North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[jhecksel@voyager.net]

Hi All:

Seems like many growers in the lower Mid-West and South have very low
fruiting on cultivars that fruit heavily in the North....like Keepsake.

In fact, Tim Udall (sp?) in St. Johns, Arizona wrote an article in
Pomona on cultivars that he had been unable to fruit.

Is it possible that some cultivars of apples are day length
sensitive....that they do not set fruiting buds if the day length does
not reach a certain length?  Certain fruits, strawberries for instance,
are extremely sensitive to daylength.  The California strawberry
industry grows the plants at one latitude.  They are highly vegetative. 
Shipped to another latitude (approximately 200 miles) they set no
vegetative buds and function as everbearers.

So I propose a quick survey.  Let's find the most southerly NAFEX member
who reliably fruits Keepsake.  Mine are TOO productive.  They are
biennial bearers.  I am at 42 degrees, 30 minutes North.

By-the-way, Keepsake is an excellent apple when fully ripe.  I had been
eating it half-ripe for many years.  The half-ripe Keepsake had a grassy
aftertaste.  I was not impressed until we had an exceptionally warm
year.  That year, the Keepsake were as good as the Sweet 16.

-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
Get free updates on your stocks from any phone with Tellme!
Call 1-800-555-TELL.
http://click.egroups.com/1/9535/15/_/423498/_/970183452/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->