FRUITS AND NUTS

Part 3

Growing Apples, Pears, and Quinces; Pest Control, Air Drainage Important

by Roger D. Way.

Roger D. Way is Professor of Pomology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva.

Growing fruit in the home garden is a good, profitable hobby, but it also can be challenging because of pest control problems. This chapter gives instructions on how to select, plant, and maintain an apple, pear or quince orchard and how to harvest, store and use the fruit.

Home-grown apples are excellent for eating fresh or for apple sauce and baking. Pears can be home canned as halves or eaten fresh. Quinces are used for jelly making or preserves. Fruit trees can do double-duty in producing fruit and also in landscaping.

Climate is more important than soil in determining where apples will grow successfully. Apples do not grow well in central and southern Florida or southern California because winters are not sufficiently cold to satisfy the necessary chilling requirements. Some new varieties with low chilling requirements, such as Anna, will grow farther south than most varieties.

Conversely, severe cold (-45F or colder) will kill most apple trees, making it impractical to grow them in northern North Dakota and in other very cold locations. They do well between Georgia and New Mexico and Maine, Wisconsin and the southern parts of Canada.

Before planting, survey your area and determine what varieties grow best.

Air drainage can be very important to the successful growing of fruit trees. Trees planted on sloping land (5 to 10 percent slope) will sometimes escape late spring frosts which could kill blossoms. Windswept hill tops or low valleys where frosts settle should be avoided.

Apples grow on a wide range of soil types. An ideal soil is a well drained, fertile, sandy loam at least four feet deep. Good drainage is more important than good fertility. Soils that remain wet late into the spring are not suitable. Apple and pear trees tolerate a wide range of soil acidity. Liming before plowing may not be necessary unless the pH is below 5.5.

There are at least 6,000 apple varieties. They can be classified according to their time of harvest. In the Northeast, the very earliest summer varieties are harvested in mid-July and the latest in late October at the time winter freezes begin.

In their approximate order of harvest, some of the best mid-July to mid-August varieties are: Vista Bella, Julyred, Jerseymac, Viking, Tydeman Early; mid-August to late September: Gravenstein, Paulared, Prima, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Spartan, Jonathan, Rhode Island Greening, Empire; late September to late October spur type Delicious, Priscilla, Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Spigold, Northern Spy, Stayman Winesap, Idared, Red Rome, Mutsu, and Melrose. There are also many old apple varieties still available from nurseries.

Contact your county Extension office for a list of recommended varieties.

Scab-resistant varieties include Prima, Priscilla, Macfree, Nova Easygro, Priam, and Sir Prize. Unfortunately, no insect-resistant varieties are yet available.

Satisfactory pear varieties are Bartlett, Spartlett, Moonglow, Seckel, Clapps Favorite, Aurora, Gorham,

Magness, Highland and Bosc. Magness and Moonglow have some resistance to fire blight, a severe disease on pears, and are recommended for the South where this disease is a special problem. Orange is the most popular quince variety.

Variety selection can be greatly aided by studying nursery catalogs which give good descriptions of varietal attributes, but often fail to point out their weak features.

Pollination is essential for the setting of flowers to initiate fruit development. Apple varieties cannot be fertilized by their own pollen. However,pollen from almost any other apple variety will cause fruits to set. Therefore, in order to obtain fruit set, you need to provide for cross-pollination by having more than one variety within 100 feet. Bouquets of another variety may be brought in and placed in a pail of water beside the tree.

The pollen source variety has no effect on fruit characteristics of the variety being pollinated.

Some varieties, although they bear heavy crops when pollinated by another pollen-producing variety, do not themselves produce good pollen. Examples are Gravenstein, Rhode Island Greening, Mutsu, and Jonagold. When these are grown, it is necessary to have three varieties in order to provide cross-pollination.

Blooming Times

Varieties differ in their time of blooming. Some early bloomers are Vista Bella, McIntosh, and Idared. Late bloomers follow about a week later. These include Macoun, Rome Beauty, and Golden Delicious. In most years, early and late bloom will overlap and result in good cross-pollination but in some cool springs, the overlap may be insufficient. It may be desirable to plant two early bloomers or two late bloomers.

Pears will not pollinate apples nor vice versa. Pears also need two varieties to cause effective pollination and fruit set. Bartlett and Seckel are cross-incompatible. Most other pear varieties are cross-compatible. Magness and Alexander Lucus do not produce good pollen.

Bees carry pollen from one variety to the other. Bees fly at temperatures above 65 F. In some springs, the temperature during bloom may never rise above 65 . Due to bee inactivity, little cross-pollination will occur. Thus, not much fruit will be set.