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Audio

Apple Growing and Pollinating

2010

Accession Number Interviewer
Date 2010 Location
Media mp3
ID

312_Apple-Growing-Pollinating_2010.mp3

otter.ai

8.02.2024

no

Unknown Speaker 0:00
just better than what we have. It's possible.

Unknown Speaker 0:04
And you really do notice a difference in the beginning of the new season in the end, don't you? Could you tell us a bit about how you actually go about developing a new variety?

Unknown Speaker 0:15
Well, it's a pretty low tech process, we think it's basically just a controlled cross pollination, in which you choose which parents you want to intimate. And then you remove the pollen from one variety and apply it to the flowers and the other one. Wait for those fruits to develop. The fruits, of course, are part of the mother tree, but the seeds inside are the next generation. So half of their genes would come from the pollen parent and half from the mother country. And then you can grow each of those seeds out into a new tree. When you do grow an apple from seed, it goes through a period of juvenility, which is a time is really in the apple tree of life, when it doesn't produce any flowers or fruit just grows vegetatively. And that period can be a number of years. In our program, we shorten that period by propagating them on to dwarf rootstocks, because the other advantage of enable you to fit a lot more trees into a smaller space. Sounds

Unknown Speaker 1:14
like a lot of patients require a lot of the data to develop a new variety.

Unknown Speaker 1:21
From start to finish, it would be 15 or 20 years. But since we have been doing this for a long time, we have things in the pipeline. So every year there's something new and something some work to do.

Unknown Speaker 1:36
What's a recent example of a variety that that you realized, oh, this, I think they started out as numbers don't they have? And then you realize, well, this could be commercially viable. And, and it needs a name, but how to? How do you take it to market and develop it that way?

Unknown Speaker 1:52
Well, we go through three phases of testing. The first one is called, we call it sealing phase. It means that if that phase, we have around 30,000 different kinds, but only one three of each. And then you're trying to select the ones that are worthy of a second look from the ones that aren't, and very few of them are less than 1% will make it to second stage, then we take a lot more detailed records. Not just case, tape is the most important, of course, but it has to have a lot of other traits to make it commercially viable. If we find one that we think is pretty good, it's still only been tested here. It's here at the Research Station. So our commercialization partner Pico, which is the Okanagan plant Improvement Corporation, they will take it into the third stage of testing, which is on farm testing. If it still does good, then it will get a name

Unknown Speaker 2:44
editing promising right now coming up the origin

Unknown Speaker 2:47
of the more recent ones was Nikola, which has been planted in the valley here, but it's undergoing a few growing pains and we're not sure yet whether it will ultimately be successful or not

Unknown Speaker 3:01
growing pains. Yeah, it's

Unknown Speaker 3:05
it's having some storage disorders. Last year has some storage disorders. We don't know if it's just an anomaly or if it's going to become a recurring problem. So we're, we're testing it further to see if it was, if it will. It will be okay or not,

Unknown Speaker 3:21
I sure hope it's successful I love the name of the Nicola the Nicola Valley and Nicola Valley, honey, and all those together.

Unknown Speaker 3:29
The name Nicola is actually a sort of a historical nature because there was a certain segment of summer land that used to be called Nicholas prairie. And it was named after chief Nicola Well, his name was anglicized as Nicola, Nicola. He has that property was named after the property, but it was it was the Nicola Valley, of course,

Unknown Speaker 3:57
who owns the rights to the new variety once once you achieve that

Unknown Speaker 4:04
the Republic breeding program so that the rights are owned by the government of Canada.

Unknown Speaker 4:12
Does that protect the apple in any way?

Unknown Speaker 4:16
Protect we have already protected by plant breeders rights, which means that you have to pay a royalty to plant the tree. The royalties do not come to us, personally, they come to the breeding program to help offset the cost of the program.

Unknown Speaker 4:32
Cheryl's fascinating the work you're doing it sounds like you love it too. Thanks for talking to us today.

