Last edited by shiny on 8 Nov 2026. View history
Granny Smith Apple
A variety of apple
How to sow granny smith apple: Transplant bare-root plant
Sun requirement for granny smith apple: Plant in Full Sun
Granny Smith apples are tip-bearing apple cultivars that were developed in Australia in 1868 by Maria Anna Smith. They are thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M. domestica. The fruit has hard, light green skin and crisp, tart juicy flesh.They can be eaten fresh and are a very popular apple for baking. They have a longer storage life than other apples due to their low ethylene content. Blossoms are white. Trees require 400 hours below 7°C each winter. Granny Smith apples are self-pollinating but benefit from having a tree of another variety with the same bloom period within 50 feet (Rome, Akane, Cripps Pink, Golden Delicious). Apples are propagated through grafting because they are genetic hybrids that produce new genetic combinations in their seedlings. Semi-dwarf and dwarf rootstocks are available. Depending on the size chosen, the tree will bear fruit within 2-5 years of planting.
- 1
- planting
- 0
- harvests
- 0
- seed packets
Granny smith apple facts
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For granny smith apple, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 8°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 2250 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your granny smith apple will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing granny smith apples
- Dig a wide hole and add compost 1 week before planting out
- Stake and tie the young tree at planting out
- Water the young tree at planting out every week
- Mulch around the trunk 2 weeks after planting out
- Prune to shape the tree 12 months after planting out
- Thin the fruit 4 weeks before first harvest
- Pick ripe apples at first harvest every week
- Prune after the leaves fall 6 months after first harvest
How members grow granny smith apples
Sunniness
Planted from
Plant granny smith apples with
onion
Photos
PhotosGranny smith apple plantings
Granny smith apple harvests
Video
Where granny smith apples grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about granny smith apples
Nobody has posted about granny smith apples yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing granny smith apples.
Who's planted granny smith apples
- maco food forest · Wheaton-Glenmont, MD
Granny smith apple harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your granny smith apple harvests.Find granny smith apple seeds
There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Malus domestica Borkh.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Rosales Rosaceae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 14 - 27 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 8 - 33 °C |
| Killing temperature | growth: -2 °C, rest: -30 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 700 - 2500 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 500 - 3200 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 6.0 - 7.0 |
| Absolute soil pH | 4.5 - 8.0 |
| Crop cycle | 180 - 320 days |
| Max altitude | 1800 m |
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
| Optimal light | very bright to clear skies |
Learn more about granny smith apples
Resources outside Growstuff.
