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

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  • From: edforest55@hotmail.com
  • To: nafex@egroups.com
  • Subject: [nafex] Re: Are your plants working for you? AKA, Ruthless culling
  • Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 18:03:05 -0000

I agree that "antiquitis" can be rather annoying, there is a local
pear grower who had been marketing Luscious and Harrow Delight
as "Heirloom varieties" and jacking the price up to three times a
reasonable cost. This really irks me and give me the impression that
there are some really gullible, rich consumers out there.
There was one aquaintance of mine who was eductated in the hard
science of genetics and earned her living in research of field crops
who did support the idea that generally, the older varieties were
more nutritious- blue corn was her example. But I quickly discounted
her credibility when she started in on Honeycrisp as another example
of what breeders should not be doing.
However, I think that there are two sides to the coin, two types of
collectors- those that keep everything and those that cull most
everything out. I have a neighbor who constantly trashes material
that takes too long to bear, ie his kiwis, in their 4th year, in my
estimation one year from bearing, he decided to rip the vines out
because he was tired of waiting and labeled them as inferior fruit
crops without ever having tasted them.
A lot can be said for diversity, I was thinking the other day about
this problem we're having with the Japanese ladybugs which totally
destroyed my Frontenac and St Croix grape crop. I don't know how I
will get any fruit now with these insects. Some of the varieties I
own were less palatable to them and these varitits, although inferior
in quality, at least produced something and suddenly soared in my
estimation of their worth.
Another point, with grapes again, is that I was going to throw Beta
Grape out as Valiant is so much hardier and at least equal in
quality. But Frank Foltz told me that Valiant is very susceptible to
humidity and in some locations really suffers from mildew.
I guess that its a little different for me as a nursery owner as I am
concerned about different locations and conditions. I do find that I
am more a culler when it comes to selections for my own use.
But even nurseryman have their spetrum of cullers and keepers: I am a
keeper and tend to let the customer decide and experiment. What does
well for me in Madison, Minocqua, or Watertown may not do so well for
someone in the Dakotas, and since the genetic variances are so vast
who am I to dictate the choices for my customers. I do what I can to
bring them as much info as possible to make informed choices. Whew
this is longer than I intened!
Kevin


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