North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Raby, Brian" <brian.raby@roche.com>]

Murph,

 

I’m not planning on anything big right now.  The thought was to grow about 1.5 acres of traditional cider apples (Yarlington Mill, Kingston Black, etc..)  and combine it with a custom blend of base cider (Stayman Winesap, etc) that we can get from a local grower.  This will free up the room we need to produce the amount of hard cider we want to make.  The other portion of the land butts up against what will soon be a bike/horse trail south toward Indianapolis.  From this, I’m expecting a acre to acre and a half of pick-your-own apples with vegetables and perhaps cut flowers from another part of the property.  I also have access to other land around me that I could potentially use. In talking with our local extension agent, it sounds like Purdue has a program that will help me with the planning and marketing.   

 

To say the least, I’m very, very excited about the possibilities.

 

Brian

 

---

From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Richard MURPHY
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 6:15 PM
To: nafex
Subject: [NAFEX] Brian Raby

 

How big of an operation are you talking, Brian?

 

Also, if it's a U-Pick------------------

 

I went to yet another one last fall. Saw all dwarf trees held up by pipes, irrigated, stuffed real close.....

Very high density. Big output of fruit. Great for production, but...

It was weird. It didn't look like an orchard at all. I hated it. Great for maximum pounds / acre, ZERO for charm.

It also matters how much room you have.

 

I have clay loam, and use M7 and M111 roots in zone 4 in a windy place.

They are both very thrifty, and stand well on their own, once established.

 

Murph