[Osier Farm]

I have a Northern Spy I purchased about 10 years ago and it still has not made any fruit. It gets good sun most of the day and actually the tree looks great and at about 15 feet tall. I have other trees that made fruit years ago but are the same age. Am I doing something wrong?

[Andy King]

I had a similar situation and was actually ready to cut it down but that next year lo and behold we had apples, maybe I scared it. Since then I have read that Spy always take a long time to make fruit. My experience is the same with the tree health, it has grown exceptionally well. I must say I am still quite happy with the tree, now making good crops. The time it takes is maybe the reason we don’t find it around here anymore, it is too bad orchards are not as patient as they use to be- it is an awesome apple.

[Todd Parlo]

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.