Posts Tagged ‘apple’
CRIMSON BEAUTY APPLE
-by Dwight Bradley The Crimson Beauty, or Scarlet Pippin, is an antique, early-ripening, red apple variety. Although still not widely grown in Alaska, it shows considerable promise. According to Beach (1905, Apples of New York, v. 2, p. 196-197), it originated about 1860 in Lynn, Ontario. Harold Jones, an Ontario agricultural researcher, is…
Read MoreApple Thinning
By Tami Schlies Every July I spend time among my trees hand-thinning apple clusters. For twenty plus trees, it is time consuming. There will be spiders. My chickens get underfoot chasing the dropped fruit. But it is worth every moment of my time when harvest arrives. It hurts to break off all that potential fruit,…
Read MoreUpdate from Dwight and Lauren Bradley
Lauren and I moved out of Alaska in mid September and drove two cars and three pets to Randolph, New Hampshire. We bought an old farm on 20 acres here; I worked at this farm in the 1970s, before becoming a geologist. The farmhouse is in great shape. There are three attached barns Two of…
Read MoreRanetka Sightings! and Related Observations
by Mark Weaver In last year’s ranetka article, I voiced concerns about the hardiness of the ranetka seedlings many of us have been using for rootstock. I have since found additional information that helps to answer the question of what “ranetka” is, where it comes from, and how much variability we can expect. Lawyers…
Read MoreA Garden Report
by Mary Patania Gardening 2013 The events of fall 2012 set the stage for 2013. We had huge amounts of rain 2012, July through August then a sudden quick freeze in Sept. The results of 2013 were: Early Spring: No garlic or tulips. The ground didn’t warm up until mid July. We had…
Read MoreReindeer Sausage Apple Crisp Pie
By Carol Ross Apple filling: Made when apples are harvested and frozen in 12 or 16 oz plastic Cool Whip containers. Place plastic wrap on top of apples before putting on lid. Label and date. 5 cups large Rescue crabapples cut in quarters and cut out core and seeds, (not pared.) 1/4 cup brown…
Read MoreOrchard Report
By Tami Schlies If you’ve been to the membership forums, you’ll find a section where people are posting the results of the past winter. Very interesting to see what survived and what didn’t in various parts of the state. Like many people, I had terrible dieback on my Evans cherries. They are about eight years…
Read MorePresident’s Message
By Kevin Irvin This year has been quite the roller coaster as far as weather as I am sure you all know. Many iron-clad varieties had survival problems and it wasn’t just apples! It also is dependent on the micro-climate we each have at our respective orchards. Some fared far better than others simply…
Read MoreRanetka is a Ranetka is a . . . ?
(Some Inconvenient Observations about Apple Rootstocks) By Mark Weaver — December 2012 In the last 20 years, productive apple trees and productive home orchards have proliferated in Southcentral Alaska to an extent once thought impossible. In large measure, this has happened because of the willingness of a few Alaskan and Canadian growers—real pioneers in the…
Read MoreFrom the President
By Pat Mulligan Hello members. Much of the value of this group is the sharing of experience. When one member tries something new, we all benefit. Why should we miss new, hardier plants or make the same mistakes? Our newsletters convey some of our experiences. Please join me in thanking Dawn Deiser for scanning…
Read MoreFireblight
By Seymour Mills I would like to offer something for the Fireblight that is very cheap to try and I think it will work. I’m pretty sure that is what I had to deal with. Mix a heavy solution of garden lime in water and scrub loose any diseased looking area and paint on the…
Read MoreSWEET SIXTEEN APPLES RIPEN IN ANCHORAGE
A few years ago, Bob Boyer top worked Sweet Sixteen onto an old Siberian crab growing in Tony Route’s backyard near 8th & M just west of downtown Anchorage. The tree is one backyard north of the “8th & M mystery apple” which has been mentioned in past newsletters. The top worked tree…
Read MoreFrom the Editor’s Garden
By Tami Schlies Another season is over, with the golden birch and cottonwoods raining down their leaves in a forecast of the snow to come. I sit at my computer once again, reworking in my mind all that has occurred in the brief summer since the last newsletter. Spring seemed to take its own sweet…
Read MoreANNUAL TASTING OF ALASKA-GROWN APPLES 2006
