North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>]

I pretty much agree with what others have already said, but have added my two cents below [in brackets]. I've been growing fruit in N. Georgia and Piedmont North Carolina (RDU area) since 1979. To the very nice list below, I would add:

Enterprise, which has done very well from a tree health perspective and is quite vigorous. However, it is not the best apple for fresh eating. Texture is a little dense and not as crisp as some of those below, and taste is good, but not great, in my opinion. However, it ripens about when Goldrush does and is a good all-purpose apple.

Honeycrisp- Yes, Honeycrisp. It is not recommended in our area, but the problem appears to be it's poor calcium transport capability. If you are willing to foliar feed the young, developing fruit with chelated calcium, then you will get crisp apples with a well-balanced flavor profile that may even be superior to the best Honeycrisps grown in its native Minnesota (please no flames from MN- you grow great Honeycrisps, it's just we can do it too, with some extra care).

NY 75414-1:  I don't know if Cornell will ever release this one, but you can get it from Raintree Nursery.  It overlaps in ripening with Liberty and has had very little disease of any kind.  Like Liberty, its quality suffers if you get a heat wave when it's ripening.  Otherwise a very good flavored and textured apple.

MAIA has some numbered selections that I've trialed that do very well here and have some great flavor and texture profiles, but you'd have to talk to MAIA about getting scionwood. I sent them a detailed report on the performance of their selections here, but never heard a peep back.

Heirlooms have generally done poorly here for me. 'Joseph' looked promising for a while, but as the years passed, seems to underperform on average. Ribston Pippins were great tasting, but I got tired of the severe fireblight and removed them.

I have an unnamed family heirloom that is very healthy, precocious and good tasting, but it is not crisp, so I doubt that I will ever release it.

It's really too bad that we don't have an apple breeding program for the Southeastern U.S.  Maybe we should start one  ;)

Anton

-----Original Message-----
>From: Richard Moyer
>Sent: May 1, 2016 11:04 PM
>To: nafex
>Subject: Re: [nafex] Advice on disease resistant apples for Charlotte NC
>
>Fluff,
>Been growing the apples on your list since 1992. In Bristol, TN, about 150
>miles NW of Charlotte.
>
>Williams Pride---Definite. Very cold hardy bloom, great limb angles, but a
>tree with upright habit so can get very large. Apples good size and flavor
>for being so early. This and Liberty the most reliable year after year,
>despite variable spring freezes. [totally agree]
>
>Dayton---Have topworked most of that tree, because flavor was so poor. I
>recall Ed Fackler wondering aloud if this one should have been named and
>released, at least for him in IN. [The first year mine fruited, it was inedible. After that, the flavor improved considerably. I would now consider planting more. Just don't be surprised if the first crop or two is of very poor flavor, as Richard says.]
>
>Liberty---Along with Williams Pride, never misses. If you pick them on the
>green side, will keep for months and flavor up nicely. Barbara, have you
>tried this with Liberty? Also, the natural form of the tree, more
>spreading, makes it a great climbing tree; one that can easily be pruned,
>thinned and picked from the tree instead of a ladder, if rootstock robust
>enough. Stem is so short it often pushes fruit off when ripening, so a lot
>of drop on this one if left too long. [The short stem and the high productivity makes thinning a bit more difficult than many other cultivars, but maybe because that's because I hand thin (insane, but it works). This is one of my favorite cultivars, including for flavor, but some years it misses quality metrics badly. If you get a heat wave when they are ripening, flavor and texture suffer considerably. Despite this problem in maybe two years out of 20+ so far, most years this one is an excellent apple, even in our semi-tropical climate.]
>
>Goldrush---Jules Janick recommended it as his favorite. Routinely keeps
>until Apr. or May for us, flavor and texture my wife's favorite. Least
>vigorous tree on the list. Very susceptible to Cedar Apple Rust so will
>need to commit to spraying for that, to prevent early defoliation and
>subsequent loss of flavor. [100% agree. A fantastic apple, if only it would resist CAR.]
>
>Two others that have done well for us are:
>---Pristine, ripens with Williams Pride. Canary yellow with good tart
>flavor, firm. Apple maggot preferred this one over all others, but were
>able to control with sticky traps. [just planted my first Pristine- no experience]
>
>---Kidd's Orange is same season as Liberty. Very dense flesh, great
>flavor, excellent keeper for a summer apple, we've eaten it into January.
>Have heard it's the best of the Cox's Orange Pippen family for Carolinas
>and Georgia; scionwood gifted to me when moving to TN, with the insistence
>that it deserves to be more widely grown, at least in our region. I could
>make the case for growing this in place of Liberty or Goldrush, though it's
>an August apple instead of October as for Goldrush. Have also grafted
>Kidd's Orange trees for my farm. One of the few that made the move with us. [haven't tried this one, though I might now, based on Richard's comments]
>
>All the above save Goldrush with CAR, have been quite resistant to
>fireblight, summer rots, CAR, scab, etc. [agree]
>
>I have a MonArk tree that keeps getting nailed by spring freezes. Maybe
>will get to taste some this year? On the testimony of Lucky and others, am
>topworking some seedling trees on my farm with MonArk.
>
>Richard Moyer
>SW VA
>Thankful here for inches and days of rain breaking our spring drought.
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