Zestar!® Apple Tree

While they may all work together in most years, Zestar!® blooms early and should have another early-blooming variety in the mix, like Wolf River, McIntosh, BraeStar™, Yellow Transparent, Liberty, Cortland, Empire, etc.

Yes! These are my second favorite to Cortlands for pies and cooking. Zestars imo make the best applesauce, tarts, ect. They are not as "solid" as a cortland so long cooking they dont hold up to as well. But for tarts, crisps, applesauce. And other desserts where you want that apple to stay together but be "soft" that along with the bright apple flavor make for yummy cooking. We just put ours in, but Have been buying them for 5yrs locally.

Personally Zestars are one of my favorites. They are crisp sweet and tart. I'm not positive how they compare to honeycrisp as I haven't eaten them side by side. I think the honeycrisp is a little less tart though. I would think the Zestars would be comparable to a pink lady. Whenever we go to the apple orchard, we always get Zestars. Yum!

Zestar® is a hybrid of 'State Fair' & 'MN 1691' and was developed at the University of Minnesota. You are right, it is indeed sweeter than a Macintosh, with a nice little tang. An excellent apple!

Short answer is: yes. You can espalier practically any fruit tree, including this tree. The dwarf size is the easiest to espalier. Our detailed article can be found here: //www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/espalier-fruit-treesOur detailed article can be found here: //www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/espalier-fruit-trees

I just googled "What is the most tart red apple?" and all sorts of info popped up. Granny Smith, which of course is not red, came up as the most tart. Other tart apples include: Pink Lady®, Braeburn, McIntosh, Jonathan, Empire, and Cortland apples. From another article: Which types of apples have the most tart taste?
Firstly, Bramley apples are very tart, but they are better suited to cooking and less enjoyable to eat alone. Among the most popular apples to eat out of hand, those with a tart taste include Braeburn, Granny Smith, and Pink Lady. I hope this helps.

I have 2 Zestar Apples and they do very well without much spraying the trees are healthy and fruit is good quality. Mine are semi dwarf and They grew tall quickly FRom U of Minn so they are hardy

I planted a Zestar! in the spring of '21. It has six beautiful apples on it now, and I had pruned it to stay a very little tree. It is now July of '23. I am very excited to try them, and was just re-reading about them. They should be ripe in August, so I don't have too much longer to wait! I've never tasted one before; I got it because I liked the name!

Yes, Honeycrisp and Sweet Sixteen will cross-pollinate a Zestar apple tree. Zestar is an early-blooming apple, and Honeycrisp and Sweet Sixteen are also early to mid-season bloomers, so their blooming periods overlap, ensuring successful pollination. Honeycrisp and Sweet Sixteen can also pollinate each other. Crabapple trees can also be used as pollinators for Zestar.

Typically a dwarf will produce 1-4 bushels