North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 11:41 AM 11/28/2005, Richard wrote:
> Cliff England sells another hybrid (Kent?).  Have you tried to grow or 
> tasted this?
That would be Keener, allegedly a hybrid bred by Luther Burbank, but I've 
seen more than one person contest its ancestry.
Keener has fruited lightly for me the past two years - large fruit, 2.5-3" 
- much larger than the typical D.virginiana, astringent until ripe, but 
with good flavor and thin skin more reminiscent of virginiana, to my 
palate.  Ripens much earlier here than does Rosseyanka, which bore its 
first crop (2 fruits) this year.
Rosseyanka, here, was a larger fruit than any virginiana I've seen, similar 
in size to Keener, though still a bit smaller than fruit from Great Wall, 
with a thick skin, similar to the astringent kakis.  I picked and ate my 
two Rosseyanka fruit last week - I liked Great Wall better, but the 
Rosseyankas were, I believe, well past their prime;  I hadn't even noticed 
them until the tree dropped its leaves.
All - Keener, Rosseyanka, and Great Wall, were seedless.

> Any other hybrids you know of, with similar cold-hardiness to Rosseyanka?
I've seen allegations that Prok and Geneva Long *might* be hybrids, but 
have seen no support for those allegations, and in my orchard, Geneva Long 
appears to be just a nice virginiana.

Lucky