Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [nafex] Re: New Member

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: edforest55@hotmail.com
  • To: nafex@yahoogroups.com
  • Subject: [nafex] Re: New Member
  • Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 15:39:41 -0000


Hello Dean,

Very glad you joined the list, I was just grumbling to myself that
there wasn't enough talk from the far north on Nafex.
I'd like to test some of the apples that Bob Bohrs has told me about,
but I am such a small nursery that I don't know if the U of S would
want to include me as a prospective propagator. It is for this reason
that I have thought of trying to get together some other small
nurseries (the large ones would steal the show and have in the past
convinced universities not to share with the small ones in order to
squeeze us out) and form a collective that could get more attention
from the U of S.
At any rate, welcome aboard.
I specialize in zone 2/3/4 fruits and some zone 5 now that I have
moved out of zone 3 to S. Wisconsin.
I am growing the Evans cherry, it so far seems nearly flawless
although I haven't fruited it yet, my friends have and I have heard
nothing but raves about its productivity, 10 times that of the most
highly productive European varieties. If you haven't connected with
Dr Evans yet I would highly recommend contacting him, he's quite a
knowledgeable source for Canadian north fruit growers. I think it
might make a great cherry rootstock for cold climates on a wide range
of soils, if compatability would not be a problem. Also Bernie
Nilolai of Edmonton is a fantastic source of info. There's quite a
fruit enthusiast crowd in Edmonton as you probably know. They have a
flyer like Pomona called Apple Notes. You can be a member by
submitting an article or paying small fee I think. I keep forgetting
to join. I think Dr Evans is running it now. Bernie, who is on this
list would know.
I am also very interested in topworking and have seen it improve the
hardiness of tender varities, ie Liberty, Ashmead's Kernel,
Gravenstein, and Lady apple surviving 42 below with no damage when
topworked to antonovka, where normally they would be dead.
I would like to understand this phenomenon on a cellular/hormonal
level and am about to call a professor here in Madison to see if he
or his students would be interested in doing some experiments on
this. I had previiously contacted a profesor at the U of S to see if
she would like to investigate this but I got no response. It seems
that there is a lot of work being done on wintering of plants at the
U of S. I would also like to know understand the complex differences
between two very hardy rootstocks- antonovka and ranetka.
Had you considered topworking some of the more tender dis res
varities to super hardy rootstocks? Have you considered Nova Easygro?
It is reported hardy by some to zone 2! and to be dis res.
I had a lot of customers in the Dakotas, MN, WI, and Montana. I'm
always looking for new varieties. I also have traveled about talking
to growers, extensions and the like. (north along the US Canada
border, from WA to Maine.
I also grow organically, and I agree that you have quite a niche
market waiting for you in your area being that it probably does't
have the pest/dis. problems that have plagued my present home base-
S. Wisconsin. The largest organic apple orchard in our midwest US
region went under last year and the second largest is rumored to go
under soon also. This leaves only one other organic orchard that I
know of in WI. We have our own organic orchard but it is not
commercial although could be somewhat. With the advent of Surround
kaolin clay our apples have been about 70 percent fewer in pest
damage. Plum curculio is the most labor demanding problem, but
Surround works beautifully on it saving many hours of work.
I haven't fruited my Alderman yet but am pleased to hear that you
like it. It is known to bear early so I hope to get a chance at it
soon.
What other varieties are you going to plant? How about apple? Pear?
Apricot?
I use P. americana as a plum rootstock, M. ranetka for apple, P.
ussuriensis for pear, P. besseyi for apricot, and P. maheleb for some
of the more tender cherries. When there is a question as to
compatability or hardiness of the rootstock you can always bury the
graft union to allow the scion to root as is sometimes the case with
ussuriensis and mahaleb.
Well, gotta go.
kevin bradley



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Universal Inkjet Refill Kit $29.95
Refill any ink cartridge for less!
Includes black and color ink.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Vv.L9D/MkNDAA/ySSFAA/VAOolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->





------------------LIST GUIDELINES----------------------

1) Please sign your posting. Include climate and location information if
relevent.
2) Attached files will be stripped from your messages. Post attachments on
the www.YahooGroups.com website.
3) To unsubscribe send a BLANK message to
nafex-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
4) Include only pertinent comments/questions when replying to a posting and
NOT the entire message (especially if the initial posting was large).

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/





  • [nafex] New Member, Dean Kreutzer, 11/14/2001
    • [nafex] Re: New Member, edforest55, 11/14/2001

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page