a damp, cool climate in summer. Because the wood and the blossom are sensitive to frost, however, cultivation in cold winter locations and at high altitudes is not possible.
Blossom: The bloom appears medium late to late and lasts for a long time. As a rule, the flowering stock is high every year. Because the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple variety is triploid, i.e. has a tripled set of chromosomes, it is pollinated by other apple varieties, but cannot pollinate them itself - so it is a very poor pollinator variety for other apple trees.
'Holsteiner Cox ' can be fertilized by 'Cox Orangerenette', 'Goldparmäne', 'Ingrid Marie', 'James Grieve', 'Jonathan', 'Laxtons Superb', 'Weißer Winterglockenapfel' and 'Finkenwerder Herbstprinz'.
Yield: The yield of the variety is medium to high and mostly regular. The tree can also easily begin to alternate due to excessive pruning or frost damage and then bear fruit more irregularly.
Diseases and pests: The 'Holsteiner Cox' apple variety is moderately susceptible to apple scab, top drought, tree canker, viral shoot addiction and powdery mildew, and even highly susceptible to fire blight. In addition, the apples tend to be pitted and glassy. The latter are among the so-called physiological fruit diseases, i.e. they are not caused by pathogens but by non-functioning processes in the tree itself.
Hint:In order to provide the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple tree with the nutrients it has lost through harvesting and pruning, it is worth doing annual fertilization with an organic complete fertilizer such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer or some compost.
Holsteiner Cox apple: harvest & use
Depending on the weather, the 'Holsteiner Cox' apple is ready to be picked around mid-September and can be harvested from this point in time. The fruits are not very sensitive to pressure, which makes them easy to store. The earliest fruit picked is best for storage. Between October and December the fruits on the tree are ready to be eaten.
If the fruits are harvested too late, physiological fruit diseases such as flesh tan and specks appear more frequently.
'Holsteiner Cox' apples harvested early are chilled until January durable.
The tasty apple is good for eating fresh, but can also be processed into mush or juice. Because it's so big, the 'Holsteiner Cox' is also ideal as a stuffed baked apple.
The 'Holsteiner Cox' is too demanding for you? We have compiled a list of the best naturally he althy apple varieties for the home garden for you.