Autumn 2024 planting seasonPre-order now for EU delivery December 2024 - March 2025

Golden Delicious apple trees

Malus domestica
Golden Delicious apples
Golden Delicious is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Picking season: Late
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4

Golden Delicious is a popular supermarket apple variety with a reputation for a bland flavour. However, when home-grown in good conditions, and allowed to ripen on the tree is a very different proposition - a handsomely-shaped apple with a golden-green skin, crisp juicy flesh, and a rich sweet flavour, reminscent of raw cane sugar. If you like crisp sweet apples then it is hard to beat a home-grown Golden Delicious, picked late in the autumn when properly ripe.

Home-grown Golden Delicious apples still retain the advantages of commercially grown examples - they are versatile for eating fresh or using in the kitchen, and of course they are one of the best apples for long-term storage, retaining flavour and crispness for several months in a cold shed or in the fridge.

Bio / Organic  fruit trees

Golden Delicious organic apple trees for sale

  • 11 yeartree on M9 rootstock23.25€
    Small tree (1.5m-2.5m after 10 years) Bare-root
  • 21 yeartree on MM111 rootstock23.25€
    Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years) Bare-root
EU delivery countries
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
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Growing and Training

Golden Delicious is easy to grow, and very productive. It prefers a dry climate, and a warm autumn helps.

It is a good pollinator for other apple varieties because it flowers over a long period.


History

Golden Delicious was discovered in West Virginia, USA, in the 1890s, and is probably a seedling of an old American variety called Grimes Golden.


Golden Delicious characteristics

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Self-fertilityPartially self-fertile
  • Flowering group4
  • Picking seasonLate
  • Season of use3 months or more
  • Food usesEating freshCulinary
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 5 (-29C)
  • Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
  • Chill requirementLow-chill - 700
  • Country of originUnited States
  • Period of origin1850 - 1899
  • Fruit colourGreenGreen - lightGreen / Yellow

Similar varieties

  • See also Cabarette
    Cabarette
    A traditional very-late season dessert apple, found in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
  • See also GoldRush
    GoldRush
    A modern disease-resistant apple, like Golden Delicious but with a better tart/sweet balance. Good for eating fresh and juicing / cider.
  • See also Mutsu
    Mutsu
    Mutsu is a high quality dual-purpose apple from Japan, with a good flavour for eating fresh, and also sharp enough for cooking.
  • See also Queen Cox
    Queen Cox
    A modern self-fertile form of the renowned Cox's Orange Pippin, with arguably even better flavour.

This variety description was researched and written by Orange Pippin staff. Last checked: 2023.