Apple Sunset

• Fruit Use: Dessert / Eating apple.
• Flavour: Aromatic, Cox-like flavour.
• Flesh: Firm, crisp and fine-textured.
• Growth: Compact dessert apple, with final size dependent on rootstock.
• Pollination Group: Group 3.
• Season of Use: October to December.
• Blossom: Pale pink flowers.
• Origin: Raised around 1918 by G. C. Addy at Ightham, Kent.
• Parentage: Cox’s Orange Pippin × unknown variety.
• Award: RHS Award of Merit, 1960.
• Best Position: Full sun in moist but well-drained or well-drained soil.
• Best For: Gardeners looking for a compact traditional dessert apple with crisp fruit and a distinctive Cox-style flavour.

• Superb Cox-like flavour with a rich, aromatic character.
• Crisp, firm and fine-textured flesh with excellent eating quality.
• Compact growth habit, making it a particularly good garden dessert apple.
• Traditional English variety, raised in Kent around 1918. Cox’s Orange Pippin parentage, ideal for gardeners who appreciate classic Cox-style apples.
• Extended season of use, with apples suitable for enjoying from October through to December.

Where is the best place to plant a Sunset apple tree?

Plant Sunset in a sunny position with moist but well-drained soil.

Is Sunset apple self-fertile?

Sunset is self-fertile, so it can produce fruit without a pollination partner. However, growing another compatible apple nearby can help produce a heavier crop.

What pollination group is Sunset apple?

Sunset belongs to Pollination Group 3. A compatible apple flowering at a similar time can provide cross-pollination and potentially improve cropping.

When should I harvest Sunset apples?

Sunset apples are generally ready for picking in late September, with the fruit suitable for use from October through to December.

How should I prune a Sunset apple tree?

Blackmoor Nursery recommends carrying out the main pruning during winter when conditions are not frosty or freezing. Remove dead, dying and diseased wood and aim to maintain an open structure without crossing branches.

Does a Sunset apple tree need regular watering?

Yes, keeping the base weed-free and watering regularly during hot, dry spells.

Is Sunset suitable for a smaller garden?

Sunset has a naturally compact habit, although its eventual size depends considerably on the rootstock chosen. This makes selecting the appropriate rootstock important when growing in a smaller space.

Should I thin the fruit on a Sunset apple tree?

Sunset can crop heavily, and fruit thinning can help prevent excessive numbers of smaller apples.

Sunset Apple Growing Tips.

How to grow a Sunset apple tree in my garden - Our Care Guide for fruit trees will help you get the very best from your tree.

How to plant my apple tree - Our How To Growing Tips section on our website has a video that will show you how.

What other apple varieties will cross pollinate Sunset - Any other apple variety in pollination groups 2, 3 or 4. Pollination chart for apple trees

When is the best time to plant a fruit tree - Container grown apple trees can be planted at any time of the year. Bare Root apple trees can only be planted between the months of November - April.

Planting distance for apple trees - All fruit trees are grafted onto a rootstock. It is the rootstock that determines how big the apple tree will grow into. There is a rootstock guide at the top of all fruit tree product pages that explains this. As tall as the tree will grow into would be the planting distance. Example MM106 will grow to 3-4 metres when mature. So a spacing of between 3-4 metres would be required.

Can I grow a apple tree in a pot - All fruit trees will be happy growing in a large container. A pot around 50-60cm is ideal. There is more information on growing fruit trees in containers in our FAQ page.

How do I prune a fruit tree - Our Care Guide explains the basic principles of fruit tree pruning.

Blackmoor is one of very few Nurseries in the UK offering gardeners the opportunity to buy Malus domestica Sunset apple fruit trees direct from our Nursery. We have one of the largest range of apple trees available for sale online.