Indeed, Northern Spy is a shy one. If you have the original (hailing from Bloomfield NY mid 1800s) you will have to be patient. I agree with Andy it is worth the wait. It rarely disappoints in its growth, when planted in its range (grown in areas of zone 3 but better off in 4 or 5 partly due to the late season crop). For those of you who do not know it, Spy was the classic storage and pie apple. We ate them as dessert apples when we were kids and it was my Dad’s favorite, but it will be a bit tart for most folks to eat in hand. As for growing the tree, the association is typical, this higher vigor and tardiness in bearing. There are some things you can do to alter this, and many that won’t work. I have made comments in the pruning section, where Andy has asked asked a related question.
