Empire Apple Tree
Begins shipping mid-April.
Zones 4 - 7
Pollinator required to bear fruit
Even better than McIntosh? You be the judge!
A disease-resistant apple tree with a reliable crop!
Originating from New York in 1945 as a Delicious and McIntosh cross, the Empire apple tree is a customer favorite! These apples offer the best of both worlds, the flavor of a McIntosh and the sweetness of a Red Delicious.
This hardy and productive tree is disease-resistant against fire-blight and cedar apple rust. Empire is an early spring bloomer. Pollinate with another early-mid blooming apple variety and expect a nice-sized harvest of apples come September. Add more fruit to your harvest with this reliable and traditional apple tree!
Empire is a licensed variety of Cornell University.
Characteristics
| Bloom Color | White |
| Fruit Color | Red |
| Fruit Size | Medium |
| Ripens/Harvest | September |
| Soil Composition | Loamy |
| Taste | Sweet |
| Texture | Firm |
| Soil pH Level | 6-7 |
| Soil Moisture | Well Drained |
| Bloom Time | Early |
| Years to Bear | 2-5 |
| Shade Level | Full Sun |
| Hardiness Zone Range | 4-7 |
Size & Spacing
Pollination
This variety requires another one for adequate pollination.
Cross-pollination by a different variety is key to its growing and bearing success. Plant a different variety within 15 meters (50 feet) for best pollination.
Recommended Pollinators: Red Delicious, Wolf River, Zestar, Buckeye Gala, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Liberty, Royal Empire, SnowSweet
How do I find my Hardiness Zone?
Canada’s Plant Hardiness Zones will tell you which plants will do well in your particular climate. Each zone is determined by the lowest average winter temperature recorded in a given area. Hardiness Zone information is included on all tree and plant product pages, so you know instantly whether a certain plant is likely to succeed where you live. Natural Resources Canada provides helpful options to find your zone:
Chad Newberry –
I’m somewhat pleased with my Empire Apple trees. They are in their second season and have put on decent growth this summer despite being smaller than usual from Stark Bros. ( Hence the 4 star review ) I’ve had no problems thus far with disease or CAR, which is terrible in this area. Overall, I’m satisfied with the results of the Empire Apple trees.
Russell Potterfield –
I’m kind of an apple nerd. I go to farmer’s markets in the fall just to hunt down different apples to taste. Started making my own hard cider. I read all the apple growing books, etc. Empire is one of my favorite apples because it tastes *really good*. Especially the ones from my home orchard, where I’m more-or-less organic and don’t use fertilizers to pump up yields. (There’s a U-Pick place up the road that also grows Empires but they blast them with fertilizers; their Empires are are beautiful to look at and twice as big as the ones from my orchard – but they lack the crisp texture of my hardscrabble trees and the beautiful half-Mcintosh rip is diluted with the extra water in the cells. Still delicious, but not quite transcendent.) Having an Empire tree in your back yard means you can grow the apples how you want and pick them when you want – a little on the early side is my favorite. The apple – half Mcintosh and half Red Delicious – seems to taste like Mac early on and more like Red Delicious later on, but your mileage may vary.The flavor is complex – appley but not too much so, sweet but not too much so, “vinous” but not too much so. Enough tartness but without the full-blown tartness that I associate with Mcintosh. I think of Empire as a fresh-eating apple, but I’m sure it’s fine for baking, as well. It also seems very easy to pollinate and reliably sets apples even in hard pollination years like 2018.Highly, highly recommended.
Len Laclair –
The tree looks healthy and leaved out well this (it’s first) spring. We’ll see how it goes from here.
Robert Cornelison –
The tree came back this spring after its first winter doing just great! Off to a healthy start, even has a couple of buds!. Didnt expect such an outcome for we had a bad cold spell that was hard on many young trees. Mine is doing Great!
Bruce Pfeiffer –
Bought 5 trees. All arrived and looked good. Planted in same area the same way and all but one grew. Could find no reason why it didn’t thrive. Others are doing well.
Kate Shanebrinkman –
I bought this as a pollinator for my Honeycrisp and Freedom apple trees. It is too young to produce yet and has not bloomed so far this year. I do vouch for the quality of the tree that was shipped. I trust Stark.
Raymond Sindone –
The trees are healthy and doing well in year 2….Hopefully apples next year!
Elizabeth Hanssard –
Tree is doing great! Leafed our and has some new growth
Timothy Sprader –
The Empire Apple bloomed this spring but it’s still too early for fruit. It survived aphids it’s first year in the ground. I have it pared with a Red Delicious that actually bore fruit this year.
Kevin Kispert –
The tree was in great shape and is doing very well. Much better than some I’ve got from other companies.