Granny Smith Apple Tree

One of the best-known apple varieties for both cooking and snacking, Granny Smith Apple Tree (Malus 'Granny Smith') enjoys a long history of embodying an apple with exceptional tartness for fresh eating and baking qualities!

The juicy, white flesh is likewise energizing, with a crisp, tart flavor that's perfect for award-winning pies, culinary dishes...or just right off the tree!

Its lovely, light-green skin (occasionally with a subtle, pink blush), presents a vibrant sight amid the branches in October. The greenish-white flesh is crisp and juicy!

Holding its shape amazingly when cooked makes this a traditional pie apple, but also for all baking purposes, fresh eating in fruit salads as well as other culinary uses!

The bright pink buds in spring burst open to white blossoms with pink edges! Pollinators adore these blooms and even an early hummingbird or two will stop by for a visit! Highly fragrant, be sure to snip a few boughs to bring indoors to enjoy springs splendor in a vase arrangement!

An antique selection in cultivation since 1868 where it was a chance discovery by Maria Ann “Granny” Smith on her orchard in Australia.

The Granny Smith Apple tree is a fruit tree that produces high-quality, tart green apples on a reliable tree. Plant one in a sunny location and watch your harvest grow!

Storing remarkably well, these fruits remain crisp in cold storage or refrigeration for up to 6 months!

How to Use Granny Smith Apple Tree In The Landscape

Granny Smith apple's high acid content means that they won't go brown as quickly once cut, so they're especially valued for fruit trays and salads.

Granny Smith apples are also chocked full of vitamins and antioxidants, but not calories, so they're a great way to encourage good health! Pack one with lunch for a healthy snack on the go, or slice up for a tart addition to your wine and cheese board!

Great juicing and for cider, try your hand at making some home-brewed bubbly! You’ll have a large enough crop in a short time to try using Granny Smith for all your favorite recipes!

The fragrant pink and white blooms are gorgeous additions to a cottage and perennial gardens, plus they’re welcome shade trees, perfect around your patios and vegetable gardens!

Plan a spring picnic beneath the blooms and watch the pollinators buzz from blossom to blossom! It’s a perfect destination spot among a field of wildflowers.

Also modestly sized and you can prune even smaller if desired for a fruit tree that will work in any smaller sized urban yard or small orchard!

Try your hand at training this tree as Espalier for a truly unique focal point tree that saves space!

Gorgeous specimen plants when in full bloom or dripping with fruit, these are lovely landscaping trees for privacy, property definition, and sized wonderfully for home orchards and edible landscaping!

Line your property with blooms and privacy you, and your neighbors, won’t mind viewing! Anchor and shade smaller trees or shrubs in larger planting sites, or just add this fantastic variety to your orchard!

#ProPlantTips For Care

A tip-bearing apple tree, Granny Apples are vigorous, late-season apples. Harvest time generally is late October. Heat tolerant and hardy in growing zones 5-9.

Apple trees need full sun for the most blooms and best fruit, and also require well-drained soils. However, they’re not particular on the type of soil so long as it is well-drained and organically enriched. Not minding acidic soil, these are drought-tolerant once established. However, protect your investment with regular watering and consistent moisture for the best, juiciest crop!

These reliable producing apples bear fruit between 3-5 years of age and Nature Hills ships your landscape grade trees already 3 years old! This way, it won’t be long before you harvest your first crop.

Mulch the surface of the root system for the most moisture retention and also to insulate the roots from heat and chill.

Prune when dormant to open the canopy and allow sunlight and air circulation. Fair disease resistance, be sure to thin the crop for larger fruit.

It tends to be a strong-limbed tree, able to manage its harvest without the need for additional supports. It can be long-lived under optimal conditions and is quite heat tolerant.

If you love a tart apple, or just enjoy one with good storage and a variety of culinary uses, Granny Smith is the perfect apple for you! There’s nothing quite like picking your own, homegrown fruit from a tree you grew! The flavor is incomparable!

Order your own antique, tried-and-true variety of Apple Tree from NatureHills.com today!

Although self-fertile, you can also pair with: Fuji, Ginger Gold & Honeycrisp

Granny Smith Apple Tree Frequently Asked Questions

When to Plant Granny Smith Apple Trees

Planting Bareroot trees as soon as you can dig a hole in spring and until hot weather, the earlier the better. Plant container Apple trees throughout the growing season with complete success - that is the benefit of container plants - to extend the planting season. Your County Agricultural Extension Office is a great resource for first and last frost dates in your area.

How to Plant Granny Smith Apple Trees

Dig a large hole only as deep as needed to accommodate the bareroot or container root ball, and twice as wide. Add Nature Hills Root Booster to speed root establishment. Remove the pot or bag and situate it into the hole so the top of the soil (soil line if bareroot), is level with the new location's soil being careful not to plant too deep. Water in again very well and backfill with the same soil you dug up, tamping down gently to ensure there are no air pockets.

Top off with a 3-4 inch thick layer of Arborist mulch. Consider staking your tree to keep its trunk growing straight for the first year to ensure it stands tall against strong winds and drifting snow.

When to Prune Granny Smith Apple Trees

Trim off any broken branches from delivery as soon as you take them out of the box. Prune and trim apple trees while dormant, in late winter or early spring, before you see new growth.

How to Prune Granny Smith Apple Trees

Dormant prune to:

• Remove any double leaders or narrow crotch angles
• Eliminate any crossing branches
• Thin interior branching and leave the fruiting spurs and strong branches in place opening up the canopy
• Branching at least 24-36 inches above the ground

Prune Apple trees in the summer to:

• Control size and shape by reducing the length of longer new growth on vigorous trees
• Remove water sprouts on the main trunk or older branches in the crown
• Remove suckers at the base of the trunk
• Thin fruit during heavy years on established trees

How to Care for Granny Smith Apple Trees

Growing an apple tree is easy when proper soil, good drainage, attention to moisture, and regular fertility are maintained. Once you've chosen an apple tree that works for your climate, in the size you need for your landscape, and its pollinator (if needed), then you've accomplished half the battle!

• Apple trees do best in full sun and well-drained soil
• Water your apple trees when it gets dry - especially during the fruit production stage, and drought periods to keep it stress-free
• Use arborists' wood chips to mulch over the roots of your apples and have your soil tested to see what your soil may be lacking before adding fertilizers
• Maintenance pruning and shaping

Apple trees will tolerate a wide range of soils, so long as water and nutrients are not limited and the pH level is adequate.

How to Fertilize Granny Smith Apple Trees

For the first year, water alone is most important. It is always best to get a soil test to see what your soil is lacking before adding more fertilizers. Once established, a fertilizer routine may be beneficial. We do offer some excellent slow-release organic options, applied according to the package directions.

Fruit trees need more phosphate and it's possible to apply too much nitrogen which affects the soil's pH. Test soil acidity or alkalinity using a pH Tester.

Fertilize in spring when you first see new growth emerging.

• Don't overdo it
• Phosphates are your friends
• Pay attention to pH in areas with extremely high or low soil pH
• Follow the directions

Granny Smith Apple Tree Pollinating Info

Granny Smith is self-fruiting and doesn't need a pollinating partner, but will bear more fruit when paired with these varieties:

• Fuji Apple Tree
• Honeycrisp Apple Tree
• Ginger Gold Apple Tree

Harvest Times for Granny Smith Apple Trees

Granny Smith’s are typically ready to harvest in October.

Early-Season? Mid-Season? Late-Season? The terminology can be confusing for new apple tree growers. Weather, climate and your tree determine when it's ripe.

For Apples:

• Early-season is usually June-July
• Mid-season can be August-September
• Late-season can be from late September-November

The growing season consists of spring, summer, and fall, and varies with climate and weather. Areas with longer growing seasons in the warmer hardiness zones can greatly affect the harvest times for each particular apple variety grown in your area. Learn which growing zone you are in.

What Shipping Options Do You Offer?

NatureHills.com works closely with our growers and nursery professionals to ensure we ship when it is most appropriate for your area. Our goal is to deliver the hardiest plants by avoiding extreme high and low temperatures. Check out our shipping schedule for more information and to learn our wills and won'ts when it comes to shipping plants. Find your Granny Smith Apple Tree for sale here at NatureHills.com!

Rootstocks Explained

Apple trees have been grafted onto different rootstocks since before the mid-1800s. Different rootstocks are used to improve the anchoring of trees, eliminate diseases, and reduce the natural mature size of the tree itself. While there are many different types of rootstock, they are all labeled as being either Dwarf, Semi-Dwarf, or Standard.

The apple descriptions, including flowering, pollination, and apple characteristics are the same whether the plant is grown on a standard rootstock or some varying dwarfing rootstock. The overall size can vary by climate and soil but the understock used is ultimately what affects the mature size.

There will be some variation in sizes but as a guide, we are suggesting the overall mature size of these apple varieties are:

Semi-Dwarf Apples

• Height: 12-18 feet
• Spread: 10 - 15 feet

Standard Apples

• Height 18 - 25 feet
• Spread: 15 - 18 feet

Remember that all fruit tree sizes can easily be altered if needed by simple pruning as the trees grow and develop.