North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

I am very interested in bug-resistant apples.  Obviously there is no such 
thing as a bug-proof apple but I don't do a whole lot of spraying and every 
year I appreciate my few varieties with minimal damage more and more.  This 
year along with Goldrush, Winesap and Fuji I would add the old obscure 
varieties Abbondanza, Pigeonnet Rouge, and Rambour d'Hiver to the minimal 
bug-damage list.  All of these apples are hard, and all but P-R are late.  So 
the hard & late is clearly a help, and on the other side some of my soft 
varieties were horribly damaged.  What I would really like is an apple I 
could hit with a couple Surround sprays in the spring, maybe hang some CM 
confusion lures in May, and then get a harvest with most of the apples 
bug-free.

Scott


Alan Haigh states:
> Speaking of Winesap, I identified a very old one on a property where the
> apples are never sprayed and the owner always gets a somewhat useful crop.
> I guess I can add it to the list of potential northeast sprayless apples.
> Most of the apples had plenty of curc bumps but were still usable and the
> owner says it was a typical crop except with larger apples (I'd pruned it).
> 
> It seems later apples and especially hard late ones are more bug resistant.
> This includes Goldrush, Fuji and oddly, old style Yellow Delicious (the ones
> that ripen later and have some russet).  I bet Arkansas Black would work
> also.
>