North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Joe and Ellen Hecksel <jhecksel@voyager.net>]

I planted 5 McCoun/MM106 based on the catalog description.  I determined, after 

a very long wait for fruit, that the trees were mislabeled.  Two were of 
one sort and three were of another.  None of the five trees bore fruit 
worth growing....at least in South-central Michigan.

Were any of the trees McCoun?  I cannot tell you.  But it is not an 
experiment that I care to try again, even though I can think of no 
reason why McCoun would be any more susceptible to mislabeling than any 
other reason.

I take that back.  I think "low-runners" are more likely to be 
mislabeled than high volume commodities.  There are two reasons.
-One is that the nursery is more likely to run a shortage....."Gee, we 
only sold 50 each of the last five years but this year we have orders 
for 100.  Let's give them something close.  They will never know the 
difference."
-The other reason is that low-runners often share a row with other 
varieties.  So the error of missed end-of-one and start-of-another can 
happen.  Also, the mother tree might have several varieties on it and 
miscollected scion is a possibility.

McCoun is one of the parents of Honeycrisp.  No wonder there is a 
similarity in texture.

One of the parents of McCoun is Jersey Black.  Is this a cider apple? 
Was the breeder's intent to produce a later blooming MacIntosh?  Many of 
the cider varieties are late blooming.

-More questions than answers
Joe in Eaton Rapids, Michigan


> Does anyone know why this apple is so rarely mentioned?  Does it not 
> grow well elsewhere?  It is not a rare apple - there's a huge market for 
> it in the Boston area.


--
-Joe Hecksel
My personal web site: http://my.voyager.net/~jhecksel
"We are only here for a short time.  So let's make it a good time."
-Cray Dye  1958-2002