Nodhead Apple

scionwood
This is a twig for grafting. Fall-winter. Unknown parentage. Hollis, New Hampshire, early 1800s. Also known as Jewett’s Red or Jewett’s Fine Red.

Excellent tart eating right off the tree after a few frosty nights in October and remaining excellent well into winter. Tender and juicy. I’ve never heard a satisfactory explanation for the name, but I’ve grown to love the flat truncate oddly shaped medium-sized deep crimson fruit—resembling Winesap—and the neat small easily managed rounded tree. Like Blue Pearmain, its possible parent, it has a heavy blue bloom.

Some years ago I received a wonderful note from Ruth King, “When I was a little girl (I’m 89 now) a Nodhead tree grew just outside our dining room. I expect it was quite frail as there were so few apples that the five of us kids squabbled as to who got the most!”

Bears a crop every year. Keeps until midwinter. Long-lived, natural semi-dwarf tree. Blooms midseason. Z4.
ships in early spring

7881 Nodhead

This item is currently unavailable.
Would you like us to e-mail you when it's back in stock?
A: 1 8" scionwood stick
$6.00
Check for new listings in mid-August
B: 1 ft scionwood by the foot (10' minimum)
$5.50
Check for new listings in mid-August

Related Items

Rootstock
Grafting Supplies
Hole-Istic Spring Planting Mix
Quick Details
Harvest Season
fall-winter
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Apples with Harvest Timing Similar to ‘Fall-Winter’

Variety Product Type Harvest Season
Ananas Reinette scionwood late fall
Ashmead’s Kernel scionwood winter
Baldwin scionwood winter
Belle de Boskoop scionwood winter
Ben Davis scionwood winter
Black Oxford scionwood winter
Blue Pearmain scionwood fall-winter
Brock scionwood fall-winter
Bullock scionwood fall-winter
Calville Blanc d’Hiver scionwood winter
Cherryfield scionwood fall-winter
Chisel Jersey scionwood late fall
Cortland scionwood fall-winter
Dabinett scionwood late fall
Drap d’Or scionwood fall-winter
Empire scionwood fall-winter
Esopus Spitzenburg scionwood fall-winter
Frostbite scionwood fall-winter
Golden Russet scionwood winter
GoldRush scionwood winter
Gray Pearmain scionwood fall-winter
Grinder Goblin scionwood late fall
Grindstone scionwood fall-winter
Haralson scionwood winter
Honeycrisp scionwood winter
Honeygold scionwood winter
Hurlbut scionwood late fall
Jonathan scionwood fall-winter
Keepsake scionwood winter
King David scionwood fall-winter
Medaille d’Or scionwood late fall
Melrose scionwood fall-winter
Milden scionwood fall-winter
Milo Gibson scionwood late fall-winter
Mutsu scionwood fall-winter
Nodhead scionwood fall-winter
Northern Spy scionwood winter
Porter’s Perfection scionwood late fall
Rhode Island Greening scionwood fall-winter
Ribston Pippin scionwood fall-winter
Roxbury Russet scionwood winter
Spencer scionwood late fall-winter
Tolman Sweet scionwood fall-early winter
Tumanga scionwood fall-winter
Windham Russet scionwood late fall
Winn Russet scionwood winter
Winter Banana scionwood fall-winter
Yellow Bellflower scionwood winter
Zabergau Reinette scionwood winter
Api Etoile scionwood winter
Bethel scionwood winter
Golden Delicious scionwood fall-winter
Hunt Russet scionwood winter
Shizuka scionwood fall-winter
Starkey scionwood fall-winter
Stoke Red scionwood late fall
Shipping

Scionwood and early rootstock orders ship around March 10.

Additional Information

Scionwood

Scions are twigs, not trees. They have no roots and will not grow if you plant them. They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring grafting.

We do our best to provide ¼" caliper stock. Because of factors beyond our control (such as weather!) stock may be 3⁄16–3⁄8".

We sell scionwood in two ways:

  • By the stick: One 8" stick will graft 3-4 trees.
  • By the foot: Minimum order of 10 feet per variety. For orchardists grafting large numbers of trees of a particular variety. In our own nursery work, we are usually able to graft 6-8 trees from one foot of scionwood.

You can graft right away or store scionwood for later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks stored in sealed ziplock bags in the refrigerator.

For more info:
About Scionwood

Apples

Choosing the Right Apple

Not sure where to start? Check out our Apple Chart!

Choosing a variety: Not every variety may be right for you. All-purpose apples are just that—they’re good for a bunch of jobs. If you're planting just one tree, perhaps start there. However, if you’re a history buff, consider the historical varieties and maybe plant one that originated nearby. If you don’t eat many apples but love pies, go for the pie apples. If you’re a dessert connoisseur, skip all the others and go for the highly flavored dessert varieties. Some are strictly for cider. Some are great to put out at the camp for summer use. Some are perfect for those who want fall fruit but don’t have a root cellar. Others keep all winter and into the following summer.

  • Summer apples ripen in summer, are generally crisp only for a short period, do not store well, and are often best for cooking.
  • Fall apples store longer and are useful for a wide variety of purposes.
  • Winter apples ripen mid to late fall, store well, and reach their best flavor after weeks, or even months, of storage.
  • Dessert apples are delicious eaten raw.
  • Crabapples are less than 2" in diameter. Some crabs bear edible or culinary or cider-making fruit. Some have persistent wildlife fruit that hangs on the tree for weeks or even months. Others have hardly any fruit at all. Some are beautiful ornamentals.
  • Cider apples are especially suited to making fermented “hard” cider. Some cider apples are also good dessert fruit, but most are not.
  • Subacid means tart!
  • Russet or russeting is a skin texture (fairly common on apple varieties and on a few pears and potatoes) which looks and feels somewhat like suede.
  • Bloom is a naturally occurring dust-like yeast film on the skin of some varieties of apples, plums, grapes and blueberries.

Cider Apples

Each year we offer a different assortment of the best European and American cider varieties, including new wild apple introductions from local fruit explorers and cidermakers. Many of these are NOT for fresh eating. They do however possess qualities that make them very desirable for fermented cider production.

Seedling Apples

These trees were grown from seeds, rather than grafted onto rootstock like the other apple varieties we offer. These standard-sized trees will grow to 20–30'.

Flowering and Culinary Crabapples

A crabapple is any apple with fruit smaller than 2" in diameter. All crabs bear edible fruit, some more favorable for culinary use than others. Some fruits are persistent, hanging on the branch through winter and providing forage for robins, jays and waxwings in the early spring. The flowers, tree form and even the shape of the leaves can vary subtly or profoundly. Most are magnificent in bloom and ornamental year round, especially in winter when the leaves drop and the trees show off their interesting forms.

Growing Apples

  • Soil: Adaptable, but prefers well-drained fertile soil.
  • Sun: Full.
  • Pollination: Requires a second variety for pollination. Any apple or crabapple blooming within a quarter mile will probably do.
  • Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
  • Spacing:
    • For trees on Malus domestica (standard) and Bud 118 rootstock, 20–25' apart.
    • M111 semi-dwarf, 15–20' apart.
    • G890 semi-dwarf, 10–15' apart.
    • Bud 9 dwarf, 5–10' apart.