Hello everyone. Greetings from Ireland - the Covid rollercoaster island, where we have gone from having the least infections in Europe to the most, and back down again in just two months.
I guess one of the reasons that the apple crop is quiet is all the distractions, medical and political, which are not unique to here. On top of that, we now have so many (too many) platforms to communicate with growers on. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. These platforms have, I am sorry to say, fragmented us into smaller groups of growers, partly because of the convenience of the device in our hands, the flexibility to take pictures and video, and the addictive element that undoubtedly exists. Writing an email to a list serve is almost a thing of the past. Last season in Ireland was a strange one. We had severe frost with cold north-east winds when the apples were 10mm or so in size. But far more clung on than anyone expected, and we ended up with about 60% of normal volumes, and some amazing symmetrical scarring on fruits, like I have never seen before. Because of the average crop in Europe, following a season (2019 harvest) with short supply, due to frost once again, sales have been brisk, and prices better than usual. Which reminds me, in November 2019, I was lucky enough to visit the US, and Cornell Geneva station in particular (as my son was on placement in Cornell main campus I had to visit) where I received great hospitality and a lovely tour from Terence Robinson (thank you Terence if you are reading), and met many others including Susan Brown and Kevin Maloney with their great new apples, Rubyfrost and Snapdragon. It seems like a long time ago, but that was the last trip I made on a plane, and it looks like that will continue to be the case for quite some time. Anyway, back to apples. There is an interesting development in the marketplace here in Ireland. All the multiple retailers wish to have a supply of Irish eating apples. So Lidl, Aldi and Tesco (the international chains) are competing with Super Valu and Dunnes Stores (the Irish chains) for supply. It is an interesting time to be an apple producer here, although also somewhat worrying, as plantations are going in, and these trends can be fickle. So I planted a small orchard last spring, of just six acres. 2 acres of Sisired (which is a very good early apple for here, ripening in August), two acres of Robijn, an early Jonagold, for late September harvest, and two acres of Norfolk Royal Russet, a smallish russet apple (not as small as Rockit), with astounding sugars and aroma. I am hoping to find a cult following for it. Time will tell. On other news, the range of pesticides/fungicides we can use in Europe is declining all the time. It won't matter so much for the more arid areas, but for our damp climate, the loss of fungicides make life more tricky. I suppose if we didn't want tricky, we would not grow apples. Anyway. it's 11pm now, which my mother says is way past my bedtime, so I'd better stop writing. But don't let that stop you replying. I will be reading again tomorrow. Best wishes, Con Traas ________________________________ From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.com <apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.com> on behalf of vincent.phil...@irda.qc.ca <vincent.phil...@irda.qc.ca> Sent: Monday, February 1, 2021 3:35 PM To: Apple-crop discussion list <apple-crop@virtualorchard.com> Subject: Re: [apple-crop-2] still viable? EXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the University of Limerick. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender's email address and know the content is safe. It would need a major reboot. Vincent Philion Le 1 févr. 2021 à 10:30, Harold Schooley <schoo...@kwic.com> a écrit : Good question Evan. Been wondering the same thing myself. Harold Schooley From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.com [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.com] On Behalf Of Evan B. Milburn Sent: February-01-21 7:38 AM To: apple crop Subject: [apple-crop-2] still viable? Is anyone still using apple crop or has every one going else where? I have not seen anything on it for months. _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.com http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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