ANNUAL TASTING OF ALASKA-GROWN APPLES By Dwight Bradley 2006 Results The annual apple tasting was held at Bradley’s in Peters Creek on Sept. 23, 2007. About 30 people were there and 19 rated the apples. Fifty-five different apple varieties were tasted along with nineteen duplicates. Another dozen or so varieties were brought for…
Read MorePRUNING FOR FRUIT
By Tami Schlies We have watched a lot of videos over the years on pruning apple trees, both in the early, formative years, and on old trees that need to be seriously reformed. However, I think quite a few people likely have questions on how to prune other types of fruit, or even how…
Read MoreOrchard report for 2005 growing season – Peters Creek
by Dwight Bradley, Peters Creek Our orchard was laid out in summer 1992 so this was its 14th summer. It’s looking more and more like a real orchard and less like the “stick farm” that it once was. Of the 50 trees that were planted in 1992-1993, only six remain (Heyer 20, Crimson Beauty, Norland,…
Read MoreSchlies Orchard Report 2006
Schlies Orchard Report 2006 By Tami Schlies This was a good year for fruit yield at our house. Almost every apple tree produced fruit, and the Evan’s cherries actually produced enough for a couple of pies (well, would have if my son had not had a feast one day while he was looking for duck…
Read MoreNotes from Dan Elliot
I re-read the excellent Ecological Fruit Production in the North this summer. Since it is out of print, I will pass on some information of interest. Pears need high phosphorus longer than apples (10-12 years) and only half as much nitrogen. For established apple trees apply 25-50 kg (55-110 lbs) of compost per tree in…
Read MoreAntonovka as a Rootstock
By Kevin Irvin Most commercially sold Apple Trees with a Hardy Standard size rootstock are budded onto M. Antonovka. Baileys Nursery a wholesale grower for the Nursery Trade uses Antonovka as well as Columbia, Borowinka and others as a Hardy rootstock. Most Nursery (Greenhouse) retail outlets here in Alaska commonly buy from Baileys among others.…
Read MoreMember Fruit Updates
Alice Brewer finally got some beautiful little pears off her pear tree Bob Purvis gave her years ago. Neither Alice Brewer nor Lawrence Clark had apricots produce this year. Dan Elliot says his best apple this year for flavor was Simonette 1847.
Read MoreNew Fruit Variety Trials
By Tami Schlies Our visit from Bernie Nikolai this summer was very enlightening on a lot of fronts. He is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which has weather most like our state, though a bit colder winters and hotter summers than Anchorage. Their average frost dates are around may 24th and September 15th. They only get…
Read MoreDid You Know?
Did You Know? If you discover a girdled tree in early spring, use white silicone caulking on the exposed area to prevent desiccation and save the tree. The bark may grow back. Young apple trees do best in bare soil with no competing grass or weeds and no mulch. Evans cherry…
Read MoreThe Editor’s Garden
By Tami Schlies Greetings from the Editor’s Garden! Our heat wave this summer has been great to many of my plants, and I wish I’d planted more beans and corn. As they say, it is either a bean year or a lean year, and this is definitely a bean year! My potatoes are suffering from…
Read MoreApple production at O’Brien Orchards – 2002
Apple production @ O’Brien Orchards 49152 Orchard circle Kenai ,AK 99611 907/776-8726 E-Mail obrienorchards @gci.net 2000 2001 2002 Breakey .25# Breakey 10# Breakey 25# Centennial 45# Centennial 25# Centennial Crab 184 # Bud 9 – 1# CGE 3# CGE 5# CGE 3# Carroll 30# Chestnut crab 2# Chestnut crab 10# Chestnut Crab 43#…
Read MoreAnnual Tasting Of Alaska-Grown Apples – 2002
By D. BRADLEY 2002 Results The annual Alaska-grown apple tasting was held in late September at Bradley’s in Peters Creek. About 30 people were there and 20 people rated the apples. We rated 63 different varieties, and 26 repeats. The top five apples this year were Oriole (grown by Tom Marshall), Carroll…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Peters CreeK – 2002
Peters Creek, Alaska by DWIGHT BRADLEY Jan. 6, 2003 This was the third straight good apple year for us in Peters Creek. The winter of 2001-2002 was about average, with coldest temperatures in the range of -25°F (one day I’ll start keeping better track). Winterkill was minimal. We hosted a pruning workshop in…
Read MoreAugust 2002 Tours
by DAN ELLIOT APFG Members had an enjoyable and educational visit to Gene and Alaine Dinkle’s on Fairview Loop Road in Wasilla on a wet evening in August. From giant cabbages to little crabapples, we were impressed by the variety and productivity of the established plantings. The prolific, large clump of red currant was called…
