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nafex - [nafex] Re: Are your plants working for you? AKA, Ruthless culling

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  • From: "Christopher Mauchline" <mauch1@aol.com>
  • To: nafex@egroups.com
  • Subject: [nafex] Re: Are your plants working for you? AKA, Ruthless culling
  • Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 15:00:16 -0000

Joe,

You don't need to justify them to me. I was just suprise that you
were unhappy w/ varieties like Ashmead's Kernel which always seems to
get rave reviews for taste (and did well at a mini-apple tasting I
did this Fall).

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6

--- In nafex@egroups.com, jhecksel@v... wrote:
> Hello all:
>
> I feel a need to justify my culling philosophy.
>
> Among other things, I raise sheep. The sheep industry is in the
midst
> of a massive shake-out. One of the rallying cries is "Are your
animals
> working for you? Or are you working for your animals?" Sheep are
> adorable little critters. Occasionally, one of the ewes will
abandon
> her lambs and the shepherd will bottle feed the little lambs. The
risk
> is that the shepherd (or family) will bond to the helpless lambs and
> will insist on their inclusion in the breeding flock. Some portion
of
> mothering ability is learned. A portion is purely due to
circumstances
> (lightening strikes, for instance). A large portion is
genetic....at
> least for sheep. Keeping abandoned lambs (and their mothers) in the
> breeding flock virtually guarantees poor mothering. It only takes
a few
> generations before the shepherd becomes a slave to the flock rather
than
> the flock being seamlessly integrated into the farm economy and
making a
> positive contribution.
>
> Soooo, I perceive that the same thing can happen with fruit.
Sometimes
> it is that peach tree in Zone 5b that I must give mouth-to-mouth
> resuscitation. Sometimes it is a cultivar (Cox Orange Pippen
springs to
> mind) of notable quality and fussiness of culture. That is well and
> good for those of us who know what we are getting into and we know
that
> we are buying lottery tickets. I buy my share of lottery tickets
but I
> tear them up when I have sufficient evidence they are losers, that
is,
> they will not seamlessly integrate into my "farm" economy and make a
> positive contribution.
>
>
______________________________________________________________________
_________
>
> Slightly different topic: Ed, what "basics" do you see novice fruit
> growers most often violating? I offer poor choice of
> species/cultivar/rootstock, planting in shady sites, and no after-
care
> as the boo-boos I see most often.
> --
>
> -Joe Hecksel
> Eaton Rapids,
> Michigan


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