Rubinola

History and description of Rubinola

Rubinola is a cross between Prima and Rubin bred by the Institute of Experimental Botany in the Czech Republic as part of a programme to develop new disease resistant apple varieties. It was first registered in 1997.

The fruit is medium to large and almost perfectly round in shape. The skin is quite thin and a very attractive red colour over a yellow background. The yellow flesh is firm and crisp but very juicy, almost melting at the same time. It is sweet with fine aromatic flavour. Rubinola is consistently one of the favourite varieties amongst the visitors at the Keepers Nursery annual open days. When cut the flesh does not darken even after long exposure. It is a mid to late season variety best eaten from late September to the end of October but will keep much longer well into the winter if stored.

Rubinola is vigorous producing a large, attractive spreading tree. It is very resistant to apple scab and also resistant to apple powdery mildew. It is tip bearer requiring mainly formative pruning. It crops well but not excessively and requires no crop thining.

Characteristics of Rubinola apple trees

Use	Dessert
Colour	Red
Flavour	Sweet
Fruit size	Medium
Picking time	Late Sept
Season of use	Sept-Dec
Tree vigour	Vigorous
Tree habit	Upright-spreading
Fruit-bearing	Tip-bearer
Cropping	Good
Disease resistance	Mildew - Resistant Scab - Very resistant
Suitable for	Northern Britain Wet Regions
Pollination date	11
Pollination group	C
Self-fertility	Self-sterile
Pollinators	Pollination partners