Apple, Golden Delicious, Bare Root

Apple, Golden Delicious (Malus domestica 'Golden Delicious')

Golden Delicious is a versatile, sweet, and aromatic apple with a smooth golden skin and tender, juicy flesh. Discovered as a chance seedling in West Virginia in the late 1800s, this beloved heirloom quickly became a staple in American orchards for its reliability, excellent flavor, and wide range of uses—from fresh eating to pies and sauces. Golden Delicious is an excellent mid-season pollinator for other varieties and performs well in diverse climates. Its balanced sweetness, long harvest window, and ease of growth make it a valuable anchor tree in home orchards, food forests, and regenerative fruit systems.

Key Characteristics

• Sweet, all-purpose fruit for fresh and culinary use
  Golden Delicious apples are medium to large, with thin, smooth yellow skin and creamy white flesh. Their mellow, honeyed flavor and tender texture shine in fresh eating but also hold up beautifully in baking, sauces, and drying.
• Mid-season harvest with long storage life
  Ripening in late September to early October, Golden Delicious has a long picking window and stores well for 3–4 months in cool conditions. Its flavor often improves after a few weeks in storage, developing richer sweetness.
• Reliable yields and excellent pollination value
  Golden Delicious is a heavy and dependable producer and is renowned as a top-tier pollinator for many other apple varieties due to its abundant and well-timed blooms. It plays a key role in mixed-variety orchards.
• Moderate disease resistance and wide adaptability
  While not as disease-resistant as newer cultivars, Golden Delicious is moderately resistant to fire blight and cedar apple rust with proper care. It thrives in Zones 5–8, adapting well to both humid and drier climates.
• Valuable in food forests and permaculture plantings
  Golden Delicious integrates well into fruit tree guilds and permaculture orchards. Its mid-sized, spreading form and pollination role make it ideal for pairing with insectary plants, nitrogen-fixers, and dynamic accumulators in layered systems.

Product Details

• Sun requirements: Full sun
• Soil requirements: Medium, well-drained
• Bloom time: Mid-season
• Bloom color: White
• Fruit qualities: Medium to large, yellow skin, sweet, juicy, tender flesh
• Fruit uses: Fresh eating, baking, sauces, drying, cider
• Fruit ripening month: Late September to early October
• Required chill hours: ~700–800
• Pollination requirements: Not self-fertile. Best pollination partners include:
• Apple, Liberty
• Apple, Honeycrisp
• Apple, Fuji
• Apple, Enterprise
• Apple, Stayman Winesap
• Apple, Gold Rush
• Apple, Arkansas Black
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 5–8

Golden Delicious remains a top-choice apple for home growers seeking sweet, reliable fruit with broad utility and dependable yields. A cornerstone variety for any orchard or food forest.