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  • From: breen@fedcoseeds.com
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: seedling apple story
  • Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 21:14:22 -0500

lon, let me commiserate. last year i happened upon the most delicious
seedling apple. good size, beautiful color, taste that other mainers
described as like a macoun, but with a thicker skin. well this thick skin
shows no scab, little to no curculio, but moderate codling moth damage. so i
meet a wonderful young woman, and name the apple for her, "kiss of shannon",
show her the tree, and promise her the christened fruit, which seemed ripened
near her birthday time. she goes to an internship collecting seeds in the
deserts of utah, but not before a horrible pollination spring and hard winter
and the now discovered biennial habit of the tree combine to make a fall
harvest seem unlikely. sad, i occasionally drove by the tree, seeing no
evident fruit. in early september, i take a few minutes to actually survey
the tree, which is located on the side of a busy minor road, and low and
behold five fruits do i see! and much larger than the previous years ample
swell due to the aforeme!
ntioned thinning! almost everyday after work, for the next month, i stopped
at the tree to reassure myself that the fruit had not blown off or some
insect had not spoiled them. passing commuters would slow down with puzzled
looks: why did this young man with a blue pick up always stop at this tree
and stoop and scramble with a funny looking pole thingy (pole picker)?
questioning the ripening because of our drought and hotweather last year, i
had to sacrifice a few to the knife to look at their seeds, and taste,
although i knew that black seeds would not mean it was tree ripened in
flavor. nervous at each heavy rain and wind storm, and particularly each
possible frost, i started visiting the tree almost every morning as well. i
finally picked them a week before her birthday, two excellent sized, but
undercolored specimens (due to their placement in the exact center of the
tree) being nature's blessing. here i decided to tell her to try one, and if
that one was not ready, stor!
e the other for a week. so isend her the fruit priority mail, because i
cannot afford next day, along with other tokens of affection, praying thay
are tasty, arrive in good condition, and the apple of her namesake is to her
palates liking. All three turn to be true!! our courtship is in full swing,
even with two thousand miles between us! so actually, my story is not one of
sorrow, but as magical as the old gallic romances. remember the magic in
being a fruit explorer and that if we dedicate ourselves to love as much as
our horticulture, then our lives will be truly bountiful!
heron breen
zone 4b, maine
------------------------------------------------
On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 18:31:35 -0700, "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
wrote:

> Some years ago I planted out a few random apple seedlings mostly to use
> as rootstock trees for testing varieties. This year, one that had only one
> graft on it gave a very good size crop. Given the extremely poor set on
> most other apples due to rain during bloom time, that alone was something.
> The apples, while a little small, were still at least the size of an
> unthinned Liberty. Color was excellent, with stripe-solid color that was a
> beautiful rose red, and with very white flesh. Tree has a nice open habit,
> the fruit hangs very well, ripening about with Red Delicious. With no spray
> at all, it had no more scab than Liberty, very few codling moths, and I've
> not yet found any with apple maggots, even next to a badly infested
> Braeburn.
> Is everyone drooling over this?
> The rub is that it is the tofu of apples - no sweetness, no acid, no
> flavor. Absolutely neutral. Use it for mashed potatoes.
> *Sigh*.
> -Lon Rombough
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  • [NAFEX] Re: seedling apple story, breen, 10/12/2003

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