Our Variety Assessment

Its strengths, growing requirements and the conditions in which it performs best.

Ellis Bitter is an excellent English variety for extending the cider harvest into the early season. It crops regularly and produces fruity, mild bittersweet juice with soft tannins. The tree is vigorous, healthy and generally dependable. We recommend it mainly for approachable blended ciders rather than powerful single-variety styles. The apples store poorly and should be pressed soon after harvesting.

Ellis Bitter

Price range: 26,50 € through 59,75 €

Ellis Bitter is a traditional and popular English cider apple, producing a bittersweet juice.

Pre-orders are open

No payment today. You are reserving your trees before the inventory in early August.

After inventory, we will confirm the available trees and send you a payment link.

Dispatch generally takes place from late November to February, depending on the weather and the progress of lifting the trees.

Choose your tree form

1 year old grafted tree – approx. 1–2 m

Half-standard – 1 to 1.5 m stem

Low-stem tree – approx. 60 cm stem

Standard tree – 1.8 m stem and over

Apple rootstock options

Bittenfelder – approx. 6 m mature height

EM9 – approx. 2.5 m mature height

M116 – approx. 4 m mature height

MM111 – approx. 4 m mature height

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Tree size guide

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SKU: 4347 Categories: Apple trees, Cider apple trees

Description

Ellis Bitter is a traditional and popular English cider apple, producing a good quality mild bittersweet juice.

The fruits are relatively large by cider-apple standards.

Variety characteristics

Variety origin

English bittersweet cider apple variety, used as an early blending variety. Exact date and origin not found.

Origin

United Kingdom

Period of origin

USDA zone

Zone 4 (-34C)

Flowering

5 - very late

Eating / keeping period

Use

Disease resistance

Self-fertility

Pollinator value

Ploidy

Origin and identity

Parentage

Exact parents unknown

Growth and adaptation

Vigour and habit

Vigorous, upright then spreading habit

Disease behaviour

Scab

Slightly susceptible to scab

Powdery mildew

Low susceptibility to powdery mildew

Pollination

Compatible pollinating varieties

For reliable fruit set, plant at least one variety with a compatible flowering period nearby. Flowering period: 5 - very late.

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