The Wettringer Taubenpfel is a good choice for anyone who has a large garden but wants to spend little time on maintenance. The medium-sized apple grows on a vigorous tree, which fortunately is very robust and he althy.
The apple variety 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' is also simply called 'Wettringer', more rarely 'Pigeon Apple from St. Luis'. The 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' apple bears pointed fruits with a dark pink, bluish striped skin and is rather undemanding. However, the tree grows strongly and is therefore of particular interest to owners of larger gardens.
Wetringer Taubenpfel: Profile
| Synonyms | 'Wettringer', 'Pigeon Apple of St. Luis' |
| Fruit | medium; yellow base color with dark red top color |
| Flavour | sweet-sour |
| Yield | high, partly fluctuating; mostly early onset |
| Harvest time | from mid-September |
| Maturity for pleasure | October to November |
| Shelf Life | medium; Apples harvested early can be stored until the end of December |
| Growth | strong |
| Climate | very undemanding; very frost hardy |
| Diseases and Pests | very robust against diseases and pests |
Origin and history of the 'Wettringer Taubenpfel'
Besides the 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' there are other pigeon apples - it is not always easy to distinguish between the varieties, because the Taubenpfel is a very old group of apple varieties.
The 'Wettringer' is said to it is an old Middle Franconian regional variety that originated around 1900. On the other hand, the variety is often described as identical to the 'Pigeon Apple of St. Luis' variety, which, however, saw the light of day as early as 1855. The origin of this variety is not yet entirely clear, so it will be interesting to see what the pomologists find out about itbecome.
Features, taste and appearance of autumn apples
The Wettringer apple is medium-sized and partly irregular in shape. The halves are sometimes formed with different thicknesses, but otherwise the surface is uniform and shows only faint edges towards the stem. The shape is usually conical, tapering to a point, spherical or slightly flattened fruits are found much more rarely. The base color of the peel is yellow and the dark red, streaked top color can cover the entire surface of the fruit. The skin is waxy and has a bluish frosting, similar to that of a plum. Under the medium-thick skin is a whitish-green, medium-fine and moderately fluffy flesh that does not contain a lot of juice and, above all, tastes sweet and sour without developing a specific aroma.
Plant and care for the 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' apple variety
The apple variety 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' is one of the most undemanding apple varieties, but two conditions should definitely be met:
- Good soil: If you want to plant the 'Wettringer', you should definitely improve sandy and nutrient-poor as well as heavy and wet soil or, if in doubt, choose another apple variety. If you want to prepare your garden soil for planting the 'Wettringer' apple tree, you can use our nutrient-rich and peat-reduced Plantura organic universal soil together with our Plantura organic universal fertilizer. Our compost improves soils that are either too light or too heavy.
- Space to develop: The 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' grows vigorously and is therefore not really suitable for small gardens.
The 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' is recommended for cultivation on meadow orchards. But that has not only to do with its strong growth and the high and wide, later overhanging crown. Above all, the 'Wettringer' is suitable for extensive cultivation because it is extremely robust and he althy. The wood and flowers are frost hardy and the fruit ripens well even in cooler locations. The tree is very resistant to diseases and pests. Powdery mildew and apple scab can only occur in absolutely windless locations, whereas cultivation at high altitudes is possible without any problems.
For cultivation in smaller gardens, we recommend grafting on the medium-growing rootstock M7 and cultivation as a half-stem or bush tree, as this ensures earlier yields, slightly slower growth and brings the tree closer to the ground for maintenance . Because the crown of the 'wetting' grows so strong,but an annual pruning and possibly also supporting with a stake is essential - otherwise the trunk can hardly carry the crown. Anyone who cultivates the tree as a standard in the orchard should grow it as a standard or half-stem on its own root or on the strong-growing rootstock M25. In this case, there is no annual pruning and the tree becomes very large.
The 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' flowers mid-early and is a good pollen donor. It is fertilized itself, for example, by the varieties 'Muskatrenette', 'Berner Rosenapfel', 'Ohriger Blutstreifling', 'Ontario' and 'Idared'.
Apple 'Wettringer Taubenpfel': harvest and use
The Wettringer apple can be harvested in normal weather conditions between the middle and end of September for storage. Wettringer apples harvested early can be stored until the end of December. Because the fruits are wind-resistant, they can only be picked from the tree in October or November when they are ready to eat. However, these apples, which are harvested later, are no longer suitable for storage. The 'Wettringer Taubenpfel' is a tasty dessert apple, can be used to make mush and compote and is particularly suitable for distilling fruit brandies.
The 'Ontario' variety is a wonderful addition to a 'Wetringer Taubenpfel' in the garden. The trees can not only pollinate each other, they also complement each other when it comes to usability: When the 'Wettringer' has reached the end of its shelf life, the 'Ontario' begins to ripen for consumption, which lasts until May if the apples are stored correctly.