Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] overlooked fruits

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] overlooked fruits
  • Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:49:27 -0800

I had a couple rows of seedlings from a form of Cotoneaster collected by Dr. Maxine Thompson in or near Tibet some years ago. She said the fruits were as good as blueberries and the locals frequently ate them. Mine never had anything worth noting, though. Most years they would get blossom blast in the cool wet spring weather and never set. When they did set, the fruits were small and dry. After discussing it with Dr. Thompson, she thought either the plants the seed came from were clonal selections, or the climate in their homeland was too different. The area where the plants came from had dry spring weather and hotter, drier summers than here. My plants still exist, but I don't know if they could be propagated since I so rarely get fruit.
I believe Dr. Parmar would know what species this Cotoneaster might be.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
On Mar 19, 2006, at 4:18 PM, Rodney wrote:

I would like to see someone work with cotoneaster as I keep coming across
places that say some varieties are edible - they just don't taste like it.
Now if someone could develop one of the edible varieties into a good tasting
edible fruit we could have our hedge and eat it too.

I don't blame people for not being interested in growing their own fruit.
Many people just want a well manicured lawn that looks sterile except for
the fact that it is green. They pay someone else to keep the weeds out and
are happy to let it go at that as they don't have/want the time and trouble
to do it themselves. For the most part well manicured lawns and fruit trees
don't mix well in my area as they are on different watering/fertilizing
regimens. I doubt I would have any fruit if I had to spray (apples once a
year, plums and cherries once or twice with sevin for pear slugs) my fruit
trees multiple times just to hope for a crop. Developing new varieties is a
pretty large task that some people have the time, talent, and luck to work
in that area (as Paul Ford with his peaches) so that they can take advantage
of the opportunities life has already offered them.

I agree with Tom about Garden Clubs, Master Gardeners, etc. as they all seem
to have interest only in plants that have a proven track record in their
immediate area and usually discourage people from trying anything new.

_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions.
----
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!

NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page