North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] Sour/Pie Peaches?

Some years ago a friend sent me scions of the hardiest plums he could get and I grafted them all on one tree, along with a variety he wanted them crossed with.  The seed was all open pollinated, so the exact crosses were unknown, but when he grew out the seed he got some good European types that were hardy to more than -40 F.   Perhaps scions of Mr. Walla's tree could be sent to a somewhat warmer area and grafted to something like Reliance, which is cold hardy, but not as hardy as his, and seed sent back to Mr. Walla to grow out.   That might introduce better quality without sacrificing hardiness.
    In any case, Mr. Walla's story, plus yours, would be worth combining to publish in POMONA.  Perhaps others have peaches nearly as hardy as his that could bring in better quality.
-Lon Rombough

> I came across this URL on the web last year.After looking at it again
> this year I decided to write and find out how the hardy peach project
> is coming along.
>
> http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/walla/peaches.htm
>
> Mr. Walla answered back that he is down to a single hardy peach tree
> which bore abundantly the past two summers. However by the time it
> sweetens up it has gone soft, so apparently, in the North, it is a pie
> peach just like Montmorency is a pie cherry. Alas, we in the North
> have to take what we can get.  He is planning on tissue cloning it if
> it continues to do well. I'll be praying for his success and that of
> others working in this area.
> *******************************************
> Here's his own words:
>
> The tree has fruited abundantly the last two years.  In 2002, the
> fruit was said to be excellent by a lot of people that I shared it
> with. In 2003, the fruit was larger (I thinned it better and growing
> conditions were better), but the fruit quality was not that great for
> fresh eating.  By the time it got ripe, it was too soft.  It was still
> very good for pies and other baked goods though. I heard similar
> problems for other fruit in this area, and we had lower quality fruit
> of our other types as well in 2003.
> **********************************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list 
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
>
> File attachments are NOT stripped by this list
> TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
> Please do not send binary files.
> Use plain text ONLY in emails!
>
> Message archives are here:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex
>
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/