North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

I have purchased a few cultivars' scions, and so far have a small percentage 
off description.  (This "small" would be "large" in a commercial orchard!)  
Fortunately, this ID dif has been proven by disease signs on leaves, so I 
didn't need to wait for fruit production.  I'm a hobbyist w/ plenty of room 
for trees, so can wait-&-see what they grow into.  Extra unknown cultivars 
are pollinators, and finally campfire wood if the fruit isn't worth the 
tree's space.
 
At least one of the commercial places buys in scionwood from local 
harvesters.  (MANY THANKS to everyone making scions available!)  Even when 
everyone understands the importance of proper labelling, taht's a couple 
extra layers for error possibilities.  And I believe there is a lot more 
mis-identifying & mis-naming (mostly unintentional) of trees than we think.  
It's a wonder we keep correct names w/ the scions & trees as often as we do.  
 
I've asked friends to collect scions from that certain tree from a certain 
relative's yard, and they-- or my instructions!-- failed.  The best method 
I've found is collect scionwood myself from trees I've sampled fruit from, to 
heck with the name.  And if I suspect I've made a tree ID or labelling error, 
I can discard the cuttings-- something a friend trying to do a favor might 
not do.  

 

----------------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:03:29 -0400
> From: sdw12986
> Subject: [NAFEX] Mislabeled scion wood
>
>
> How often does it happen that you receive some scion wood and only years
> later do you find out it was not labeled correctly?
>
> I'm going to mention Richard Fahey's name right up front because I'm not
> going to say anything bad about him. If (If!)he sent one mislabeled
> scion out of all the ones I ordered, well, he's only human and I really
> have no problem with that. I've never met him in person but all of us
> who are actually members of Nafex know of him from his articles in
> Pomona and his ads offing scion wood for sale.
>
> I have only paid for batches of scion wood maybe 5 times in my life. At
> least 2 of those times were orders from Mr. Fahey. I'm very grateful to
> him for taking the considerable time to maintain all those fruit tree
> cultivars and for taking even more time to offer scions from those trees
> to the public. I know he's not the only one doing this but his list is
> quite impressive.
>
> Now to my point. One of the cultivars I ordered was Arlet (AKA Swiss
> Gourmet). I had some question about its hardiness but I had high hopes
> for it and I grafted it as a new top to an existing tree. What I get
> does not resemble the Arlet apple I tasted that made me want the apple
> in my yard.
> The Arlet apple that I tasted years before was grown hundreds of miles
> south of here, so I knew there could be differences. What my tree
> produces are small to medium, solid red, firm apples that ripen very
> late. I let them hang on the tree into October after all my other apples
> are picked and they are far too hard to eat. What ever they are, the
> cultivar is very productive and I grafted it too high up to hand thin
> them. A bad combination! They store until spring when they become barely
> edible because they are still very firm and tart.
> I ordered Arlet scion wood from a different source 2 years ago and if
> those new Arlet branches produce the same fruit, I will be very
> surprised. With a little luck, I could get the first fruit from the new
> grafts this season.
>
> Any comments? Have others experienced similar situations?
>
> Steve in the Adirondacks ... who finds it impossible to ask a question
> that is short and to the point!
> _______________________________________________
>
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