Unknown Speaker 4:38
Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 4:39
Cheryl Hanson research side is that the Pacific Agricultural Research Center in Summerlin now we want to hear about your favorite variety pick up the phone and tell us about your favorite 604-669-3733 1-800-825-5950 star or pound 690 on the cell. judging from the Haiku that we're receiving people love their apples in this province and it is Apple week, BC Almanac, and we're going to continue now with Harry Burton. He knows a thing or two about heritage apples. He's the owner of Apple luscious orchard on Saltspring, where he grows upwards of 200 varieties of apples. And good afternoon, Harry. That afternoon like how are you? Just great to look in varieties, and you have all of what, five acres or something?

Unknown Speaker 5:27
We got two and a half acres. So suddenly, we only have one tree of one

Unknown Speaker 5:31
tree. But yeah, describe your art or your orchard and what it looks like about this time of year.

Unknown Speaker 5:37
It's pretty well half finished. So we've got half the trees and half still are late. And we're just heading into the final stretch rates, which was about November 15 20. finished picking. And on top of that it's been a tough year on the coast. We've had a lot of orchards with no apples and we had about a 50% this year. So we're getting through those

Unknown Speaker 5:59
a year it's been pretty good in the in the interior, but it can vary candidate from from one part of the province to the other and having so many different kinds of apples, what why do you grow so many different heritage varieties here?

Unknown Speaker 6:11
I think I call it Apple holics. Apple holics just want to test another array. And once you start tasting good varieties, it really is a compliment to Mother Nature that I want to grow all these incredible rides that she's created. So so that's my thing. It's just, it's a passion really.

Unknown Speaker 6:32
And the work that goes along with it, the pruning and keeping track of how they're doing. Tell us a bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 6:39
Well, that's it's a year round job. We do some grafting as well. So that keeps us busy in the period that people think we would be doing nothing, let's say, February and March is when we're doing grafting and they're doing a lot of pruning. And so basically it's a Iran job. But in the other sense, it's a totally changing job. And there's a lot of value in a job that changes over the seasons. That's quite nice.

Unknown Speaker 7:05
Well, you have the Big Apple Festival on the weekend we posted a picture of our listeners lens inside the one of the halls on Saltspring. And the table is ringed by hundreds and hundreds of apples and hundreds of people drooling on but what are some of your favorite varieties?

Unknown Speaker 7:20
Well, depends on the season but in mid September you can't be to Gravenstein it's an apple that was discovered in 1600. Going into October well Cox is a pretty hard one to beat Cox orange. The favorite British eating apples and the red slice we go a few reds by Friday here they're pretty incredible too. And they they've they have we have some that ended harvest in August. Others in now and then some in late October.

Unknown Speaker 7:53
It's a red flash inside, isn't it?

Unknown Speaker 7:55
Yes, it is. It's beautiful apple,

Unknown Speaker 7:57
we have a picture that you sent us and we posted that on our listeners lands if people want it want to see what a scarlet surprise. Looks like. We're opening the fonts too. And we'll have Harry Burton stay with us. As we asked her what's news to your favorite variety of apple and why? And Henny Aikman is one of our listeners who wants to tell us about the boss cope. It's it's spelled boss coupe and I had one at the Apple Festival at Fort Langley on the on the weekend, Harry but he went a little haiku because apparently his father Peter Bruton doors, it was a master gardener and he was born in Moscow, in the Netherlands. And he wrote this haiku. Haiku. Remembering dad, Bell, the bus cool. Apple trees. Now grace my garden. It's very nice. Do you have one of those? The Bosco? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 8:52
we do. We had one. And we have we have three of those trees. And actually one was so heavily laden this year. With the excessive rain in September the tree fell over. And I don't know whether I can salvage it or not. I can pick up Dutch people, especially older Dutch people by just saying the word borescope was can you watch their face

Unknown Speaker 9:11
as you would have? Three or two and they're very nice, very tangy, aren't they? Don is running us from the two days that Nelson and we're asking you about favorite varieties done. Go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 9:26
Good apples. I had some acreage and I had 10 varieties. And there'll be three right and the best one and I have quoted quite a few of the good varieties was my Macintosh. Right at this time of the year at Pickett reading Thanksgiving, the apples are fully read. I would give them their friends and they wouldn't believe how good they were.

