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nafex - Re: [nafex] scionwood list

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  • From: tanis grif <tanisgrif@yahoo.com>
  • To: Mailing List at Ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] scionwood list
  • Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:55:26 +0000 (UTC)

[If multiple drafts tagged along, this is the final version.]


This is a long post for the amount of scionwood I have from any one tree, but
I hope it helps to share some worthwhile trees. I admit I haven't harvested
yet, intending to work from NAFEXrs' replies. If this list would help someone
on the Facebook group, please share.

Know that my scionwood is usually thinner than the recommended "pencil
thick". I've found parafilm is a good graft wrap for pieces which wouldn't
hold up to rubber electricians' splicing tape. Know also my flavor preference
is for more sour than sweet. I like the sweet-tart richly flavored, but find
some of the Russets too sweet. When I share "perfect" flavor apples, the
recipient usually mentions in either delight or diplomacy that they
appreciate a zippy apple.


NAMED KNOWN CULTIVARS (For these, you could probably purchase better scions
elsewhere)

Luscious pear, Chestnut Crab, Pound Sweet, and 2 slightly different Tolman
Sweet-- one with subtly better flavor, but the other keeps better. I also
still have the Snow/Fameuse tree which I intend to remove. It matches the
sweeter & poorer keeper version of the Snow descriptions.


FORGOTTEN NAME CULTIVARS (Collected from yards & orchards)

A summer apple with better texture and flavor than my others, also stores
better, med size, red stripes over yellow ("R's Best"); 2 Sept ripening
similar sweet-tart, med size, mostly red, good fruit but my most insect- &
disease-damaged ("EB" & "OR"); One of the McIntosh offspring, better flavor
(more sour) & better storage; 2 similar salvages from a cider orchard, med
size, red, lots of tart juice ("M41" & "M74"); Also from the cider orchard,
the last tree in the sweet block, actually more sweet-tart, larger, red &
yellow ("M.sweet"); Only one Russet this year-- the Nov ripening, greenish
fruits wider than tall, very short stems, resinous/piney flavor, tree needs
early branch-training & careful pruning so as not to fall apart after a
couple heavy crops; Nice Bartlett-type pear, hardier & better flavor, Sept
ripening, poor storage but makes some great apple-pear sauces.


CHANCE SEEDLINGS (Local finds, and some Beautiful Arcade seedlings)

2 different summer apples-- one in the large-soft-sour group, but better than
many ("BAT"), and a 1 1/2" yellow apple-crab which usually flowers but has
good crops infrequently, sour, best used for drying;
Other apple-crabs--"Yellownut" compares to Chestnut but more yellow, more
tart, and hard as a rock; "Old #6" sour, round, for pickling; "BAC" & "BAP"
are 1 1/2" red, rich but more sour than sweet, make a flavorful red sauce
(with skins), they have apples when most other trees have poor years; "Fence"
is a sweeter crab, on the neighbors' side, and I haven't gotten permission
yet.
Flowering crabs with edible berries-- one with red berries, flowers, & fall
color, the other with pink berries & white flowers;
Regular apples-- 2 Yellow Del types, one has a pineapple flavor, neither gets
CAR; a sweet-tart, crisp, Sept ripening thin-skinned yellow with a rosy cheek
("Lowville" which I've previously shared); a sweeter yellow, harder texture
("Dunn"); a Greening type, not great, the tree kept mostly because it's a
drought-tolerant semi-dwarf; a milder flavored red, not great, that
flood-tolerant tree which I'm still not sure if own-root or topworked; and a
likely Red Del seedling, smaller, more striped, more tannins (for cider
blending?)


DISCARDS (Like the Snow tree, the plan is removal. Anyone want scions first?)

3 large-soft-sour summer apples-- 2 yellow & one red; an Antanovka seedling
which makes sweeter mostly yellow apples (flavor sim to Tolman Sweet, but
softer texture, shaped more like Red Del, but the stem ends split like
MN447); an apple-crab with beautiful appearance but horrible flavor, looks
great in a fruit bowl but how do you politely warn people not to taste them?

If you've read this far you deserve to know I have some small trees that need
homes: Seedlings, topworked seedlings, topworked M7 & EMLA7. At best they
are nursery 2nds quality, difficult to justify the shipping cost (especially
those which have grown large enough they'll be damaged in digging) but I
might be able to deliver in southcentral WI.

Tanis Cuff, s.WI, still winter



  • Re: [nafex] scionwood list, tanis grif, 01/29/2015

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