tropics

Apples for the Tropics

12/4/2011 Sold out for the 2012 Season unless you previously contacted us this year

We get a lot of emails asking if apples will grow in a specific location in the tropics. Click here for our notes on limitations on growing apples in tropical locations.

We are experienced in shipping apple trees to tropic countries that have never imported apple trees before, and can assist you with getting clearance from your Ministry of Agriculture (see more information at the bottom of the page).

Apples have been grown in the tropics for years. Anna and Dorsett Golden have been the standard varieties for forcing two to three crops a year, but traditional northern varieties like Wealthy have also found success in hot, humid climates like Thailand, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Honduras.

From our trials I've picked 7 varieties that have produced outstanding apples in our low-chill and high-heat climate, many from the hot and humid American South of Georgia and North Carolina. They set reliable crops, blossoming in even 100 degree F. heat and ripening during warm nights. All of them come into bearing young. One of the selections is from the PRI breeding program with built-in disease resistance. While each location has its own micro-climate, I believe these selections give a high chance of success in most tropic areas.

Scroll down to the bottom to see our inspection and shipping procedures. You can see the full descriptions and history of these apples on our Apple List page.

How to order Apple Trees

Click to see our friends at Apples for Africa ministry

Anna and Dorsett Golden- These two apples are the first ones that should be planted in any tropic orchard, as they have proven themselves over 50 years as being top producers in a warm climate. They go together as they pollinate each other to make the nice fat apples you see in the photo. Excellent quality and versatile, they make great fresh-eating and pie apples.

Williams' Pride- Ripening early summer, the deep-red, almost purple apples are striking in appearance. They color up well despite warm nights. The yellow flesh of Williams' Pride is crisp and spicy, good for fresh use, cooking, and processing. They keep fairly well for an early apple. Wait until the stem end is completely red to pick. Field immune to Scab and Cedar Apple Rust, they are highly resistant to fire blight and resistant to powdery mildew. A product of the PRI (Purdue, Rutgers, University of Illinois) breeding program. The patent expired and it may be freely propagated.

Dixie Red Delight- Grown in the hot and humid American South, Dixie Red Delight is medium to large, with red skin and yellow ground color. Flavor is sharp, sweet, aromatic, and spicy, and improves in storage; the closest thing to Virginia Winesap we've tasted in a hot climate. Keeps well and improves in storage, bears heavily and reliably, ripe late December and blooms late.

King David- Grown in the South in the USA since 1895, King David when grown in even a hot climate is wonderfully crisp and juicy with a deep, rich, dark, "wine" taste and aroma that equals the incredibly beautiful exterior. When completely ripe the skin develops a dark burgundy, almost black color that is striking and colors up even with warm nights. It is disease-resistant and fruits early in it's lifetime.

Wealthy- From the American frigid north (Minnesota) in 1868 comes this apple well-adapted to tropical climates (believe it or not, northern Minnesota does not receive many chilling hours- either it's freezing winter or summer, never in-between). Even on seedling rootstock comes into bearing in three or four years. It ripens early and the white flesh has a wonderful fine-grained, crisp, juicy taste that is full-flavored and would make terrific cider. It has been tested in the tropics of Nicaragua.

Terry Winter- A high-quality apple well-adapted to tropic conditions since 1868. It is on the smaller side unless thinned heavily, which limited its commercial success; however it is an excellent keeper even without refrigeration. It ripens late and has a dense texture and pleasing sweet/tart taste. The tree will overproduce and tend to be biannual if not thinned heavily.

Stump Stump used to be quite popular as a high-quality early autumn apple. The skin is pale yellow with a pink wash overlaid with splashes and stripes of dark red. The whitish flesh is fine-grained, tender and juicy. Very tart until quite ripe, when the flavor is well-balanced and gives the first taste of fall with an aromatic, spicy, sweet-tart blend. Very popular in our taste-testing. Ripens early September. Insanely productive in a hot climate; summer thunderstorms will split almost every apple, but they're still good a month later; it seemed to grow out of the cracking habit.

Click to see how to order Apple Trees

International Shipping Information:

The cost to ship 200 trees via Express Mail is about $240 US. It arrives at your port of entry in about 8 days, well within the dormancy period. We need to ship to an airport that has a customs and agricultural inspection station, which is usually at major international airports.

Plant Import Restrictions:

Your country wants to make sure you are not importing insect or disease pests that could harm your agricultural industry. Unless you make arrangements for inspection, your shipment could be seized and be put in quarantine, and could die before it is released to you.

We can provide a Phytosanitary Inspection Certificate, which costs $65 US. You will need to find out from your Ministry or Department of Agriculture if there are any restrictions on importing apple (Malus) plant material from the USA (there most likely is not). We can also check from our end through our Department of Agriculture. You will probably be required to apply for a Plant Import Permit, which has a nominal fee. It helps to get a letter or certificate of permission from the receiving inspection agency to display on the exterior of the box, which makes things easier since your inspection agency most likely is not accustomed to receiving apple plant material.

As you can see from these expenses and trouble that it is usually more efficient to place a larger order, possibly split up between several people if you can't use that many trees.

Pest Risk Assessment (PRA), Import Protocol

Countries that have never imported apple trees before may not issue an Import Permit without a Pest Risk Assessment (PRA). This is a study of what agricultural pests exist in the export country and the risk they pose to the import country. In 2010 the United States Department of Agriculture completed a PRA at the request of the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which you can download with the links below. The importing country then uses the PRA to develop an Apple (Malus) Import Protocol, dictating what treatment or steps need to be complied with in order to ship apple trees into the country, such as treating them with an insecticide and fungicide; we have included a link to the Import Protocol developed for the Central American nation of Belize below.

Pest Risk Assessment for Trinidad and Tobago

Map of where Rootstocks are grown

Map of where scionwood is grown

Import Protocol for Belize

Shipping dates

We have to ship our trees and scionwood when the trees are dormant, which is between late February and early April. You need to be able to plant them once they are received. Often your season is opposite of ours, but the trees will adapt in a year or so and do just fine. In order to comply with the import requirements you will need to plan ahead. Remember, there's always next year.

You can see the information we've gathered at our Tropic Apple Body of Knowledge web page.

If you are considering an international order, just email us. We're happy to answer any more questions you may have.

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