North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> I've heard we're too far south for some of those great Minnesota 
> apples (Keepsake, Honeycrisp, although I did plant a Sweet 16.)  ...  
> But I think we're too far north for Fuji, Pink Lady.


They grow Pink Lady apples in Nebraska City, Mark. I called an orchard 
there and asked them about it (sorry, I don't remember which one - I 
just saw on the Internet that they grew that variety), and they said 
that they 'hadn't had any problems' with them ripening. I was very 
doubtful that they'd ripen here (still am, actually).

Unfortunately, I planted my apples before I discovered NAFEX. I tried to 
research different varieties on the Internet, finding those that were 
supposed to keep the best and be excellent eating apples. I didn't have 
a clue that our hot summers would matter at all, though I did know I was 
pushing the envelope for late ripening - in order to get good keepers. 
Well, I've always like green apples, too (as a kid, I liked green apples 
far more than ripe ones). And I wanted to get four varieties from the 
same nursery, with a dwarfing interstem, so that narrowed my choices.

I ended up planting Honeycrisp, Suncrisp, Goldrush, and Fulford Gala (I 
wanted to get at least one early apple). I'd never even seen a Suncrisp 
or Goldrush apple before, let alone tasted one. Heh, heh. Then, although 
I suspected it wasn't wise, I planted a Pink Lady, too. Well, it's a 
pretty little tree, anyway - looks just like a candelabra. None of these 
are old enough to produce apples yet, especially with our late freeze 
this spring, so who knows? (Well, I had four big apples on the Suncrisp, 
but three of them disappeared, so I picked the last one green. As I say, 
I like them green, too, with a little salt.)

Good luck,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
The little shutter at the back of my mind, where I pushed all my 
dissonant thoughts, snapped open after the 9/11 attacks, and it refused 
to close again. I found myself thinking that the Quran is not a holy 
document. It is a historical record, written by humans. ... And it is a 
very tribal and Arab version of events. - Ayaan Hirsi Ali