KETCHIKAN ORCHARD REPORT
—by Jerry Koerner
Jerry Appleseed Nursery
PO Box 6292
Ketchikan, AK 99901
Due to the La Nina reversal, Ketchikan experienced a very late and very cold spring in 1999, which severely effected our bloom time, pollination and ripening dates. Bloom time was delayed 4 to 6 weeks, as was the ripening dates for most of our apples. Pollination for the early blooming cherries and plums was terrible. We did not get a single cherry from seven different varieties of sweet cherries, and the only plum to set fruit was a handful of small plums from our Shiro. In spite of the poor spring conditions, we did manage to ripen 47 varieties of apples, which is down from last year’s crop of 65 varieties. Many of the varieties did not color up well and they failed to develop their usual flavors. Our favorite new apple for 1999 was Laxton’s Fortune (Cox’s Orange Pippin x Wealthy). It developed a wonderful sweet-tart flavor by early October. Another late ripening favorite of ours is Sansa (Gala x Akane). We have to let them hang on the tree until the end of October but they are well worth the wait. We had another good crop of Janies Grieve, large juicy apples that we like to run through the juicer, and our Pristine trees came through with another good crop of beautiful golden yellow sweet-tart apples. Since we are running out of room here at the nursery for many more new trees, I have been grafting my new varieties on Bud 9 rootstocks instead of our usual EMLA 7. We now have more than 300 different early ripening apple varieties that are on trial here in Ketchikan and we will be adding more as we continue our research.
Apple Varieties and Their Characteristics Grown in Ketchikan, Alaska, 1999
| Variety | Size | Color | Texture | Crisp | Sweet | Tart | Ripens | Rating | Description |
| Akane | SIM | R.Y | H | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | High Disease Resistance | |
| Almata | M | R | M | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 4 | Superior to Pink Pearl |
| Beauty of Bath | M | O | S | Y | Y | Sept | 3 | ||
| Bonners Early | M | YIR | S | Y | Sept | 1 | Air Balls | ||
| Booths July Gold | SIM | GIY | H | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | Juicy | |
| Breakey | M | R | M | Y | Aug | 2 | Susceptible to Scab | ||
| Devonshire Quarrendon | S | R | M | Y | Sept | 2 | |||
| Earligold | M | Y | M | Y | Sept | 2 | Susceptible to Scab | ||
| Early Joe | S | RIG | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 4 | Red Streaked Flesh |
| Early Russet | MIL | H | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | |||
| Emneth Early | MIL | G | H | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | Scab Resistant | |
| Geneva Early | SIM | RIY | S | Y | Aug | 3 | Susceptible to Scab | ||
| George Cave | MIL | GIR | S | Y | Aug | 2 | |||
| Goodland | MIL | Y | M | Y | Oct | 3 | |||
| Guldborg | M | YIR | H | Y | Y | Oct | 2 | ||
| Greensleeves | M | G | H | Y | Y | Oct | 4 | Juicy | |
| Hazen | M | R | M | Y | Oct | 2 | |||
| Herefordshire Red streak | SIM | GIR | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | Juicy |
| James Grieve | L | YIR | M | Y | Y | Oct | 5 | Very Juicy | |
| Jefferis | M | GIR | H | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | ||
| Lady Sudeley | M | GIR | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | Juicy |
| Late Transparent | M | G | M | Y | Oct | 4 | Scab Resistant | ||
| Laxtons Fortune | M | R.Y | M | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 5 | Excellent Flavor |
| Lord Lambourne | M | GIR | M | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | ||
| Lowland Raspberry | MIL | YIG | S | Y | Sept | 3 | |||
| Lubsk Queen | M | O | s | Y | Aug | 3 | Susceptible to Scab | ||
| May Apple | SIM | YIR | M | Y | Y | Aug | 3 | ||
| McLemore | S | RIY | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | |
| Northfield Beauty | M | RIG | H | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | ||
| Orange Sweet | S | R | M | Y | Y | Oct | 5 | Small but sweet | |
| Pfirsichroter Sommerapfel | SIM | CIR | M | Y | Sept | 3 | Slightly aromatic | ||
| Prima | SIM | YIR | M | Y | Y | Oct | 2 | ||
| Pristine | SIM | Y | M | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | Scab resistant | |
| Pumpkin Russel | MIL | RIG | H | Y | Y | Nov | l | Did not ripen | |
| Red Baron | SIM | RIY | H | Y | Y | Oct | 3 | ||
| Redfree | MIL | RIY | M | Y | Y | Sept | 2 | High disease resistance | |
| Rosthern 18 | S | GIR | H | Y | Y | Oct | 2 | Juicy | |
| Sansa | SIM | QIG | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 6 | Susceptible to scab and canks |
| Sops of Wine | M | RIG | M | Y | Oct | 4 | |||
| Summerred | M/L | R | H | Y | Y | Sept | 3 | Susceptible to scab | |
| Summer Scarlet | SIM | RIG | M | Y | Y | Aug | 3 | Scab resistant, can be bitter | |
| Tetofsky | SIM | Y | M | Y | Y | Aug | 2 | ||
| Tydeman Early Red | MIL | RIC | M | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | Susceptible to scab | |
| Whitney Crab | S | RIY | H | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | ||
| Williams Early Red | M | YIR | H | Y | Y | Y | Oct | 4 | Vinuous |
| Williams Pride | MIL | RIY | H | Y | Y | Y | Sept | 4 | High disease resistance |
| Wynooche Early | SM | RIC | H | Y | Y | Oct | 4 | High disease resistance |
Color: C=Cream, G=Green, O=Orange, R=Red, Y=Yellow
Size: S=Small less than 2”, M=Medium 2”-3”, L=Large more than 3”
Texture: S=Soft, M=Medium, H=Hard
Rating: 1=Inferior, 2=Fair, 3=Good, 4=Very Good, 5=Excellent, 6=Superior