Bramley's Seedling

The most popular classic English cooking apple.

Origin: Nottinghamshire UK, 1809

Pollination: Bramley's Seedling is a self-sterile triploid and would require a pollinator to produce a crop.Find pollination partners >

British-grown All our bare-root trees are personally hand-grafted by our Nursery Manager and grown on at our nursery in Kent. We have Defra and Plant Healthy certification. More ...

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History and description of Bramley's Seedling

The original Bramley's Seedling tree was raised by Betsy Brailsford in her cottage garden at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK 1809-1813. The tree came to the notice of the nurseryman Henry Merryweather c 1857, who named the variety Bramley's Seedling after Mr Bramley who owned the cottage garden at the time, and introduced it in 1865. It received a First Class Certificate from the RHS in 1883 and was soon adopted by commercial growers. It has since become by far the best known and widely grown culinary apple in the UK.

Irregular, large, flat-round fruit. Green to greenish yellow skin with some brownish orange flush and red stripes. Commercially grown fruit is usually plain green because it is picked before the colour develops. White, green tinged, juicy flesh. Cooks to a pale cream puree. Its strong acidity and flavour have made Bramley's Seedling by far the most popular English cooking apple. Very good keeping quality retaining much of its acidity and flavour until the spring. Bramley's Seedling is widely used for cider making and also produces excellent sharp tasting juice.

Very vigorous triploid tree. Characteristic large leathery leaves and thick shoots. Heavy cropping but with some biennial tendency. Partial tip bearer. Prone to bitter pit. Attractive bright pink blossom.

Characteristics of Bramley's Seedling apple trees

Use	Culinary
Colour	Green
Flavour	Acid
Fruit size	Large
Picking time	Early Oct
Season of use	Nov-Mar
Tree vigour	Vigorous
Tree habit	Upright-spreading
Fruit-bearing	Partial tip-bearer
Cropping	Heavy
Disease resistance	Scab - Slightly susceptible Mildew - Resistant Canker - Resistant
Suitable for	Late Frost Northern Britain
Special features	Attractive Blossom Good for Cider Good for Juice
Pollination date	12
Pollination group	D
Self-fertility	Self-sterile triploid
Pollinators	Pollination partners
Progeny	Byfleet Seedling Cobra
Sports	Crimson Bramley Bramley 20