Libertas

Libertas produces attractive, medium-sized, red apples with pronounced lenticels. It produces fruit with a sweet fruity flavor and very good breaking texture. The flavor is fairly neutral until quite ripe, at which time it develops a distinct and very good fruity flavor. Most seasons it is fairly attractive although it colors poorly in some seasons and in less than full sun. Delayed harvest results in greasiness. Libertas has moderate storage life and at later harvest dates the keeping quality is diminished. It appears to be resistant to scab, rust, powdery mildew and tolerant of fire blight. The cultivar is susceptible to rust induced leaf spotting which is easily controlled with either organic or conventional fungicides. It is susceptible to fire blight due to late and extended bloom, but quickly walls off infections. Summer fruit rots including bitter rot have not been observed under either organic and conventional management. It is late blooming, precocious, heavy bearing, and somewhat biennial in bearing. Libertas ripens in late mid-season three weeks after Liberty. The tree is of moderate to high vigor with good branch angles and is easy to train. It is well suited to both conventional and organic production.

Pros: disease resistant, easy to train, productive, good to great flavor and very good texture

Cons: occasionally poor color for commercial type apple, potential for greasiness; size can be small if trees are overcropped

Recommendation: backyard growers; organic growers; specialty growers who can manage harvest to get it at its best (which is very good) and who can accept variable color.

Origin: Sundance was used as a parent in the breeding program to provide rust resistance in yellow apples. About 500 open-pollinated seeds were planted and most were brought to fruiting. Many had undesirable flavors, but Libertas stood out for appearance and flavor. Libertas was chosen as a name for the cultivar’s relative freedom from disease, and because it is a star name.