Read MoreAt War with Voles and Fungi
by Tom Marshall During the spring of the Year 2002 an army of voles invaded the orchard on my homestead west of Wasilla, Alaska. They were probably attracted by the white clover in the lawn surrounding the trees. The invaders girdled 6 trees killing them outright and severely retarded 6 more trees. Unfortunately, one…
Read MoreRecipes – Spring 2002
Homemade Fruit Juice from Jackson Gardens Pick berries when ripe and freeze. Later, thaw berries in a strainer to remove juice naturally, without killing the healthy enzymes in them. Once the berries are thawed and strained, you can use a juicer or steamer to get the last of the juice out. Freeze the juice…
Read MoreDan’s Apple Comments
By DAN ELLIOT This past season was good for South Central apples. Although dry, spring was early, fairly sunny, and warm. Blossom peak was about June 4th – many years it is around the 10th. We were almost a week earlier than Fairbanks. Although July was cloudy, the ground had already warmed and the…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Edmonton – 2001
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by THEAN PHEH November 28, 2001 I live in Edmonton which has a microclimate in Zone 3. I also have contacts with other growers in Zone3 and 2 in Central Alberta. The first killing frost of 2000 arrived late, giving the plants about two extra weeks to prepare for the…
Read MoreApple Recipes from the 2001 Apple Tasting
Apple Pie Bars from Teddy Tebo Filling 4 cups pared, cored sliced apples (1/8 in. thick) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 1 t cinnamon 1/4 t nutmeg 1/4 t ginger 2 egg whites, slightly beaten Crust: 2 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar (optional) 1/2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 1…
Read MoreAnnual Tasting Of Alaska-Grown Apples 2001
By DWIGHT BRADLEY The annual Alaska-grown apple tasting was held in late September at Bradley’s in Peters Creek. About 25 people attended and 12 people rated the apples. We rated 52 different varieties, plus 22 repeats, or 74 apples altogether. Bob Boyer also sneaked in his usual ringer—a Ginger Gold bought at Fred Meyers which…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Peters Creek – 2001
Peters Creek, Alaska by DWIGHT BRADLEY Dec.8, 2001 This was the second straight good apple year for us in Peters Creek. The winter of 2000-2001 was very mild, no colder than about 0°F. We didn’t have a decent permanent snow cover until sometime in January; meanwhile, a couple inches of glare ice built up…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Ketchikan – 2001
Ketchikan, Alaska by JERROLD KOERNER December 26, 2001 We are late in getting out our written evaluations on our trials of early ripening apple varieties here at the nursery. Ketchikan experienced another horrible spring, much like the spring of 1999. The apple bloom was delayed more than four weeks, spring temperatures were below normal, and…
Read MoreOrchard Report – Cottage Grove, Minnesota – 2001
Cottage Grove, Minnesota by ROBERT PURVIS August 21, 2001 This spring, my 1-year-old trees of M.604 and Debbie’s Gold apricot both blossomed on a warm day in late April, 2 wk after the last frost. The bumblebees worked the blossoms, and the trees tried to set fruit, but ultimately they all fell off. Now…
Read MoreOrchard Report Peter’s Creek August 30, 2001
by TAMI SCHLIES It is hard to believe that summer is almost over already. It has not felt cold enough to be fall yet, but the trees have that bronzy sheen that speaks of the golden days of autumn just around the corner. Perhaps milder days will give me the incentive to clean…
Read MoreGladys Wood Elementary School Apple Tasting Results October 4, 2000
by HUGH HARRIS These are some additional results from an independent group with no vested interest in apples – Kindergartners! Three classes participated, each child voting for the best apple. This was also for the closing of “A For Apple” for the month of September. Norland again seems to have taken the day! Apple…
Read MoreBook Reviews May 2001
Book Review: by JERRY KOERNER NAFEX member George Stilphen is offering a second printing of his book The Apples of Maine. Back in 1993, George updated the original Apples of Maine by Bradford that was originally published in 1911. George’s first printing was only 500 copies, which sold fast and are almost impossible to…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: Apple
