Apple, Ambrosia, Bare Root

Ambrosia Apple (Malus domestica)

Ambrosia is a sweet, low-acid dessert apple with a red-pink blush over a creamy yellow background. Its mild flavor and juicy texture suit fresh eating, lunchboxes, and sliced fruit.

Key Characteristics

Sweet fruit without a sharp finish

The flesh is crisp and juicy, with honeyed sweetness and relatively little acidity. It is a good choice for people who find tart apples too sharp.

A useful apple for slicing

Cut flesh browns relatively slowly, making it convenient for salads and packed lunches. Refrigerate cut fruit promptly and harvest sound apples for storing.

Balance growth and fruiting

This productive apple benefits from thinning crowded fruit clusters. Maintain an open canopy and monitor for scab and fire blight rather than treating it as a disease-resistant selection.

Pollination Partners

Plant at least one different, compatible apple variety for cross-pollination. Options in our 2027 selection include Gibson Gold, Enterprise, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith. A second tree of the same cultivar on another rootstock is still the same variety. Cross-pollination depends on overlapping bloom, not matching harvest months.

For additional orchard pollen diversity and spring flowers, consider Prairie Fire crabapple, where its bloom overlaps the apples it supports.

Rootstock and Mature Size

Semi-dwarf G969 Rootstock: approximately 10–15 feet. Mature size varies with soil, training, and pruning. Give dwarfing rootstocks secure support; the M.106/M.111 option may be either rootstock, so allow for the larger end of its range.

Product Details

• Sun: Full sun to light partial shade; full sun is best for fruiting.
• Soil: medium to medium-dry, well-drained soil; avoid standing water.
• Mature height: Approximately 10–15 feet; see rootstock and pruning guidance above.
• Bloom: Mid-season; pink buds opening to white flowers.
• Fruit: Red-pink blush over yellow skin; crisp, juicy, sweet and low in acidity.
• Uses: Fresh eating, salads, lunchboxes, juice, and drying.
• Ripening: September–October
• Chill hours: Approximately 700 hours.
• Pollination: Cross-pollination with a compatible cultivar required.
• USDA hardiness: Zones 4–8.

General Apple Orchard Guidance

A good start

Choose well-drained soil and enough room for the mature tree. Water consistently while roots establish, mulch with space around the trunk, and keep vigorous grass and other competitors away from the young root zone.

Fertility and fruit-tree guilds

Use a soil test to guide lime and fertilizer rather than feeding heavily by default. Our Tree Planting Kit fertilizer blend is an optional planting supplement; keep concentrated fertilizer away from bare roots and avoid excess nitrogen.

Interested in permaculture and stacking functions around your fruit trees? Explore our fruit-tree guild guide for ideas on combining plants for flowers, ground cover, and mulch while giving your tree room to grow.

Practical pest and disease care

Prune for light and airflow, thin crowded fruit, and remove fallen or mummified apples. Monitor for codling moth, apple maggot, and plum curculio; bagging clean young fruit after thinning can help in a small orchard. Identify a problem before choosing a treatment, and avoid insecticides during bloom to protect bees.