The World of Apples

Apple varieties, United States

Haralson

A Malinda seedling named after the first head of Minnesota's fruit breeding farm; DNA names Wealthy as its other parent

History

Haralson was raised at the University of Minnesota’s Fruit Breeding Farm, on land south of Excelsior bought in 1908 and now the University’s Horticultural Research Center1,3. Malinda, an apple from Orange County, Vermont, brought to Minnesota about 1860 and valued for its hardiness rather than its quality, played a central part in the farm’s early apple breeding1. Some 3,800 seedlings from open-pollinated Malinda seed, gathered in an orchard that also held several of the best varieties of the day, were tested through the 1910s, including the severe winter of 1917–18, and several cultivars came directly from them1. Haralson, recorded as a seedling of open-pollinated Malinda, was selected in 1913, tested as Minnesota 90 and introduced in 19231,2,3. It bears the name of Charles Haralson, the farm’s first superintendent, from 1908 to 19231.

The records named only Malinda as a parent1,3. In 2022 the University’s breeders, checking their cultivars’ pedigrees with DNA markers, found that the other parent was Wealthy4, a result also given by Larsen and colleagues in 20256.

In 1991 Haralson was the most widely grown apple in Minnesota1, and in 2022 it was still in production4. It is a parent of the University’s Honeygold, from Golden Delicious × Haralson, introduced in 19691,3.

The fruit

The fruit is medium-sized to large; at the National Fruit Collection it is oblong-conical, about 77 mm wide and 74 mm high2,3. The skin, green-yellow beneath, is striped, mottled or flushed with orange to deep red, and has a little russet2,3. The white to cream flesh is firm, crisp and juicy, with a mild, pleasantly tart flavour that the University calls complex2,3,7. The fruit may be prone to watercore and russeting7. It stores for four to five months according to the University, or four to six according to the USDA’s germplasm inventory2,7.

The University gives its ripening season as late September to early October; the USDA inventory gives September to October, depending on location2,7. At Brogdale, Kent, the tree begins to flower around 7 May and the fruit is picked in mid-October3.

Growing

The tree is hardy and productive, and bears early, often in the second year after planting, but it tends to crop in alternate years2,7. It is moderately resistant to fire blight and cedar-apple rust, and the USDA inventory rates it hardy to about −46 °C (“-50 degrees F”)2. The University describes the tree as of low vigour and easily trained7. Haralson is diploid6.

Uses

The University recommends it for eating fresh and for cooking, and calls it an especially good pie apple7; the USDA inventory rates it good for eating and for cider and even better for baking, noting that it holds its shape and texture2.

Where the sources disagree

  • Year of introduction. Luby’s 1991 list, the USDA inventory and the National Fruit Collection give 19231,2,3; MNopedia gives 19225, and the University’s Arboretum wrote in 2022 that it had been introduced 100 years before4.
  • Vigour. The USDA inventory counts vigour among its known qualities2; the University describes the tree as of low vigour7.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Offspring in the atlas

  • Honeygold × Golden Delicious; United States, 1935
Haralson
Where Haralson came from.

Sources

  1. Breeding cold-hardy fruit crops in Minnesota, J. J. Luby, HortScience 26(5): 507–512 (copy on a University of Wisconsin–Madison site), 1991-05. Supports: land south of Excelsior bought in 1908, the Fruit Breeding Farm, today the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center; "Charles Haralson was the first superintendent (1908-23) of the Fruit Breeding Farm. The 'Haralson' apple, the most widely grown cultivar in the state, bears his name" (p. 507); Malinda, from Orange County, Vermont, brought to Minnesota about 1860, valued for hardiness though of mediocre quality; some 3800 seedlings from open-pollinated Malinda seed evaluated through the 1910s, including the severe winter of 1917–18, the seed coming from an orchard that also held several of the high-quality cultivars of the era (p. 508); Table 1 (p. 509): Haralson, Minnesota no. 90, introduced 1923, parentage "Malinda op"; Honeygold, introduced 1969, from Golden Delicious × Haralson.
  2. Plant Inventory No. 204, Part II, p. 57: Haralson (PI 589469), R. A. Norris (ed.), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1996. Supports: developed by the University of Minnesota Fruit Breeding Farm, Excelsior; pedigree "Malinda x"; selected 1913; "named and intro: 1923"; tested as Minn. 90; medium size, red-striped to deep red; crisp, juicy, firm, medium tender, white flesh; "Mild, pleasantly tart flavor"; good for fresh eating and cider, "even better for baking", holding its shape and texture; stores well for 4–6 months; tree known for hardiness, vigour, productivity and quality; tends to be biennial, with early production, often in the second year after planting; moderate resistance to fire blight and cedar-apple rust; ripens September to October depending on location; "-50 degrees F.".
  3. Haralson (accession 1966-037), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "Originated in Excelsior, Minnesota, USA by the University of Minnesota Fruit Breeding Farm. Selected in 1913 and introduced in 1923"; parentage "Malinda x Unknown"; father of Honeygold; large, oblong conical, 74.14 mm high and 76.54 mm wide; green-yellow ground with an orange overcolour, striped, mottled or solid flush; low russet; fine, juicy, cream flesh; 10% flowering on 7 May and picking in mid-October at the collection.
  4. Filling in the Apple Family Tree, Liz Potasek, University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 2022-02-16. Supports: the University's breeders (Luby, Bedford, Howard and Tillman, HortScience, 2022) using DNA markers to confirm the parentage of its cultivars; Haralson, "introduced 100 years ago and is still in production", "an offspring of Malinda and Wealthy".
  5. Wealthy apple, Molly Huber, MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society, 2025-04-16. Supports: Haralson "developed at the University of Minnesota's Fruit Breeding Farm in 1922".
  6. Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, B. Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, supplementary file 2 (Table S5), 2025. Supports: Table S5: the SNP-confirmed parents of Haralson, Malinda (listed first, as the mother where pedigree records exist) and Wealthy; Haralson diploid.
  7. All University of Minnesota Apple Varieties, Minnesota Hardy, University of Minnesota. Supports: Haralson: "Firm texture with a complex tart flavor"; good for fresh eating and cooking, "especially good pie apple"; stores 4 to 5 months; tree of low vigour and easily trained; tends to biennial bearing; fruit may be prone to watercore and russeting; ripens late September to early October.

All 235 varieties from United States