Apples are members of the rose family, or Rosaceae, and the genus Malus. The common wild apple of Europe and Asia is M. pumila. Other wild species are M. sylvestris (a wild crab), and M. baccata. The Western Crabapple, M. fusca, grows wild on the Kenai Peninsula (rare) and along the coast of Southeastern Alaska…
Read MoreUpdated Apple-Tree Growth Curves For Peters Creek, Alaska 2001
Updated Apple-Tree Growth Curves For Peters Creek, Alaska By D. BRADLEY In January 1998 I measured the heights of the 77 apple trees then growing in our orchard and plotted tree height against age to get a growth curve. In November 2000 I made new measurements of the 100 trees now growing. The results are…
Read MoreBook Reviews January 2001
Reviews continued: by DAN ELLIOT Happy New Year From the New President! At the December meeting I passed around three books related to training and pruning I borrowed from the NAFEX library. Debbie Hinchey suggested I write short reviews on them for the members not present. The video mentioned last here was shown at…
Read MoreAnnual Tasting of Alaska-Grown Apples – 2000
By D. BRADLEY 2000 Results The annual Alaska-grown apple tasting was held in early October at Bradley’s in Peters Creek. About 30 people were there (including a reporter from the Chugiak-Eagle River Star) and 19 people rated the apples. We rated 35 different varieties, and 15 repeats. The highest-rated apples this year…
Read MoreOrchard Reports – Fall 2000
Peters Creek, Alaska Dwight Bradley, Sept. 1, 2000 It’s finally starting to look like an orchard. Without a doubt this has been the best apple year since we planted the orchard in 1992. Most trees survived last winter with very little damage. Bloom lasted from June 3 to somewhere around the last week of…
Read MoreWhy Fruit Trees Fail to Bear
reprinted with permission from WSUCE publication Your fruit tree normally will begin to bear fruit soon after it has become old enough to blossom freely. Nevertheless, the health of your tree, its environment, fruiting habits, and the cultural practices you use can influence its ability to produce fruit. Adequate pollination is also essential to fruit…
Read MoreAPPLE GROWING NEAR EDMONTON, ALBERTA
—by Bernie Nikolai Dwight Bradley suggested I update the Alaska Pioneer Fruit Growers, with my recent experiences in apple growing in central Alberta. By way of introduction, I have an orchard of about 200 apple trees one half hour drive west of Edmonton, Alberta. My trees are from one to five years old,…
Read MoreANNUAL TASTING OF ALASKA- GROWN APPLES
— D. Bradley 1999 Results The annual Alaskan-grown apple tasting was held at Bradley’s in Peters Creek on Sept. 25, 1999. About 30 people were there, and 19 rated the apples. We tasted 31 varieties of apples, a dozen repeats of these same varieties, two varieties of pear, and one each apricot…
Read MoreMILE 108 APPLE
—Kevin Irvin The Mile 108 tree on the Seward Highway (about 10 miles south of Anchorage—editor) came to my attention via Verna Pratt this past spring. It was originally found by a lady who does nothing but search and enjoy the “big outdoor” garden. This tree has endured many a winter along the inlet…
Read MoreAPPLE WINTER SURVIVAL IN MINNESOTA
—David K. Wildung (Horticulturalist, North-Central Experiment Station, Minnesota) (This article is from the North-Central Quarterly) The winter of 1995-96 will be remembered as the coldest winter on record in Minnesota. The all-time state low minimum temperature of -60° F was recorded at Tower, MN on February 2, 1996. While the official low temperature…
Read MoreANNUAL ALASKAN-GROWN APPLE TASTING
—Dwight Bradley 1998 Results The annual Alaskan-grown apple tasting was held at Bradley’s in Peters Creek on Sept. 26, 1998. About 25 people were there, and 17 rated the apples. We tasted 31 varieties of apples, a dozen repeats of these same varieties, two varieties of pear, and one each apricot and plum.…
Read MoreOREOLE APPLE TREE UPDATE
Tom Marshall provided some new information on his Oreole tree, which is topworked with 19 other varieties. The tree bore 350 Oreoie (of which 66 were blown off in a bad August windstorm), 74 Geneva Early, 37 Novosibirsk! Sweet, 26 Trailman, 19 Parkland, 15 Yellow Transparent, 21 Centennial, 7 Whitney, 1 Norcue, 7…
Read MoreBYFLUI NALIV: A PROMISING ANTIQUE RUSSIAN VARIETY
Dwight Bradley In September, we had a visit from a geologist who spent his 40 or so years in Russia, then moved to Colorado a few years ago, when the standard of living in Russia started to spiral downhill. Like many professionals from Moscow, he owned an acre of land about an…
