North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Erdman, Jim" <ErdmanJ@uwstout.edu>]

Mike asked about Fiireside and Regent apples.
I like Fireside, but often find I don't like Connell Red, which is supposed 
to be a red sport of Fireside that was discovered just a few miles down the 
road from me.  They appear to be quite different apples to me.  We have been 
growing Regent also since we were exposed to it at an orchard near Warrens, 
WI, many years ago.  Both of these apples seem to like a colder climate.  (we 
are now at the cold side of zone 4, according to maps, but recent years are 
more like zone 5).
Sweet 16 is commonlly available from orchards around here, in season, and our 
tree has given us a few apples with hopefully more to come in the future.
When I first got reallly interested in apples, I made an effort to go to 
farmers markets in larger cities in the fall to buy as many kinds of apples 
as possible.  This meant driving from our home at the time near Tomah, Wi, to 
Madison, a couple of times, about a two hour drive each way.  I tried to buy 
a half-dozen of each variety, to try one fresh, and to see how they developed 
(or deteriorated) in storage in our root cellar.
I also think that you might be surprised how many interesting varieties might 
be available at commercial orchards in season.  You might try asking people 
about older varieties, or less popular varieties, at the orchards.  By asking 
the right people, who may take some questioning to find, I have sometimes 
discovered that they still have one or two trees of varieties that they 
don'tmake an effort to market.  
Of course, most of these suggestions will need to wait until next fall.
Good luck.
 
Jim Erdman, Menomonie, WI