Weekly spraying of home apple orchards for the dreaded apple scab is a total downer. Over the past half century have come the first scab-free immune apple varieties: Prima, Priscilla, and Sir Prize. However, Prima and Priscilla will never win any taste awards.

All 3 varieties are very susceptible to other apple disease maladies as cedar-apple rust, powdery mildew and fire blight. All are rated as dessert quality, possessing a short shelf life after picking.

Currently, the Penn State Extension website lists Freedom, Enterprise, Liberty, Novomac, Pristine, Redfree and Sundance with good resistance to 3 of the 4 major diseases.

Select 2 -3 varieties as apple trees require cross-pollination. Purchase them on a dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock, properly prune them annually, and you’ll be harvesting fruit from trees in 3 years.