Read MoreBURGUNDY AND WOLF RIVER APPLES RIPENED IN ANCHORAGE
by Dwight Bradley The Burgundy apple is a large, red, relatively new variety that has some promise as a commercial variety in the colder apple-growing parts of upstate New York and northern New England, and southern Quebec. Pam Warner reports that her Burgundy tree ripened its .first fruit this past growing season…
Read MoreRESULTS OF THE SEPTEMBER 1997 ALASKAN APPLE-TASTING
—by Dwight Bradley The annual tasting of Alaska-grown apples was held at Bradleys in Peters Creek in late September. About 30 people attended, and 23 turned in scoresheets. Bob Boyer contributed three of the top four apples this year: the winner, Ginger Gold, plus runner-up September Ruby and Sunrise. Tom Marshall’s Oriole…
Read MoreOREOLE APPLE TREE
-by Tom Marshall, Anchorage In 1969, weary of looking at my neighbor’s unfinished garage through my one picture window, I planted what I thought was a crab apple from Swedberg Nursery in battle Lake, Minn. My thought was that its early season pink blooms and foliage would beautify my house near Merrill Field…
Read MoreFOUR-YEAR SUMMARY OF ALASKAN APPLE-TASTING RESULTS
— by Dwight Bradley The following table summarizes the results of four consecutive years of apple tastings of apples grown in the Anchorage-Matanuska Valley region. This is a partial list of all the varieties that have been brought at one time or another to the tastings. For this table, I took only…
Read MoreBending To Pressure
This Michigan growers apple orchard is bending over backwards to increase yield. By Jean D. Aylsworth LEO Dietrich, an apple grower from Conklin, Mich., has tried bending the leaders on some two-year-old trees to control tree vigor and possibly increase yields as well. In a planting of Northern Spys on Mark rootstock,…
Read MoreSUGAR CONTENT OF ALASKAN APPLES AT THE SEPTEMBER 1996 APPLE-TASTING
by Dwight Bradley In the last Newsletter I reported on the September 1996 apple tasting, but forgot to include data on the sugar content. Bob Beyer took a slice of each apple that we tasted and squeezed a bit of juice into an refractometer, which measures sugar content in brix (I don’t find…
Read More‘Summerred’ Apple: A Delightful Addition to ‘Chinese Golden Early’ and ‘Rescue’ Eating Applies for Southcentral Alaska
Curtis H. Dearborn* ‘Summerred’ is the first apple of high eating quality ever to have developed ripe fruits on the tree in the Cook Inlet region of Alaska. Its flavor is a blend of ‘McIntosh’ and ‘Delicious’ and its fragrance exceeds that of ‘McIntosh.’ The texture of ‘Summerred’ resembles that of ‘Golden…
Read MoreRESULTS OF 1996 ALASKA-GROWN APPLE-TASTING
by Dwight Bradley The Annual tasting of Alaska-Grown apples was held at Bradley’s in Peters Creek on September 26. About 30-35 people attended, and 26 turned in scoresheets. In all, we tasted 50 apples, including 40 different varieties and 10 repeats. Almost everyone agreed that this was an excellent group of apples —…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT 1996
by Helen Butcher (Received July 8, 1996) The Golden Transparents received for Mothers Day 1986 have had a steady, not always consistent production. Several years ago I started culling down to two left on each group with resulting larger, regular-sized apples. Maybe the weather played a part? The trees are in the open…
Read MoreIN PRAISE OF SIBERIAN CRAB
By Bernie Nikolai I’ve always felt that the magnificent Siberian Crab has received a “bum rap” over the years. Here we have a tree that can take -50°F with zero snowcover, and come out smiling the next spring without any injury! It has a tough corky bark which makes it virtually immune from…
Read MoreApples in Alaska
CURTIS H. DEARBORN Research Horticulturist Apples are not native to Alaska oven though there are areas along the coast with milder weather conditions than those where apples are grown in other regions of the world. Oregon crabapple (Malus fusea) of southeastern Alaska is the only member of the Malus genus indigenous to Alaska.…
Read MoreSPRING ORCHARD REPORT 1996
by Dwight Bradley Owing to the lack of snow cover until January the winter of 95-96 had the potential to be rough on tender plants. I heard one report that the ground in Anchorage froze down to 14 feet below the surface. Whether or not this is an exaggeration, there certainly were a…
Read MoreThe quest for new apple genes takes ARS plant explorers to Central Asia.
