LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT APPLE TREE

Lane’s Prince Albert is a cooking variety which produces a soft puree. Some gardeners who prefer sharp tasting apples claim that it tastes good after a month in storage. Having tried this we would disagree! Yes it does sweeten in storage but not sufficient for our taste buds.

This variety has several excellent qualities including good disease resistance, it retains a compact shape but at the same time regularly produces a large crop. Ideal for the smaller garden.

PARENTAGE

The parents are Russet Nonpareil x Dumelow’s Seedling. The first tree was raised by Thomas Squire who named it Albert and Victoria after a visit to the area in 1841 by the royal couple. The tree was noticed by Mr John Lane of Lane’s Nurseries in Berkhamsted who took some grafts and began to propagate it.

It was first released to the public in 1857 at the British Pomological Society (with the new name Lane’s Prince Albert) and became a commonly grown apple variety in the UK by the late 1800s. Lane’s Nurseries said of it, “It is a good bearer, a good cooker, good keeper and a good eater after Christmas. Another good point is that it will thrive on any soil and grows almost like a weed.”

The independent book, Hogg’s Fruit Manual has this to say about it “A very excellent culinary apple, from October to March. It was raised by Messrs. H. Lane & Son, of Berkhamsted ….. The tree is a marvelous bearer, and rarely fails to produce a crop.”

APPEARANCE, TASTE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT

The slightly larger than average apples are green, becoming streaked red, particularly on the sun-facing side, as they mature. The taste is acidic and full-flavoured, an excellent cooking apple. The apples are not particularly regular in shape with the odd bulge or two but they are generally round.

The trees tend to be compact making it ideal for smaller gardens. Fruit is produced almost without fail every year, an extremely dependable tree.

Lane's Prince Albert apples

Pictures above from public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.

Lane’s Prince Albert is one of those apple trees which grows well in almost all conditions, Clay or lighter ground, wet or dry, it somehow seems to thrive in any conditions. A great tree for the novice to apple tree growing.

PESTS AND DISEASES OF LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT

This variety has very good disease resistance, especially to scab. When other apple trees end up with marked fruit because of scab a Lane’s Prince Albert will in all likelihood remain unmarked. It also has good resistance to canker.

Occasionally it can suffer from mildew. This affects young leaf shoots at first and appear as a white / light grey powder like coating. If left untreated it will spread to older leaves and the fruit. See the picture below for an example of how it looks on young shoots.

Powdery Mildew on blackcurrant leaves

Repeated attacks of this fungus can weaken apple trees considerably reducing the crop of apples. The primary cause is an uneven supply of water and a crowded centre to the tree preventing air circulation. Mulching around the base of the tree especially at the edges of the canopy will preserve water and help ensure a constant an even supply. Click here for our page dedicated to identifying and preventing Powdery Mildew.

FLOWERING AND HARVEST TIMES OF LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT

The average flowering time (optimum time for pollination) and date when fruits are ripe for harvest in the UK for the Lane’s Prince Albert apple tree are set out below. It is in pollination group 4. If you have set your home town we can give you a more accurate estimate, if you have not set your home town (do it now by clicking here) the dates below will be the average for the UK.

Your town has not been set, the average main flowering time for Lanes Prince Albert in the UK is the second week of May. Fruit will be ready for harvesting in the second week of October. Click here if you want to set the dates to your home town.

Flowering and fruit picking dates vary according to the weather in any particular growing season so the above dates may well change slightly from one year to the next. The flowering date above is when the apple tree produces the maximum number of blossoms, it will also produce blossom, although less, a week or two either side of the date given.

BUYING A LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT APPLE TREE

This is not one of the common apple tree varieties in the UK so you will be unlikely to find it at most garden centres. Online these are not the most common tree to find but there are several stockist which can easily be found.

It is clear that the prices of quality trees varies enormously depending on your chosen supplier. For example Keepers Nursery look good at first glance. However an advertised price of only £16.50 turns into an exceptionally high £31.00 when you add in their £14.50 delivery charge!

VAT, delivery charges and other incidentals all need to be taken into account! We would also advise that buying a bare-rooted Lane’s Prince Albert is roughly £10 cheaper than the equivalent potted tree. There is no difference in quality so always try to buy the bare-rooted tree.

Our recommendation for rootstock would be to buy it on MM106 for the average sized garden.

Remember that all apple trees need a stake to support them for the first couple of years and some require staking for life. So if you haven’t got a stake and a tie for your new tree then buy one when you order the tree for convenience.

POLLINATION OF LANE’S PRINCE ALBERT

We list below varieties which are suitable pollination partners for Lane’s Prince Albert which is in pollination group 4 and self-sterile. It needs a nearby suitable variety of apple tree to produce fruit.

Arthur Turner – pollination group 3, self-sterile, cooker
Bountiful – pollination group 3, self-sterile, cooker
Braeburn – pollination group 4, self-fertile, eater
Charles Ross – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker and eater
Court of Wick – pollination group 3, self-sterile, eater and cooker
Cox’s Orange Pippin – pollination group 3,
see here for fertility, eater and cooker
Discovery – pollination group 3, self-sterile, eating and cider
Dumelow’s Seedling – pollination group 4, self-sterile, cooker
Ellison’s Orange – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, eater
Emneth Early – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker
Epicure – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater
Falstaff – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater
Fiesta – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, eater
Gala – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, eater
Golden Delicious – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, eater and cooker
Granny Smith – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater and cooker
Grenadier – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker
Honeycrisp – pollination group 4, self-sterile, eater
Howgate Wonder – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker and eater
James Grieve – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker and eater
Katy – pollination group 3, self-sterile, both
Kidds Orange Red – pollination group 3, self-sterile, eater
King of The Pippins – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, eater and cooker
Laxtons Fortune – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, eater
Laxtons Superb – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, eater
Lord Derby – pollination group 4, self-sterile, cooker
Merton Beauty – pollination group 5, self-sterile, eater
Newton Wonder – pollination group 4, partially self-fertile, cooker
Peasgoods Nonsuch – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, cooker
Rajka – pollination group 4, self-sterile, eater
Red Falstaff – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, eater
Scrumptious – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater
Sops in Wine – pollination group 3, self-sterile, juicer
Spartan – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater
Sunset – pollination group 3, self-fertile, eater
Tydemans Late Orange – pollination group 4, self-sterile, eater
Waltz – pollination group 3, self-sterile, eater
Winston – pollination group 4, self-fertile, eater
Worcester Pearmain – pollination group 3, partially self-fertile, eater

The full list of apple tree varieties which we have reviewed is listed below. Select any one of them and then click the “More Information” button to be taken to the in depth review: