Ellis Bitter cider apple trees

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• Check pollinators >

• Picking season: Mid
• Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
• Flowering group: 5

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.

Ellis Bitter organic cider apple trees for sale

Next deliveries: December 2026

• 11 yeartree on M116 rootstock29.25€
  Medium tree (2m-3.5m after 10 years) Bare-root
  

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• 21 yeartree on MM111 rootstock28.00€
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years) Bare-root
  

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• 31 yeartree on Bittenfelder rootstock28.00€
  Very large tree (5m-6m+ after 10 years) Bare-root
  

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If you do not hear from us by March you can contact us to pre-order for next autumn.

Growing and Training

Ellis Bitter is somewhat unusual, being a heavy-cropping and fairly vigorous variety but with a strong tip-bearing tendency. Regular pruning is therefore best avoided.

Ellis Bitter characteristics

• What level of gardening skill is needed to grow Ellis Bitter?Average
• Is Ellis Bitter self-fertile?Not self-fertile
• What flowering group is Ellis Bitter?5
• What is the overall disease resistance of Ellis Bitter?Average
• Picking periodearly October
• What season do you pick Ellis Bitter?Mid
• How long can you keep Ellis Bitter in a fridge?2-3 weeks
• Food usesHard cider
• USDA cold hardyZone 4 (-34C)
• Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
• Where does Ellis Bitter originate from?United Kingdom
• Flesh colourWhite
• Fruit colourRed striped

You might also like these varieties

• 
  Amere Nouvelle
  Amere Nouvelle is a traditional French bittersweet cider apple.
• 
  Dabinett
  Dabinett is a traditional English cider apple variety, producing a bittersweet juice.
• 
  Kingston Black
  Kingston Black is one of the premier English cider varieties and produces a bittersharp juice.
• 
  Michelin
  Michelin (or Normandie Blanc) is a traditional French cider apple variety producing a bittersweet juice.

More about cider apple trees

Cider production in Europe is traditionally associated with three main regions - Asturias in north west Spain, Bretagne and Normandie in north west France, and the "west country" area of south-west England. These regions all face the Atlantic ocean and have cool temperate maritime climates.

Cider can of course be made with any variety of apples, but in these three regions apple varieties have evolved which are specifically intended for cider production - they have high levels of tannins which give "body" to the resulting cider, but which make them very unpalatable to eat fresh.

Good quality cider is almost always made with a blend of different apple varieties, using bitter, sweet, and sharp flavour components. It is quite common to mix in regular cooking and dessert apples to lend extra flavours.

If you are in an area with a hotter continental climate (with average summer maximum temperatures routinely over 30C) then you might want to consider using apple varieties that can withstand warmer temperatures, but still have good juice qualities. In this case rather than using European varieties you might want to seek inspiration from the very different "hard cider" traditions of North America, where dessert and crab-apples are widely used.

We have a good range of traditional English and French cider varieties, as well as a number of mainstream apple varieties with good juice qualities that lend themselves to cider production.