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Cider Digest #1057
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Subject: Cider Digest #1057, 23 July 2003
Cider Digest #1057 23 July 2003
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
re: alterance ("squeeze")
Re: Cider Digest #1056, 18 July 2003 (jack o feil)
Re: Cider Digest #1056, 18 July 2003 ("Bill Rhyne")
Alternate bearing in cider orchards (Peter Goddard)
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Subject: re: alterance
From: "squeeze" <squeeze@mars.ark.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:14:16 -0700
Just to toss a few cents into the discussion, although I generally agree w/
jack o feil's post about thinning, what I've observed is that thinning is
only really effective if done very early - like within a week of end of
bloom. What isn't being taken into account however is weather. My
experience over the last 20 years of custom pressing is that there is a
bumper crop in this area every 6 years - started the year before I got into
juicing, and when the 2001 bumper crop turned out to be a bit less than
expected I was pleased to see the 2002 harvest equal to 2001 - first time
I've seen 2 real good years back to back, and the split was pretty much
between the early and late bloomers. What I'm talking of here is the
general, neglected, "home crop", that is generally not thinned, fertilized
or watered, even tho' I've tried to educate folks for years, as well as
small commercial plantings.
The interesting indicator variety is Gravenstein, which has a strong
biennial tendency. The single most common variety around the valley, the
Grav crop roughly alternates heavy - light, but can have 2 or 3 years in a
row of not great or pretty good, and it's when the Gravs [fairly early
bloomer and early maturing] get sync'd w/ the later crop that the bumper
year happens. If the synchronicity suggested by Charles was the case, I'd
expect to have simply good or bad Grav crops, and not have the 6 year
cycle. On the other hand, there are probably a couple hundred old
varieties around here, including "real" cider varieties, and the strongest
correlation I've found to crop quantity is weather - primarily in the
spring with respect to time of bloom, frost, rain, and time of appearance
of various bee types [especially orchard mason bees]. This year I was
expecting a relatively poor crop, but it's even bleaker than that! :(
What happened this spring was that the "wild" mason bees appeared about 3
weeks before the apples started blooming, so they were dieing off by the
time bloom was really going strong. This year should be an up year for the
Gravs - like 2001, or at least close, but the trees I've seen so far don't
look it, and the growing season hasn't been great so far. If it's a bad
year for Gravs, then it will be good next year - - maybe . . . I'll be
interested to see if 2007 is a bumper year, or 2008, or both!!
However the crop grows, I'm w/ the Janitor on the still/ sparkle question -
occasionally a glass of a nice sparkling cider is refreshing, but the glass
of still I have most evenings is just what the doctor ordered!!
Bill
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1056, 18 July 2003
From: jack o feil <feilorchards@juno.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 21:55:56 -0700
Charles noted that a whole orchard can have alternate
bearing,this can happen and in many cases a good bloom can be completely
wiped out with a severe spring frost with no crop that year and a
snowball bloom the next followed by poor bloom the year after that and
so on. As I mentioned in the previous cider digest,heavy blossom
thinning( whole clusters) or an aggressive and early chemical thinning
program (including ethephon to stimulate return bloom) is probably the
only solution.
Jack Feil
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1056, 18 July 2003
From: "Bill Rhyne" <rhyne@wli.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 23:53:50 -0700
RE: Priming or sparkling ciders
A few words on sparkling cider---bubbles are fun!!
They feel good on your tongue and palate, they are fun to watch in the glass
as they try to escape the cider,
the second fermentation helps to develop or intensify the aroma of the
apple, and the CO2 takes up any space between the top of the cider in the
bottle and the cap (or cork) so no oxygen is permitted that might destroy
the cider.
If bubbles were not enjoyable or fun, soft drinks, champagne, and beer would
not be so popular.
Of course, this is a personal point of view or preference and that is why
there are so many styles of cider to be made.
Bill Rhyne
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Subject: Alternate bearing in cider orchards
From: Peter Goddard <p.goddard@latrobe.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 15:10:32 +1000
On Saturday, July 19, 2003, at 07:00 AM, Charles McGonegal wrote:
> Has anyone observed, or know of studies, that might suggest that all the
> trees of a cultivar(s) in an orchard really do alternate together?
This issue was raised at a recent meeting of the Hazelnut
Growers of Australia (with regard to alternate bearing
in hazelnut groves). The discussion which followed suggested
that, for hazelnuts, the alternation was synchronised
not only within groves, but across all the reported groves.
Groves were reported up to 1000 km apart. Indeed it was
said that groves in Tasmania synchronised with the mainland.
This suggests a synchronisation mechanism of greater span
than any I've seen proposed.
- --
Peter Goddard
Department of Information Technology
La Trobe University, Bendigo
phone - (+61) 3 5444 7426 fax - (+61) 3 5444 7998
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End of Cider Digest #1057
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