Cox's Orange Pippin apple

Sun

Full sun, ideally with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight; shelter from strong winds without restricting airflow.

Water

Keep the root zone evenly moist but not waterlogged, especially during establishment and while fruit is swelling. Water established trees during prolonged dry spells.

Soil

Deep, fertile, well-drained loam; slightly acidic to neutral soil is ideal. Avoid waterlogged ground and shallow, drought-prone soil.

Height

8-12 ft (2.4-3.7 m) on dwarfing rootstocks; 15-25 ft (4.6-7.6 m) on more vigorous rootstocks.

Spread

8-12 ft (2.4-3.7 m) on dwarfing rootstocks; 15-25 ft (4.6-7.6 m) on more vigorous rootstocks.

Flowers

Mid-spring; pink buds open to white flowers flushed with pink.

Foliage

Oval, toothed, mid-green leaves; sometimes yellow in autumn before falling.

Growth

Moderate; rootstock, soil and training strongly affect growth and final size.

Care needed

High

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Hard

Toughness

Needs looking after

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   7 ft (2.1 m)

3. After 2 years

   7 ft (2.1 m)

4. After 3 years

   7 ft (2.2 m)

5. After 5 years

   7 ft (2.3 m)

About 20 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Growth rate

Moderate

• Choose a rootstock suited to your space and local winter conditions; this cultivar is less dependable at the coldest and hottest ends of the general apple hardiness range.
• Plant with the graft union above soil level, and stake dwarf-rootstock trees permanently.
• Water deeply during dry weather and maintain an organic mulch, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Feed in spring if growth is weak; avoid heavy nitrogen feeding, which encourages soft growth and reduces fruit quality.
• Thin crowded fruit after the natural early-summer drop, leaving one apple per cluster, roughly 4-6 in (10-15 cm) apart.
• Provide a different, compatible apple flowering at the same time, such as 'James Grieve' or 'Golden Delicious'; do not rely on self-pollination.

Pruning. Prune free-standing trees in late winter while dormant, removing dead, diseased and crossing branches and maintaining an open framework with fruiting spurs. Prune established cordons and espaliers in late summer to shorten new side shoots, retaining their trained framework.

Pick apples in early to mid-autumn when the background colour turns yellow-green and a gently lifted, twisted fruit separates easily with its stalk attached; taste a sample before picking the whole crop. Dwarf-rootstock trees usually give their first worthwhile crop about 2-4 years after planting, while more vigorous trees may take 4-7 years.

Late winter

Prune free-standing trees, inspect for canker and check stakes and ties.

Early spring

Renew mulch, water if soil is dry and feed only as needed.

Mid-spring

Check that a compatible apple is flowering nearby; avoid insecticides during blossom.

Early summer

Thin fruit clusters and inspect leaves and shoots for disease.

Late summer

Summer-prune trained forms and maintain watering during dry spells.

Early autumn

Test fruit for ripeness and harvest in several passes.

Late autumn

Remove fallen diseased leaves and rotten fruit; plant bare-root trees once dormant if the ground is workable.

• Train as an espalier along a sunny fence to define a productive garden boundary.
• Use dwarf-rootstock trees in a small orchard or kitchen garden, with enough room for access and pruning.
• Grow as cordons beside paths to keep fruit within easy reach.
• Place in a mixed edible garden with low flowering plants beyond a clear, mulched area around the trunk.

Garden styles it suits: English country, Cottage garden, Potager (kitchen garden), Backyard orchard, Edible landscape and Homestead.

Plant it with: James Grieve apple, Golden Delicious apple, Chives, Thyme, Calendula and Yarrow.

Wildlife: Flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other insects. Fallen fruit feeds birds and mammals, but remove rotting or pest-infested apples rather than leaving large accumulations.

• Apple scab: dark leaf spots and scabby fruit are common in wet weather. Clear fallen leaves, keep the canopy open and seek locally approved treatments if repeated infection is severe.
• Apple canker: sunken bark lesions can girdle branches. Cut affected wood back to healthy tissue in dry weather, disinfect tools between cuts and improve drainage.
• Codling moth: caterpillars tunnel into fruit. Remove infested apples promptly, use pheromone traps to monitor activity and follow local guidance on treatment timing.
• Poor fruit set or alternate-year cropping: provide a compatible pollination partner, protect blossom from frost where practical and thin heavy crops early.

Apple flesh is not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses. Seeds, leaves and stems contain cyanogenic compounds; substantial amounts, especially chewed seeds or wilted foliage, can cause serious poisoning. Remove cores and seeds before offering fruit to pets, and keep horses away from pruning waste and piles of fallen apples.

• Sunset apple (Malus domestica 'Sunset')

  A Cox seedling with similar flavour and colouring, often with smaller, more heavily red-striped fruit. Appearance overlaps, so a reliable nursery label is more useful than fruit colour alone.

• Kidd's Orange Red apple (Malus domestica 'Kidd's Orange Red')

  A Cox descendant that generally has a stronger red blush and sweeter, less sharply flavoured flesh. Fruit appearance varies with growing conditions, so these traits are not conclusive.

Raised by Richard Cox in England in the 1820s, the name combines his surname with the fruit's orange colouring and 'pippin', an old term for an apple raised from seed.

Propagation. Propagate by grafting or budding onto a suitable apple rootstock. Seed-grown trees will not reproduce this cultivar reliably; buy a named grafted tree for predictable fruit and size.

Accepted botanical name

Malus domestica

Native range

Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Pakistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang.

Measured

Soil pH 5 to 7.5. Average height 700 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0) and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.