Unknown Speaker 9:47
The much maligned Macintosh can be a wonderful Apple ganache.

Unknown Speaker 9:51
Yes, the problem with Macintosh is of course it's susceptible does upon this but you can split it with software and you have to do it three four times in the spring.

Unknown Speaker 9:59
But otherwise it's a good apples.

Unknown Speaker 10:03
What's the heritage of the Mac?

Unknown Speaker 10:04
Well the Mac came from a little town in Ontario danielda And it's a great apple. It seems to go better in the east and it doesn't go well on our coasts out here but I still try a few of them because as your as your caller said incredible Apple fragrance and tea fade off the tree is so powerful. Not a keeper however and that's where the Mac itself is bad PR is that people want to keep it but my my my way of telling people is to say no your apples and No, no the strength of them and the Mac is not a keeper so don't expect it to be a keeper. Eat it right off the tree it's fabulous.

Unknown Speaker 10:47
Don thanks for that and brings back childhood memories for me because Max at my grandparents farm in Ontario they were so juicy fresh off the tree and not at all like the leathery things that can end up in the in the grocery store. Harry Burton is with me he's the owner of Apple luscious orchard on Saltspring Island, you're listening to DC Almanac and about 12 minutes before one we've declared an apple week on the program which are a few cranberries in the mix today as well. 6693733 1-800-825-5950 Ernie is online from little wet rabbits you can grow some good apples already doing just fine. What's your favorite apple of all time?

Unknown Speaker 11:26
Well, we discovered one called and asked her can its white honey do and this was evidently bought over from Russia in the late 1800s and hybridized for about 10 years and this white honeydew was developed from that. But they're very large apple unusually large apples get pissy but different states very firm. Really good for baking. And

Unknown Speaker 11:47
just an incredible apple.

Unknown Speaker 11:49
Harry, what's the difference between a good apple for eating versus cooking baking baking like our news talking about? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 11:57
well, bakers and cookers have to be part and it's a part that becomes flavorful. So if you like a tart apple then you like Baker's, but if you like a sweet apple then the bakers are not for you. So that's the clue to baking.

Unknown Speaker 12:11
The white. How do you do Ernie? Can you grow them in the lawn? Is there any still there? Yeah. Oh, yes. Okay. Can you grow them there? Oh, yeah. They

Unknown Speaker 12:20
grow beautifully. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 12:22
Is that in your collection? Airy? No,

Unknown Speaker 12:25
I don't. There's a couple of the red astir canon Saltspring but they don't go the way to ask the White to African. And it's it's an earlier Apple two, so it would ripen probably in late September, early August, I suspect and it's good in some of the cooler areas.

Unknown Speaker 12:45
Thank you for the call. It's a one on CDC. And let's go to Peter next in Vancouver. Daunting stuff to talk about favorite apples. Hi, Peter. Hello, thank

Unknown Speaker 12:53
you. I know you probably know this. But ambrozy is one of our favorites. But the word ambrozy relates to the food of the gods.

Unknown Speaker 13:05
That's right, the nectar of food of the gods and it came out of the orchard in Keremeos dignitary the ambrosia. I believe so yes, I think it

Unknown Speaker 13:14
was Mr. Manal actually found that they found it simply because the pickers would strip that tree before they would. They would eat anything else in the orchard and pickers get the so many apples as they'll usually strip the tree but because they would trip that tree that was the first clue that that was a good apple.

Unknown Speaker 13:35
The ambrosia hairy is a real success story in recent years among spacey apples.

Unknown Speaker 13:39
Definitely yes. Yes, we have one going here and it's just 38 it's teenage years. Starting to go there.

Unknown Speaker 13:47
What is it about the flavor that you enjoy? Well, first

Unknown Speaker 13:50
of all, I think the Appearance is important with an apple and has you know a fresh bright, fresh appearance reddish and green and background whitish background. And then the flavor is delicious. It's I guess on the sweet side, and it's crisp when you bite into it. And I think it's probably on a par with a Fuji because a foodie has those qualities as well.

