North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["fuwa fuwa usagi" <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com>]

My observation(and the ever wonderful Edwardo has forgotten more than I ever knew, so weigh the comments accordingly):

I just do not think NovaSpy resembles Northern Spy enough to consider it a substitute in northern climates.  I have tried the two and while I like NovaSpy I love Northern Spy.  They taste very different to me, with NovaPsy having a hint of Northern Spy to my palate. 

I'll go out on a limb and guess that it has a bit to do with where Ed was growing things. I can't imagine that Northern Spy nor HoneyCrisp would be stellar fruits in his area.  In fact I can't imagine planting Northern Spy, McIntosh, Liberty, Jonathan or HoneyCrisp in that type of area.  I would think at best you would get mediocre fruit. Then again, Ed has done it, and I have not, so arch chair orchardist verses a man who cultivated on a day to day basis with a great deal of success.

So consider I grow and by for my own palate, I am not trying to make a living doing this.  So biennial does not matter, productivity does not matter,.  In fact i fall my apples fall off th etree and rot I simply go to the grocery store and dream of next year.   All I can tell you is this was  lousy year for tomatoes, melons, and corn because it was so cold, but not even given the sugar dilution due to the rain and the splitting did anything to diminish the finest tasting apples I have had in my life.  This was a year for northern apples to remember. 

So I think you have to consider what your objective of growing fruit is for.  An M27 espalier giving me 6 pieces of desert fruit is fine by me.   Just my input, and I defer to the experience of Ed every time.  

 

Little ol’ me

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--- ed.fackler@gmail.com wrote:

From: Ed Fackler <ed.fackler@gmail.com>
To: fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Northern Spy Strategy
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 03:39:02 -0600

Regarding a strategy for inducing Northern Spy to fruit quickly and in the process keep the tree size down, my advice is simply to plant/grow NovaSpy instead.

 

Reason.  Aside from the more well known faults or problems with Northern Spy, in many years it drops fruit prior to maturity (especially during abnormally hot/dry periods late in the season).  It is terribly biannual and if not picked at the proper time storage ability is not that good.

 

Regarding NovaSpy, it has enough of that Spy flavor/texture to make it very good.  It is very precocious (much quicker to fruit) and is resistant to Scab (sensative to CAR though).

 

Or Northern Spy is a bear to grow.

 

ed

 

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