Rev. W. Wilks

A very early cooker producing large fruit on a small tree, which makes it one of the few culinary apples that suits a restricted space. Strongly biennial: expect a heavy year and then very little.

A cultivar of Apple. Everything on this page is about the cultivar; how to grow the species is on the plant page, and how big the tree gets is on the rootstock page.

Names and origin

Also sold as: Reverend W Wilks

Pollination

What this cultivar needs before it will set a crop.

Self-fertility: Needs a pollination partner
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
Partner: A compatible partner is required
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
Flowering group: 2 on the apple scale
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination groups
Checked 2026-08-13
Ploidy: diploid
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
NIAB — National Institute of Agricultural Botany: Cultivar ploidy records
Checked 2026-08-13
Partners needed: one

Partners for Rev. W. Wilks, from the 35 apple cultivars GrowingHQ holds

Computed by the pollination engine from the flowering groups, ploidy and recorded pairings on each record — not a hand-written list. The scope is exactly what the heading says: these are the answers that exist in this catalogue, not the answers that exist.

Cultivar	Verdict	Why
Arthur Turner	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Bountiful	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Charles Ross	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Cox's Orange Pippin	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Discovery	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Egremont Russet	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 2 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Fiesta	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Greensleeves	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Grenadier	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Herefordshire Russet	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Howgate Wonder	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
James Grieve	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Katy	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Kidd's Orange Red	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Lord Lambourne	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 2 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Red Falstaff	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Scrumptious	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Spartan	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Sunset	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.
Worcester Pearmain	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 2) and both produce viable pollen.

The fruit

Season: Early
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — season
Checked 2026-08-13
Use: Cooking
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — use
Checked 2026-08-13
Keeping: Eat within days
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — storage
Checked 2026-08-13

The plant

Vigour: Less vigorous than average
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — vigour
Checked 2026-08-13
Habit: Compact
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — habit
Checked 2026-08-13
Cropping: Tends to biennial bearing
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — cropping
Checked 2026-08-13

A barren year may be normal here

This cultivar tends to crop heavily one year and lightly the next. A poor year following a heavy one is the habit rather than a fault, and thinning the fruit in the heavy year is the usual way to even it out.

On each rootstock

The size of the tree comes from the rootstock. What the cultivar contributes is a direction, in words — GrowingHQ does not multiply the range by a vigour factor, because no source supports the multiplier and the resulting number would look far more precise than the inputs are.

Rootstock	Height	With this cultivar
M27	150–180 cm Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence Applies when: In reasonable soil with normal pruning. On poor dry ground an M27 tree can stall well below this and never fill out. Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, and on a dwarfing rootstock the combination can be weak — it will need good soil and freedom from competition.
M9	200–250 cm Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence Applies when: Varies with soil fertility and with how vigorous the grafted cultivar is. Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, and on a dwarfing rootstock the combination can be weak — it will need good soil and freedom from competition.
M26	250–300 cm source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, so expect the lower end of this range.
MM106	350–450 cm Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence Applies when: Kept smaller by pruning, but this is the size it wants to reach. Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, so expect the lower end of this range.
MM111	450–550 cm source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, so expect the lower end of this range.
M25	550–700 cm source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Apple rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Rev. W. Wilks is not a vigorous cultivar, so expect the lower end of this range.

Full profiles for each of these are on the rootstock page.

Cultivar record reviewed 2026-08-13.