Unknown Speaker 14:15
Peter thanks for the call it actually Nina Kabataan who lives in Vancouver is formerly from Penticton orchard country she's written a haiku. Which stars have written ambrosia and part Ogopogo bites. ambrosia apples smiles, Adam and Eve rest. They can eat up and 6693733 1-800-825-5950 on your favorite apple variety. Mary Kate is up from castle garden next. I'm Mary Kate.

Unknown Speaker 14:48
I heard you asking people what their favorite apple is. And my favorite is one called a lady apple. It's not pink lady. It's ready. It's an apple crab I think, Harry, do you know what that one? Yes, yes, it's

Unknown Speaker 15:03
a smaller apple. But it did use line decorations also because it's perfect looking Apple, the birds about 1/3 the regular size so it makes sense antastic decorations? I can't say no to the flavor and never eat one but we have a couple of growing here.

Unknown Speaker 15:19
Are they hard to find very key?

Unknown Speaker 15:21
Oh yes, I had to it has to be double grafted for the kind of stock I wanted. And the ladies who grafted it for me may two of them and mine was the only one that survived. So I don't know anyplace else where there are any. And I was hoping to find somebody I could give a graph to because I think we're going to end up having to leave our property. Very

Unknown Speaker 15:48
those graphs are actually

Unknown Speaker 15:49
I don't have any more room. Apple Holic usually has every available space that you can tell your your call the person that called in and they can always get a grasp of that and get some of the grass cut up and then they can start growing it wherever they end up once they move. So just put that in your selling agreement with your house. You can actually take a cutting off that tree next March

Unknown Speaker 16:16
waits until spring I'll be taking the tree

Unknown Speaker 16:22
in the castle of our West Coast era, and during that she might be moving from your hosts the apples on the coast.

Unknown Speaker 16:32
Yeah, absolutely delicious apples very late. It's very sweet. But it's also wonderful for making cider. It might give us a good mixture of cooking out on eating apple and crab. You can get a wonderful cider.

Unknown Speaker 16:51
Our time is going very quickly too. And we have to try and squeeze in a couple of more favorites. Let's go to Anna in Penticton next Solana. Hello.

Unknown Speaker 16:58
And my favorite Japanese Gravenstein although I liked the borescope as well, but the gravity is my favorite. And I have a treat myself.

Unknown Speaker 17:11
What is it about the ground scene that that makes it your favorite? Well,

Unknown Speaker 17:15
you know even the watch the Apple as it grows, it's just beautiful to look at number one, and it's very crunchy and gets sweeter as time progresses are eating and my birds love it. Everybody

Unknown Speaker 17:33
else likes it.

Unknown Speaker 17:35
And they're a little bit easier to find our thing here we see grandmas Dean's more frequently. Well,

Unknown Speaker 17:40
they're not necessarily more friendly. So that's where we're really working against them. But the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia is known for them and just north of San Francisco Sebastopol area, it has a grand scene festival, but they're not so grower friendly. So you don't see them around all that much except in small with smaller doors but fine apple and well worth the extra work it takes to get them to market. A minute

Unknown Speaker 18:05
left thanks Anna Virginia in Fort Langley, your next Virginia find find

Unknown Speaker 18:09
a brand or any other apple that's very hard and have a lot of integrity in it. But I wanted to ask about an apple I grew up with in the in the US, which was COVID Jonathan, and I just love them but I've never seen them. I don't know if they're in a different name here or if you are aware of them at all.

Unknown Speaker 18:32
Yep, yep. Jonathan is an old apple. It's we actually have a Jonathan and a read Jonathan and one is a little bit more redder than the other but they're good apple as well. Late October they're writing and

Unknown Speaker 18:44
they were much you find them but they're around they're out there and trying to submit to find a heritage grower like yourself who might have some Virginia Thank you. Our time has gone and thank you Harry. It's great to talk to you. No problem and we posted some pictures of the apple festival and some of your apples too on on our listeners. Lance. Thanks so much. And Terry Burton, the owner of Apple luscious orchard on Saltspring Island. And to our listeners lands with our apple theme II mounds Lee has sent a lovely close up of a jonagold Apple it's still on the tree almost ready to be paid to my ballistics lab. Perfect rambly picture perfect and on page one. Apple in