Re: [nafex] scionwood list

[If multiple drafts tagged along, this is the final version.]


This is a long post for the amount of scionwood I have from any one tree, but I hope it helps to share some worthwhile trees. I admit I haven't harvested yet, intending to work from NAFEXrs' replies. If this list would help someone on the Facebook group, please share.

Know that my scionwood is usually thinner than the recommended "pencil thick". I've found parafilm is a good graft wrap for pieces which wouldn't hold up to rubber electricians' splicing tape. Know also my flavor preference is for more sour than sweet. I like the sweet-tart richly flavored, but find some of the Russets too sweet. When I share "perfect" flavor apples, the recipient usually mentions in either delight or diplomacy that they appreciate a zippy apple.


NAMED KNOWN CULTIVARS (For these, you could probably purchase better scions elsewhere)

Luscious pear, Chestnut Crab, Pound Sweet, and 2 slightly different Tolman Sweet-- one with subtly better flavor, but the other keeps better. I also still have the Snow/Fameuse tree which I intend to remove. It matches the sweeter & poorer keeper version of the Snow descriptions.


FORGOTTEN NAME CULTIVARS (Collected from yards & orchards)

A summer apple with better texture and flavor than my others, also stores better, med size, red stripes over yellow ("R's Best"); 2 Sept ripening similar sweet-tart, med size, mostly red, good fruit but my most insect- & disease-damaged ("EB" & "OR"); One of the McIntosh offspring, better flavor (more sour) & better storage; 2 similar salvages from a cider orchard, med size, red, lots of tart juice ("M41" & "M74"); Also from the cider orchard, the last tree in the sweet block, actually more sweet-tart, larger, red & yellow ("M.sweet"); Only one Russet this year-- the Nov ripening, greenish fruits wider than tall, very short stems, resinous/piney flavor, tree needs early branch-training & careful pruning so as not to fall apart after a couple heavy crops; Nice Bartlett-type pear, hardier & better flavor, Sept ripening, poor storage but makes some great apple-pear sauces.


CHANCE SEEDLINGS (Local finds, and some Beautiful Arcade seedlings)

2 different summer apples-- one in the large-soft-sour group, but better than many ("BAT"), and a 1 1/2" yellow apple-crab which usually flowers but has good crops infrequently, sour, best used for drying;
Other apple-crabs--"Yellownut" compares to Chestnut but more yellow, more tart, and hard as a rock; "Old #6" sour, round, for pickling; "BAC" & "BAP" are 1 1/2" red, rich but more sour than sweet, make a flavorful red sauce (with skins), they have apples when most other trees have poor years; "Fence" is a sweeter crab, on the neighbors' side, and I haven't gotten permission yet.
Flowering crabs with edible berries-- one with red berries, flowers, & fall color, the other with pink berries & white flowers;
Regular apples-- 2 Yellow Del types, one has a pineapple flavor, neither gets CAR; a sweet-tart, crisp, Sept ripening thin-skinned yellow with a rosy cheek ("Lowville" which I've previously shared); a sweeter yellow, harder texture ("Dunn"); a Greening type, not great, the tree kept mostly because it's a drought-tolerant semi-dwarf; a milder flavored red, not great, that flood-tolerant tree which I'm still not sure if own-root or topworked; and a likely Red Del seedling, smaller, more striped, more tannins (for cider blending?)


DISCARDS (Like the Snow tree, the plan is removal. Anyone want scions first?)

3 large-soft-sour summer apples-- 2 yellow & one red; an Antanovka seedling which makes sweeter mostly yellow apples (flavor sim to Tolman Sweet, but softer texture, shaped more like Red Del, but the stem ends split like MN447); an apple-crab with beautiful appearance but horrible flavor, looks great in a fruit bowl but how do you politely warn people not to taste them?

If you've read this far you deserve to know I have some small trees that need homes: Seedlings, topworked seedlings, topworked M7 & EMLA7. At best they are nursery 2nds quality, difficult to justify the shipping cost (especially those which have grown large enough they'll be damaged in digging) but I might be able to deliver in southcentral WI.

Tanis Cuff, s.WI, still winter
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