Apples · 2027 season
Golden Sentinel Columnar Apple Tree
Malus domestica
Needs a partnerColumnar apple that grows tall and narrow, with large, sweet golden-yellow apples.
- #7 container
- About 1.25" caliper
Pick up in Pittsgrove, NJ, typically in March. Pay cash, check, Venmo or PayPal at pickup.
‘Golden Sentinel’ is a columnar apple: it grows straight up with very short side branches, staying only about 2–3 feet wide. It fits on a patio, in a large container, or in a row along a fence or path.
The apples are large, golden-yellow and sweet, good for fresh eating, baking and sauce. Columnar trees need almost no pruning; just remove any long side branch that sprouts.
Like other apples it needs a partner. Blushing Delight, our other columnar apple, makes a natural pair, and any other apple or a flowering crabapple nearby will also do.
Golden Sentinel is part of the Sentinel series of columnar apples bred in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.
How it tastes
Sweet and mellow, with crisp, juicy flesh. Think of a Golden Delicious grown on a narrow column.
At a glance
- You get
- #7 container, about 1.25" caliper (trunk thickness 6 inches above the soil; each tree varies a little)
- Hardiness zones
- USDA 4–8 (Salem County is 7)
- Blooms
- Mid season
- Ripens
- September
- Starts bearing
- Often 1–2 years after planting
- Mature size
- Columnar: about 8–10 ft tall and only 2–3 ft wide
- Pollination
- Needs a partner
- Botanical name
- Malus domestica
- Price
- $110 each, paid at pickup
- Pickup
- Pittsgrove, NJ, typically in March
The fruit
- Looks
- Large, golden-yellow, sometimes with a light blush
- Flavor
- Sweet and mild
- Best for
- Fresh, Baking, Sauce
- Keeps
- A few weeks in the fridge
Pollination
Needs a different apple (or a flowering crabapple) blooming nearby. Any of the partners below will do it.
Good partners from our list
Growing tips
Watch for: Apple scab and fire blight, like most apples; the narrow shape gives good air flow and makes spraying easy
- Full sun (at least 6–8 hours) and soil that drains well. Avoid low spots where water sits in spring.
- Mature size depends on the rootstock the tree is grafted onto. Ask us if space is tight.
- Water deeply once a week through the first summer, more often in heat waves.
- Pick off all fruit for the first two years. After that, thin the young fruit to one apple per cluster in early summer for bigger apples and a crop every year.
- Prune in late winter while the tree is dormant to open up the center to light and air.
Spray schedule: Apple Pest Control Schedule for New Jersey Home Orchards (Rutgers Cooperative Extension, fact sheet FS112)
New to planting fruit trees? Read our step-by-step planting guide: square hole, graft above the soil, native soil, and no fruit for the first two years.
Photos show the variety, not the exact plant you’ll get. Reservations are for the 2027 season, picked up at our farm in Pittsgrove, NJ, typically in March, and aren’t guaranteed until we confirm them. Questions? Ask us or call or text (856) 345‑4538.
