To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Oikos
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:18:05 -0700 (PDT)
Idell, I could not find white Nankings listed in their catalog. Are you sure it was Oikos?
--- On Mon, 8/23/10, Idell Weydemeyer <iwgarden@earthlink.net> wrote:
From: Idell Weydemeyer <iwgarden@earthlink.net> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Oikos To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Monday, August 23, 2010, 10:13 PM
I ordered 3 white Nanking cherries--they were a good size when they came and are producing well-- but 2 of three are pinkish, one is very white. I would imagine that is the result of coming from seeds rather than cuttings--I will order again from them.
I haven't ordered from Oikos myself, but I found their catalog tantalizing to read. They seem honest about the small size of the seedlings they sell. Unfortunately, they seem confused about the genetics of the plants they sell, and that's what prevents me from ordering from them. Take this self-contradictory plum description, for instance: http://www.oikostreecrops.com/store/product.asp?numRecordPosition=1&P_ID=811 &PT_ID=82&strPageHistory=cat "We were fortunate to get the original wild goose plum or one of them from a noted plum expert in Virginia. After 15 years of waiting we found out our trees needed a pollinator so we began adding a few 2nd generation trees next to the originals. After the pollinator did its job, the yields increased dramatically. Seedlings from this graft have produced the same good quality fruit-very juicy and sweet. The story from this tree comes from a hunter who found the seed in the stomach of a goose and planted it. Since then many different plants were used from this tree and distributed under the name 'wild goose'. It truly is distinct. Ours have crossed with itself and other native plums nearby."
If this plum needs a pollinator, what do they mean it's "crossed with itself"? Do they
mean some of the seedlings they're selling are inbred weaklings, and the rest are unpredictable hybrids with who-knows-what? And how can seedlings from this grafted tree produce "the same good quality fruit"? That really depends on what pollinated the tree. That could be anything, since they have many different plums in their orchard.
Unpredictability in seedlings is fine if that's what you want, but they make such a big deal about "We were fortunate to get the original wild goose plum" that the description is misleading. They aren't selling the original, they're selling its unpredictable descendants.
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