The quest for new apple genes takes ARS plant explorers to Central Asia. ?????? ritz Waller has been in the apple business since the 1960’s. Today he grows 12 popular varieties—including McIntosh, Jonagold, and Empire—on his 250-acre apple orchard in Wolcott, New York, near Lake Ontario. One of his biggest expenses is the chemicals…
Read MoreNineteenth-Century Russian Apple Varieties in Alaska
by Dwight Bradley My interest in Russian apples was recently rekindled by a short note by George Quesada in the Fall 1995 issue of Pomona. Quesda came across an 1884 booklet by Charles Gibb of Montreal titled On the Russian apples imported by the U.S. Dept, of Agriculture in 1870. Xerox copies of…
Read MoreResults of Fall Apple Tasting 1995
by Dwight Bradley The Club’s annual tasting of Alaskan-grown apples was held on September 28, 1995 at the Bradleys in Peters Creek. Twenty-six different varieties were tasted, along with several duplicates. The clear favorite was Tom Marshall’s Oriole apple, followed by Parkland, Norland, Lodi, and Whitney Crab. Twenty tasters rated the apples for…
Read MoreORCHARD REPORT
ORCHARD REPORT -by Michael J. O’Brien Nikiski This report covers the production of fruit for this past season in my Nikiski orchard. I have six Meteor cherry trees which produced one cherry each. These trees are seven years old. Concerning apples, I had one-quarter to one-fifth the fruit as last year, approximately…
Read MoreFRUIT TREE THOUGHTS
by Bob Boyer Anchorage The following are blossoming dates (B) and fruit pick dates (P) for trees in ground or buckets. Nanking cherry. B May 5, P Sept. 26. 1 gallon. Cavalier cherry. B May 22. No fruit. Chokecherry. B May 22, didn’t pick; put Cygon 2 on tree. White Nanking cherry,…
Read MoreREQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON CHINESE GOLDEN EARLY
-by Dwight Bradley In the most recent edition (#20) of Apple Notes — A Prairie Pomologist’s Letter Exchange. editor Roger Vick has asked for information about the Chinese Golden Early apple. This short note is in response to his request. In the 1994 Census of Alaskan Apple Trees, Chinese Golden Early was…
Read MoreA partial list of “summer” apple and crabapple varieties suitable for trials in Southeast Alaska
No. 1Variety Percentage Origin 2Bears 3T 4F 5T 1 Adanac Battleford, Open Pollinated – J-MA – – – 2 Advance Cox Orange Pippin X Gladstone England 1929 A – – – 3 Akane Jonathan X Worehester Pearmin Japan 1937 LA K Y P 4 Akero – Sweden? 1759 J-A – – P 5…
Read MoreREVISED RESULTS OF ALASKAN APPLE- TREE CENSUS, Feb. 5, 1995 —by Dwight Bradley
—by Dwight Bradley I’ve now received ten responses from Alaskan growers to the apple census in the Fall Newsletter. A total of 439 varieties and 1288 individual trees are being grown by these people. This is probably almost all of the varieties being grown in Alaska, but the total number of trees in…
Read MoreRESULTS OF ALAKASAN APPLE-TREE CENSUS, NOV. 1994
— by Dwight Bradley So far, I’ve received nine responses from Alaskan growers to the apple census in the Fall Newsletter. I thank Dave Crusey, Doris & Jay Dearborn, Fred & Dawn Deiser, Burt & Cindy Durham, Michael Green, Mel Monsen, Charlene Oakes, and Joe Orsi for their efforts. Another half-dozen growers have…
Read MorePRESSING CIDER IN PETERS CREEK
— by Dwight Bradley Lauren and I made five pressings of cider this Fall in Peters Creek, from Alaska-grown apples. The best cider was made from the leftovers from the Sept. 22 apple tasting. There were at least fifteen varieties, and even though half of them underripe, the result was still superb. Nearly…
Read MoreFRUIT-RIPENING DATES IN FAIRBANKS
—by Clair hammers I had a very good apple, plum, and cherry plum crop this-year. No pears or apricots. I also had some grapes (Valiant) and elderberries for the first time. One of my elderberries set two different crops about a month apart — and they both got ripe. The following is the…
