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Cider Digest #1452
Subject: Cider Digest #1452, 23 June 2008
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1452 23 June 2008
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Thinning Cider Fruit (Jason MacArthur)
Cider operations in Pennsylvania (Alan Yelvington)
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Subject: Thinning Cider Fruit
From: Jason MacArthur <rotread@localnet.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:09:18 -0400
I am lucky enough to have a wonderful fruit set this year, but this
means a lot of hand thinning. This means a lot of time to think,
which got me thinking: Do I need to be thinning? My primary purpose
is to reduce biennial bearing, but I also want to maximize fruit
quality, not fruit size. Is it preferable for cider quality to have
more apples of a smaller size, or will a tree put its best into a
smaller crop of larger apples? Does a tree slightly stressed by
overproduction produce more tannins and just pure appleyness than one
managed to produce showpiece dessert fruit?
I would be interested in knowing what other growers do, and what
practices are standard in traditional cider making areas of the world.
One more side note: this morning I noticed a little dead bug in a
cider glass on a windowsill near my kitchen sink. As I moved to dump
it out I looked more closely and saw that it was none other than a
Plum Curculio. Perhaps it was attracted there by the smell of cider,
I don't know, but this seemed a fitting end for such a dastardly beast.
Jason MacArthur
Marlboro, Vermont
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Subject: Cider operations in Pennsylvania
From: Alan Yelvington <alany@semparpac.org>
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:32:04 -0400
I will be starting my second (third?) life in NW Pennsylvania next year
after 30 years bopping round in the Coast Guard.
I have 16 acres that I want to put into production as a cider orchard
under a limited winery license. I'm still sorting through the State and
Federal regs to stay out of trouble, and I'm wondering if anyone who has
done this before would be willing to run a workshop. My only criteria
for qualifications is that you must be currently operating with no legal
actions pending!
I want to ferment on site and distribute regionally.
The surveyor is due this week, the COOP is waiting for soil samples, and
the tractor is ready to break ground. I plan to plant this fall as a
basic orchard, but want to get the paperwork started so I'm legal in two
years.
Anyone out there with experience to share? I'll be living a dirt mile
south of the NY/PA state line, due south of Jamestown NY.
Al Yelvington
Currently in Arlington, VA
alany@semparpac.org
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End of Cider Digest #1452
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