North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Freeman" <jf@gctruck.com>]

Hi Jackie,

We grow Jonafree, Liberty & Freedom. All are easy to grow and have good
tree structure when  trained with ties or spreaders. The Jonafrees were
planted a couple of years ago and have yet to produce any fruit. Both
Liberty and Freedom have been productive. Here are some of the
differences in our area.

Liberty: Ripe mid to late August, Great color (dark red with a purple
tint) over 80%+ with a beautiful waxy finish when washed. Best disease
resistance of any apple we grow. Medium to almost large when properly
thinned. Very productive & requires thinning. Hold in storage for a few
weeks to get the best flavor. Fairly good keep and will hold 3+ months
in CA storage.

Freedom: Ripens in early September. Mostly yellow background with a 50%+
medium red blush. Good disease resistance, but susceptible to fire
blight strikes & cedar apple rust in our orchard. Produced about 20%
fewer bushels on average than Liberty last year, but the apples were
bigger by 1/2". Not a good keeper for us. Prone to water core if left on
the tree a day or two past perfect ripe. I think it has better flavor
than Liberty even though it is a little more trouble.

Thanks,
Jim Freeman
Freedom Farms LLC
Zone 7 North GA
www.freedomfruit.net


Subject: [NAFEX] Jonafree, Liberty, Macfree, Freedom: how good are they?

Anyone have experience with these disease-resistant apples? Taste?
Resistance? Difficulties?  Thanks so much.

Jackie Kuehn