Ginda, et. al.,Rich,
To me a good Macoun is indeed a wonderful apple. Here, however, they are
magnets for scab, never size well despite diligent thinning, and usually drop
half their crop prematurely. Those that are left are small treasures but
don't keep worth a
damn. My Honeycrisps, however, set full crops annually, require very little
thinning, attain excellent size and color, and rarely drop a good fruit
prematurely. I just ate one that was picked in September and "stored" in
temperatures that reached as
high as 70 and as low as 32. Still "explosively crisp" and cosmetically
perfect (without any post harvest treatment) it rivaled fruit just off the
tree. To me it's worth sacrificing some flavor and accepting some bronzing of
foliage for this kind of mid winter refreshment, though I anxiously await the
Honeycrisp crosses (a la Lee Elliot et. al. [see below]) that hopefully will
render more flavorful results while still retaining the incredible texture and
keeping ability currently unique to Honeycrisp.
Richard
Gouldsboro, ME Zone 5 (where yesterday at this time it was 10 below zero: now
+22)
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