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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] apples, early and keeping

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  • From: "Charlotte Shelton" <fruit@vintagevirginiaapples.com>
  • To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] apples, early and keeping
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 07:21:11 -0400

MonArk is a week or so, it appears, away from ripening here this year.
We consider it probably our best early apple, had good fruit last year
and expect a good crop this year. We are a week or two late on most
things this year. We have planted more MonArks and have propagated it
for our nursery operation too. It should give the average small grower
a relatively disease resistant early apple and it has excellent culinary
qualities as well as being rather good for eating out of hand. We have
picked Carolina Red June, Red Astrachan, Lowland Raspberry, Yellow
Transparent, Lodi and some Early Harvest. All of these ripen over a
several week period which is a challenge for the operation we have here.
We have elegant apple sauce, but marketing the apples is a challenge in
front of us. We had a very heavy fruit set and most of these are small.
Summer Rambo is our classic or heritage favorite and it has several
weeks to go yet until ripening, but we get generous and reliable crops
every year from these trees.


Charlotte Shelton
Vintage Virginia Apples
P.O. Box 210
North Garden, Virginia 22959
434.295.5382
www.vintagevirginiaapples.com


-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lucky Pittman
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:55 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] apples, early and keeping

One 'early' apple(though probably not as early as YT or RJ), with
reasonable keeping qualities, that hasn't been mentioned in recent
discussions, is MonArk.
I've had one for years but have yet to get an apple from it - but let me

qualify that it's not necessarily the tree's fault - at about it's 3rd
leaf, something happened - I think voles probably girdled it over the
winter or ate its roots or something, but by the time I realized
something
was amiss - 'cause it wasn't leafing out - twigs were beginning to look
kind of shriveled. Still had some green cambium when I scratched 'em,
so I
took a chance and snipped one off and grafted it onto a new rootstock,
where it took and has grown nicely, but hasn't yet bloomed - probably
next
year.

Following is a note from Charlotte, at Vintage Virginia Apples, that I'd

saved from the list, back in 2003:
"I have two MonArk trees that went in in 1998, bought from Ed
Fackler's Rocky Meadow. We had about three apples in 2001 and perhaps a
peck and a half in 2002 which was a horrible year in just about every
way
here--no winter, early spring and bloom, late freeze, damp and drizzley
into
June followed by unrelenting drought and searing heat into September.
Most apples were unripe on Monday and overdone by Thursday...one just
wanted to
cry. But the MonArks were okay. I don't think we picked them at the
optimal point, which was a real challenge this year and we are not very
experienced at this to boot, but they kept fairly well in cold storage
around 35-37 degrees for six to eight weeks or more. They are a big red
apple, red over green really, and have a very fine flavor for an early
apple. We have a small new upscale food market here to which I am
selling,
and I think they will be very well received there. This and Pristine
are
our best flavored early apples thus far. I have both these varieties
on
MM-111. What else can I tell you. Ask me again in August."

I still don't know exactly when to expect MonArk to ripen here, though
Hoyt
Adair reported it ripening in early July down in north Alabama.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY
elevation 575 ft.

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