North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

OK, I thought I might get into trouble siting alum as the source of puckeryness, I thought that was the compound that made pecan shells so unpalatable- that's how my autumn olives taste and it is transferred to the preserves because I know of no adequately gentle way of removing the seeds without getting their flavor in the juice.  I'm in the northeast so it's highly possible that we lack the heat units to properly ripen the Hidden Springs cultivars which is precisely my point.  I still defy you to find another member with experience with autumn olive who doesn't consider them extremely fragrant where ever in the country they grow them.

 

On the subject of low-acid peaches I think that the omnipresence of corn-sweetners in the American diet has predisposed people to a desire for ever sweeter fruit.  No surprise that peaches as sweet as breakfast cereal would have a marketing advantage.  The same thing has occured with sugar enhanced sweet corn over the years.  The main reason I save some room in my garden for sweet corn is to savor the old fashioned taste of corn on the cob that doesn't taste like candy.  Fortunately not all peach breeders are focusing on producing low-acid fruit.  I already mentioned Coralstar.  Another variety with some acid is Harrow Diamond.  I'm curious about varieties other members grow to fill this bill.  As I recall the old Indian Blood peach had a lot of zing although I don't grow it.

 

Incidentally there has been a lot of mention of fighting brown-rot in peaches and it was a tough season here on that score as well.  I use Indar to protect my stone fruit and generallly can control brown-rot with bi-weekly applications starting in early July and stoppiing about a month before harvest.  I don't have to protect my earliest peaches such as Harrow Diamond.  Timing should of course be moved up in more southern areas.

 

I wish more breeders in this country looked at brown-rot susceptibility when making their selections.  As is, many of the older varieties are better on this score than recent releases.  The Harrow breeding station takes this into consideration and many of their varieties have some resistance- apricots and peaches.  I mentioned Harrow Diamond, in a later peach I believe Harcrest is relatively resistant. 

 

Late varieties tend to be the most susceptable and Lady Nancy and Autumn Glo are amongst the most likely to rot that I grow.  Elberta, I guess being an old fashioned variety, has some resistance and on some sites I can manage it without fungicide here.

 

Alan Haigh, the Home Orchard Co.