The ‘Maunzenapfel’ is mainly known in southern Germany. We will introduce you to the high-yielding and robust apple and explain what you need to consider when growing and caring for it.
The ‘Maunzenapfel’ is also simply called ‘Maunzen’ and is one of the most robust apple varieties. It defies frost, settles down at cool altitudes, successfully fends off most diseases and, as a "mass carrier", can deliver incredibly high yields. Its fruit is especially used for musts and juices because of its favorable sugar-acid ratio.
contents
- ‘Maunzenapfel‘: Wanted poster
- Origin and history of the apple
- ‘Maunzen‘: appearance and taste
- Cultivation and care of the apple variety ‘Maunzenapfel’
- Harvest and use ‘Maunzenäpfel‘
‘Maunzenapfel‘: Characteristics
| Synonyms | ‘Maunzen’ |
| fruit | small to medium in size; yellowish-green basic color with light red striped surface color |
| taste | juicy, sweet and sour |
| Yield | very high; tends to alternate |
| Harvest time | from September |
| Ripe for enjoyment | from November on |
| Shelf life | Well; storable until January |
| growth | medium to strong |
| climate | undemanding; Thrives even at high altitudes with severe frost |
| Diseases and pests | hardly susceptible to pests and diseases |
Origin and history of the apple
The ‘Maunzenapfel’ comes from the Göppingen area in Baden-Württemberg. It is named after its finder, an arborist named Maunzen. The ‘Maunzenapfel’ was a random seedling, the tree species Maunzen recognized its potential and continued to propagate it. This is said to have happened around 1900, but it was only after the ice winter of 1928/29 that the special qualities of the Maunzenapfel were recognized: The tree was exceptionally frost-hardy and almost the only variety withstood temperatures close to -40 even at high altitudes ° C. As a result of this experience, the ‘Maunzenapfel’ was increasingly grown in southern Germany.
‘Muzzle‘: Appearance and taste
The fruit of the ‘Maunzenapfel’ is small to medium-sized. The apple is usually equilateral and conical with five pronounced edges that give it the shape of a pentagon from above. The shell surface is usually flat, sometimes slightly covered with warts and only slightly greasy. The base color of the shell is yellowish green, the outer color, washed out on the sunny side, is light red, striped and marbled. The stem is rather thin.
The meat inside is juicy, very firm, with a sour taste and a yellowish white color.
The apple smells pleasantly aromatic, but the taste is not particularly appealing. Because of this - and also because of its attractive appearance - the apple is sometimes referred to as a "blender".
Cultivation and care of the apple variety ‘Maunzenapfel’
The ‘Maunzenapfel’ is one of the toughest, simplest and healthiest apple varieties. The demands on the climate are minimal; high altitudes with severe frost and cool summers are no problem for the tree. It grows satisfactorily on any normal garden soil. Only very light, sandy soils should be spread over a large area with high-quality potting soil like ours Plantura organic universal soil be enriched. In this way you can increase the proportion of organic matter and ensure that the soil is always slightly moist and rich in nutrients.
The tree Maunzenapfel ’is medium to strong growing and shows this behavior into old age. If you want to plant the apple in a home garden with little space, you should only buy the variety grafted on weaker growing substrates such as M9 or M7. However, it should be noted here that these are far less frost-hardy than the ‘Maunzenapfel’ variety, M9 is even considered to be very susceptible to wood frost.
In order to be able to take full advantage of the particular robustness of the apple variety, it should therefore be cultivated on its own root, if the space is available for it. The cultivation as a high trunk on an extensively cultivated orchard meadow is ideally suited for the ‘Maunzen’.
The growth of the ‘Maunzen’ is strongly branching, so that dense and spherical crowns quickly emerge. It is recommended that the tree is rarely pruned in extensive cultivation and only occasionally removed branches that are aging or that are growing poorly. Anyone who pulls the ‘Maunzenapfel’ on a poorly growing base should use scissors and a saw every year to thin out the crown. With a professional Apple tree cut you can give the tree the right impulses.
The blossom of the Maunzenapfel opens late and therefore frost-proof between April and mid-May. The pink-tinged flowers are best pollinated with the help of bees through a nearby pollinator. The ‘Red star ribbon’, the ‘Goldparmäne’, the ‘James Grieve’ and ‘Cox Orange’ proven.
As a mass carrier, the ‘Maunzenapfel’ unfortunately tends to alternate, i.e. to fluctuating yields, even with the best apple tree pruning. Radical cuts should be avoided in order not to stimulate him further. In years with an extremely high fruit set, the curtain should definitely be thinned out, so as far as possible all but one small fruit per fruit set should be removed. This thinning prevents the apple from being completely without fruit in the following year.
The ‘Maunzenapfel’ is hardly susceptible to Fruit tree cancer, Fire blight and powdery mildew and is almost never attacked by apple scab.
‘Muzzle apples‘ harvest and use
The fruits of the autumn and winter apple ‘Maunzenapfel’ are already ripe for the trees from early to mid-September, so they can be picked for storage. The pulp is still very firm in this state and even tastes slightly bitter. The bitter taste can no longer be tasted until October and the apple is edible in November. The apple can be kept until January if harvested early and stored in a dark, cool and humid place.
Because of its high sugar and acid content, the ‘Maunzenapfel’ is a very popular fruit for pressing, must, and even for distilling schnapps when it is ready to be consumed. The variety is not recommended as a dessert fruit, however, a pollinator variety planted nearby is better suited for this purpose, such as the price-worthy, delicious one ‘Cox Orange’.
The ‘Maunzenapfel’ is a generous pollen donor that can reliably pollinate other apple varieties but also provide food for many insects. He is one of the most bee-friendly plantsthat you can plant in your garden - one more reason to think about getting an apple tree!