Read MoreRESULTS OF APPLE TASTING AT SEPTEMBER MEETING 1994
— by Dwight Bradley The annual apple tasting was held at Bradley’s on September 22. About 30 people attended, perhaps a third of them non-members. We sampled 34 Alaska-grown apple varieties, which were contributed by about half that many different growers. People also brought a variety of excellent apple pies, apple- and raspberry crisp, apple…
Read MoreBOOK REVIEW -Growing Apples in the North
BOOK REVIEW Up until a few years ago, there was not much published literature on apple growing that dealt specifically with the problems we face in Alaska. La Culture de la Pomme dans le Nord (Growing Apples in the North, 271 pages), published in 1992 by Eddy R. Dugas, is just the book we…
Read MoreANTIQUE COLD-HARDY APPLE VARIETIES IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND
by Dwight Bradley The northern counties of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine have long been a proving ground for hardy apples. The growing season is about the same as in Anchorage (late May to early September), and the winters are about as cold (record low temperatures for most towns are -40° to -50°F). For…
Read More1993 APPLE TASTING RESULTS
By Pam Neiswanger Warner Many thanks to Jay Dearborn and Dearborn Farms for their bountiful support of our 1993 Anchorage-area apple tasting!! And thanks also to Tom Marshall, Elmer Jeske, Hugh Harris, Erik Simpson, Don Cox, Arvid Miller, and Bob Boyer for sharing their summer harvest with everyone! Once again, the weather was…
Read MoreJoe Orsi’s Summer Apple List
Joe Orsi’s Summer Apple List Table l.–Some early ripening “summer apple” varieties suitable for trials in Southeast Alaska (Orsi 10/92). 1Variety Parentage Origin 2Bears Sitka Exper. Station Tested Fruited 1 Adanac Battleford, Open Pollinated – J-MA 2 Almata Beautiful Arcade ´ Fluke 38 Crab – LA 3 Beacon Malinda ´…
Read MoreFRUIT TREE SURVIVAL RECORD FOR WINTER OF 91-92 IN FAIRBANKS, AK.
The following had no winter injury: APPLE 922 END IMP. BATTLEFORD RED SUMBO AKANE JACQUES RED WELL AL MA SWEET JOHN WALLACE RENOWN ANOROS JORDAN RUSSET RESCUE ARBOR DALE KEEPSAKE ROMFO UNKNOWN ARCTIC RED KERR ROSTHERN 18 BATTLEFORD LEAFLAND ROSYBROOK BIDDY LIVELAND RASBERRY SCOT 144 BREAKEY LODI SEPT. RUBY BREAKEY X CRIMSON BEAUTY LOWELL …
Read MoreDETERMINING FRUIT RIPENING DATES
By Bob Purvis “Can variety A ripen its fruit before the onset of winter?” A cultivar’s ripening date is an important consideration, next only to winter hardiness for selecting fruit varieties to be grown in a climate with a short, cool growing season. During my tenure (1984-1989) as president of the Alaska Pioneer Fruit…
Read MoreSTEM BANDING ENHANCES ROOTING OF APPLE ROOTSTOCK CUTTINGS
By Pat Holloway “Softwood shoots of M.9 and MM. 106 were banded with Velcro for up to 20 days before cuttings were propagated. Banding 10-20 days increased percent rooting and number of roots/cutting and the longer the banding the greater the effect. In M.9, banding resulted in a higher survival rate and increased new…
Read MoreAPPLES FOR ALASKA DON’T FORGET THE CLASSICS
By Leslie Toombs In trying to grow bigger, better, hardier, and earlier fruit it is exciting to acquire and plant each new apple variety as it is released from the experiment stations. While new fruits suitable to our Alaskan climate will be discovered in this way, we should not overlook the historic apples suitable…
Read More1991 APPLE TASTING RESULTS
ANCHORAGE – Dimond Greenhouses was the scene of our annual Apple Tasting Event last September 19, 1991—and what a scene it was! Apples everywhere! Jay Dearborn acted as our special guest host and brought several apple varieties from the Valley for our tasting pleasure. Other members brought different varieties from their own crops and we…
Read MoreTHE YORKSHIRE GREENING APPLE
