TOMBOY CRAB

SKILLCULT APPLE BREEDING PROJECT

 This page is for information on my seedling apple Tomboy Crab.

Tomboy is a cross between Wickson and Rubaiyat, with Wickson being the seed parent.

The trial number is Wickson x Rubaiyat 2013/5 This is the same cross from the same year that produced Cherub. Tomboy is small, a little rough on the outside but pink and sugary inside.

As of 2023 I’ve only fruited this apple two or three years and the first two it barely fruited and didn’t develop well on the young tree. In 2023, it came into it’s own though and finally bore a real crop of good apples. The apples are small, similar in size to Wickson and Cherub. It has a minimal amount of savory flavor from Wickson the flavor otherwise is very good, rich but hard to put any names to. The overall impressions are that it is a sprightly, richly flavored crab, very sweet, but with a good sugar/acid balance. So far it seems worth being in the conversation with the usual suspects in the dessert crab category. Given that there are not very many of them out there, that could be kind of a big deal.

The apples have a yellow base color, with some russeting and overall are somewhat rough and uneven in appearance. Inside, they have some pink color. My hope is that the pink flesh will be more developed in some years. I have not detected any pink flavor, such as berries or fruit punch, but that could still happen too. The bottom line is that the best specimens I have had were excellent and could compete with the likes of Trailman, Chestnut Crab and Wickson, at least as grown here. I don’t think it is going to be a difficult task to populate the dessert crab category of apples with dozens if not hundreds of new worthy varieties. Read more about that category of apples and my breeding efforts to make more of them here. I’ll be crossing Tomboy with high quality russets, like Golden Russet, Roxbury and Ashmeads, as well as other dessert crabs, like Chestnut and Centennial.