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Cider Digest #1504
Subject: Cider Digest #1504, 19 May 2009
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1504 19 May 2009
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Grafting questions (Tim Bray)
Cider Orchards in France (Rob & Mike Miller)
[Canada cider apple availability] ("Siloam Orchards")
varying experience with cider-apple varieties (Dick Dunn)
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Subject: Re: Grafting questions
From: Tim Bray <tbray@wildblue.net>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 21:08:51 -0700
Claude:
> I really don't see why it wouldn't work. I have in the same tree up to 20
> varieties, some early blomers, some late bloomers, and they simply bloom
> when their time comes.
Ah, but are those grafted onto another varietal, or are they all on a
rootstock? What I'm concerned about is an early-blooming graft trying
to open up before the late-breaking "interstem" of Sweet Coppin (for
example) is providing sap flow. SC is still mostly dormant right now,
whereas KD is mostly finished blooming. If the KD graft is trying to
grow, will that trigger sap flow in the SC branch wood, even if the SC
is still dormant?
> I try to time my grafting approximately during blooming, but it can easily
> be a couple of weeks earlier or later. Maybe later grafts will have a
> little shorter growing season.
Well, maybe I better just go try it, then. KD is blooming, SC hasn't
even reached pink-tip yet. I suspect the KD grafts will just die, but
there's one way to find out. One variety or another is in bloom here
from late March through June...
Tim
in cool, windy, foggy Albion, CA
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Subject: Cider Orchards in France
From: Rob & Mike Miller <ciderguys@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 22:40:08 -0400
My wife and I are celebrating a big anniversary in Paris at the end of May.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a cider orchard and/or cider making
operation that we could visit on a day trip? Thanks, Rob Miller (Maryland)
------------------------------
Subject: Possible post
From: "Siloam Orchards" <mail@siloamorchards.com>
Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 09:59:33 -0400
[A commercial posting of interest to Canada growers; they asked if it was
OK and I said "sure". -the janitor]
Siloam Orchards of Uxbridge Ontario Canada offers cider apple
one year whips to growers in Canada excluding BC. We are sold out for
spring 2010. This post is to inform interested growers that to receive
cider apple whips from us for FALL 2010 that we require your order soon
and will custom grow the varieties you prefer. Info is at
www.siloamorchards.com
------------------------------
Subject: varying experience with cider-apple varieties
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 22:05:14 -0600
Pondering some of the responses to experience with growing this'n'that
cider variety...there's an awful lot of "it depends" based on climate.
We're looking at a lot of varieties originally built up in the UK, and
although their climate varies a fair bit over "that sceptr'd isle", it's
not much against the variation across the northern half of the US and
southern Canada (for example!...not meaning to slight the downunderers!).
- -Start- with traditional information, then try the varieties most likely
to work where you are. Or for reports here, cull based on location
before you get your hopes up!
One real difference from UK info, for us anyway, is maturity date. For
example, Kingston Black is supposed to be a late variety, harvest in
November or so. We generally harvest in early-mid September.
Or for example in digest 1502, Evan Owen reported his Stoke Red is one
of the most fireblight-susceptible varieties he's ever seen. I don't
have a lot of experience on our SR yet, but so far it seems OK. This
is likely a good example of climate variation: Our SR have barely
begun to contemplate a tentative leaf here and there; certainly no
bloom yet. By the time they bloom here (Colorado, eastern slope) it
will probably be quite dry, plus the other trees will be long done
so not offering nearly so much opportunity for cross-contamination
by pollinators. I wouldn't know when Evan's trees would be blooming
in MA, but likely the conditions include much higher humidity than here,
and perhaps more bloom-time overlap with others.
Or take Tim Bray's experience with Major--slow-growing where he is, yet
by traditional accounts (Copas, Morgan & Richards) it "should" be
vigorous. Tim's not wrong; it's just the experience in his area. He
knows he's low on winter-chill requirement, and there may be other
factors peculiar to his area that affect how Major does.
Once upon a time I had this idea of a grand project to gather as much
info about cider varieties and how they work out in the US. I've long
given that up as impossible because of the vast regional variations.
(I might someday produce a pomona for northern Hygiene Colorado:-)
It makes the question of "what should I plant?" very difficult to give
good answers in such a large area as this digest covers.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1504
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