According to Lawrence Clark, a Yorkshire Greening’ apple has been growing in Anchorage for more than 20 years. It produces one of the largest apples of all the cold- hardy varieties growing in Alaska. Scionwood from this cultivar was offered in the grafting workshops this past April Below is a description of this cultivar taken…
Read MoreTree census 1991
Since this is the year of the census, why restrict the counting just to people? NAFEX member Ruth Edmondson answered her own question by planning a “Back to our Roots” census adventure for Sunday, May 20. Volunteers will make a block-by-block count of flowering fruit trees in the Anchorage Original Townsite and Elderberry Triangle as…
Read MoreSURVIVAL OF FRUIT TREES IN DELTA JUNCTION 1988-89
Below is a summary of the survival of our fruit trees after the winter of 1988-89. We experienced about a week of temperatures in the -60 F range with a low of -68 F. They were protected by 18 inches of sawdust in a 12 inch diameter metal cannister and a snow cover of about…
Read MoreFRONT AND CENTER: CLAIR LAMMERS
Chapter member Clair Lammers has been in touch with me a few times over the past two months and has written down some of the things he is testing in a very favorable microclimate close to Fairbanks. During the nine years he has kept records, it has yet to go below -32 F at his…
Read MoreALASKAN APPLE-TREE CENSUS RESPONSE FROM JERROLD KOERNER OF KETCHIKAN
One of the most interesting census reports received so far was from Jerrold Koerner of Ketchikan. He is growing 262 varieties of apple, of which 25 are producing. His variety list is reproduced below; it includes a number of English varieties. The oldest trees are now ten years old. His favorite three varieties…
Read MoreOverwintering Fruit trees in Alaska 1988
During the winters of 1986 and 1987 and 1987 to 1988 I overwintered in pots, a number of apple, pear, plum, apricot, and sweet and tart cherry trees. The decision to grow things in pots was based on these considerations: First, a black plastic pot provides a warm environment for growing new roots on bare-root…
Read MoreA few Baccata facts
Did you know (or ever want to know?) that malus baccata was first introduced as a cultivated plant in 1784 by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Q, Richmond, Surrey, England. It grows wild in North Eastern Asia to Northern China. It has been hybridized with at least four other Crabapple species and the list of named…
Read MoreNews from Fairbanks, 1988
I picked a single fruit off my “Yellow Transparent” apple tree this summer. It was slightly unripe on September 9th. The apple was smaller than the “Hyer 12” at the Experimental Farm. I have been doing a lot of research this summer into possible rootstocks for the Fairbanks area. The Peking cotoneaster and the American…
Read MoreArborgards — better than burlap
After some bad experiences this past winter with bark rotting caused by wet burlap applied originally to my apple trees for sun scald protection, I found an alternative: Arborgards. Arborgards are white spiral perforated tubes, 24 – 40 inches high, made of durable, springy plastic. Used by professional landscapers to protect trunks of newly planted…
Read MoreApple tasting 1988
The Alaska chapter held its fourth annual apple tasting party at the October meeting. 32-35 people attended, including photographers from the two Anchorage newspapers. Lawrence Clark opened the meeting by passing around an unknown apple, but no one correctly guessed its identity to win $5. The apple was “Kerrybrook”, a Canadian cultivar. A total of…
Read MoreApple Allergies …
Apple Allergies … Submitted by the Boyers Hi Tami, Bob wanted me to forward this info to you. Perhaps you would be interested in including it in the newsletter. Marianne From: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Jonathan B. Bishop Subject: Apple-Crop: Spraying and food allergies Hello all, I just had an inquiry…
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