North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hi,

I don;t know...

Throwing up a stud wall in the basement is a lot easier than digging a deep 
hole outside, and having to use the clay pipe hole (outside) in all types of 
weather.

The advantange a cold room has, it that you do not need to go outside to 
access it.

When the snow is blowing, I do not want to have to go outside to dig up a 
clay pipe for an apple.  Just me....  But I am happier with the apple butter 
anyway. (smile)

We have the apple butter made at the same time the cider is being pressed.

Later,
Tom

charles paradise wrote:

> Chris:
> Too complicated.
> Try small-scale storage first, like clay drain pipe buried with a lid.
> Also, if you're serious about larger scale storage, then you might want to 
> consider prospecting for lost root cellars.  They're everywhere, but lost 
> to modern life above.  you will find unused ones you can rent since most 
> owners don't use. them.
> Also perfect, is detached 1950's fallout shelters!
> Charlie Paradise
> massachusetts/zone 5
>
> Mauch1@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the information, I believe it will be useful.
> >
> > One other thought I had:
> > Could I wall off and insulate a part of my basement and install a room 
> > air conditioner to cool off that room?  I probably would need to run some 
> > sort of humidifier as well.  The AC exhaust would go into the rest of the 
> > basement.  Any thoughts on the viability of this?  It would probably 
> > challenge my construction and technical skills.
> >
> > Chris Mauchline
> > SE PA, zone 6
> >
> > >Small-scale ground temperature storage can reportedly be crafted by 
> > >using a clay drain pipe and
> > >sinking it in the ground.  You could probably also get the same effect 
> > >by cutting holes in the
> > >bottom of a trash can and sinking it into the ground.
> > >
> > >I used to rent a large root cellar for $15/month.  I was never able to 
> > >use it to its full
> > >potential, unfortunately.  Through experience with it I saw a few 
> > >guidelines for unrefrigerated
> > >storage large or small:
> > >1] ventilate to outside air
> > >2] holes plugged so mice don't get in [aluminum foil crushed in hand 
> > >worked well]
> > >3] best if apples don't touch each other  [e.g. a tray is good]
> > >4] humidity is necessary - like 95% - a dirt bottom will probably supply 
> > >this.
> > >5] you will get as many months as the apple variety's storage 
> > >characteristic allows.  [e.g. you
> > >won't get 5 months out of Delicious or Gala]
> > >6] to gauge the success of your unrefrigerated storage method, use a 
> > >variety that really is a
> > >storage variety - e.g. Northern Spy - don't gauge it by the success of 
> > >varieties that are said
> > >to be storage varieties but aren't such great storers really - e.g. 
> > >Golden Russet and even
> > >Baldwin.
> > >7] anything that has enough ground contact will never freeze in U.S. 
> > >latitudes.
> > >8] take an inventory.  you may not be growing any varieties at all that 
> > >are real storers.  Lots
> > >of varieties will keep a month, which is great, but if you want to pull 
> > >apples out of storage
> > >when prices are high, in February, they won't be Galas or Delicious etc. 
> > >  You've got to have
> > >access to real storage varieties to pull prime marketable fruit out of 
> > >storage in February.
> > >9]  Think your harvest times out.  When Gala ripens, it isn't cold.  
> > >What difference does it
> > >make if Gala stores perfect for 2 months?  Say its ripe September 1.  
> > >Two months later is
> > >November 1, the ripen date for one of the Golden Delicious strains Stark 
> > >Bros. used to sell [or
> > >may still sell].  Why haul Gala to storage [and it isn't even cold 
> > >enough then for
> > >unrefrigerated storage] to pull it out 2 months later, when you could 
> > >have picked Golden
> > >Delicious right then on November 1, and not bothered to haul it to 
> > >storage?  So you need a
> > >late-ripening-sure-storage variety [and I mean verified, not "I heard it 
> > >stores" or "it keeps
> > >well in the refrigerator."]
> > >10] Don't ever compare ground storage to the commercial 
> > >high-energy-input storage practiced
> > >commercially.  They pull varieties out of storage that aren't storage 
> > >varieties at all [like
> > >Delicious and Macintosh strains, for example]  You're not commercial and 
> > >you don't want to be,
> > >and you can't do as they do and get away with using nonstoring varieties.
> > >11] Also don't compare storage in a refrigerator to root cellar storage.
> > >
> > >Isn't it amazing what apples cost in the supermarket in January?  It's a 
> > >challenge with a
> > >possible hefty payoff if you can pull quality apples out of storage in 
> > >January, if you can get
> > >the right variety into the right storage and pull quality apples out.  
> > >And you can, too, but it
> > >isn't as easy as it looks.  It wasn't worth my time to spray my own 
> > >apples and store them
> > >myself.  It wasn't an efficient use of my time and I didn't enjoy 
> > >spraying.  I never hooked up
> > >with the right supplier of grown apples, so I stopped storing in root 
> > >cellar.  If I'd had the
> > >right source of Northern Spy I'd have kept storing and would have tried 
> > >to sell during January
> > >and February and March.
> > >Charlie Paradise
> > >Masachusetts/zone 5
> > >
> > >
> >
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===
Canada plant hardiness zone 5b
Southwest Ontario
===