North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I'm sorry, but with all due respect, the idea that eating fruit from
grafted clones instead of seedlings is somehow compromising to the health
qualities of said fruit seems a little off the beaten path of logic to me.
I would say the opposite is more likely true if varieties were selected for
more nutritious qualities- Calville Blanc, for instance, has many times the
vitamin C content of most apple varieties and judging from the flat taste
of most seedling apples, I suspect seedlings are often nearly devoid of
this important nutrient.  Without grafting, Calville Blanc would have
disappeared hundreds of years ago when the original tree died.  Because of
the huge genetic diversity of apples, CB's seedling offspring would mostly
be without this attribute and you would have to wait at least 8 years to
have any idea of the quality of each tree.

The idea of starting with a premise and then trying to find corroborating
research is not science even when couched in the vocabulary of science.
More like scientology, but I guess that word's taken.   Quoting serious
researchers and then inserting your own conclusions in place of the
conclusion of  the researchers is dishonest or, at least, misguided.  I may
be wrong, but this is how this discussion sounds to me.

Anyway, I'm a huge supporter of grafting fruit and nut clones to increase
the efficiency of fruit production and the quality of fruit and nuts.  If I
lived in Mexico, I might not feel the same, as many tropical fruits do
produce high quality fruit from seed, according to my limited knowledge (I
know papayas do well, but if my brother relied on seedling mangoes in his
part of Kauii  he would usually get no harvest).   Ever tried to get a
reasonable amount of nut meat from a native black walnut?  If only I could
digest the shells.

Where's the fluffy one when we need him?