Back when I grew apples in North Central Washington they always said you couldn't grow good apples down south in the Columbia Basin so hardly anyone did. Then someone came up with idea of overhead cooling during the hottest days, the Gala and Honeycrisp planting boom started. Huge plantings in the Basin and their efficiency of scale flooded the market putting many growers in the traditional apple growing areas of Washington out of business.
Cooling addressed the problem caused by 100° plus days but did little for cool nighttime temperatures which I feel are essential for growing a good tasting apple. Apples from the Basin of all types can look beautiful but taste foul, sort of ruins the market for growers nationwide. Fortunately the current trend is removing apples and planting wine grapes. Also because of new food safety legislation surface canal and irrigation ditch water isn't allowed to get on the fruit, overhead cooling water must be treated or come from a well. I suspect that even more apples will have to come out due to this. Probably good for all of us to get inferior fruit off the market. Here where I now live in western Montana at 3000 feet we can grow excellent Honeycrisp, it's almost like they were bred for the area. Night time temperatures are almost always in the 50°s no matter how hot the day. Bill Fleming Montana State University Western Ag Research Center 580 Quast Lane Corvallis, MT 59828 From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of George Brinson Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:19 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] honeycrisp prices Same story here on the east coast of Canada ........ maybe it is the climate in which it is grown. HoneyCrisp tastes horrible!! George Brinson From: David Doud<mailto:david_d...@me.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 11:35 PM To: Apple-crop discussion list<mailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net> Subject: Re: [apple-crop] honeycrisp prices " how did anyone find a Honeycrisp that doesn't taste good?" Unfortunately, it's not that hard - We were visiting our son in San Diego in October 2012 (no fruit here, might as well take a trip) and visited Whole Foods, actually caught an upper level produce employee and chatted - he really wanted to turn me onto HoneyCrisp, there was a big display of 4" ones - insipid - and not that good of texture either - On to Trader Joe's, big display of nasty green 2.25-2.75" HoneyCrisp, obviously off overcropped trees - wish I would have taken pictures, but I was on vacation... The ones in the local stores recently have been respectable @ $2.49 to $2.99/pound It's hard to grow good ones - twice the price but half the pack-out - a real temptation to lower standards - HoneyCrisp has generated apple excitement like none other in the last 30 years and has reset the bar - it is the new standard by which other varieties are measured and the traditional varieties don't measure up - Jonagored may compete in its week, but there's no comparison a couple weeks later - David On Jan 29, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Shoemaker, William H wrote: Now the question is, how did anyone find a Honeycrisp that doesn't taste good? Is it the variety? Is it how its grown? Is it postharvest handling? Is it all the above? In our markets around Chicago it is really difficult to find high quality apples of any variety from Washington. They look beautiful, but lack flavor. I think Washington growers produce great apples. They don't show up here. I've had excellent Honeycrisp from local orchards in northern Illinois. In southern IL, they aren't as good. We get Fuji from MI in our local Aldi that are cheap and outstanding to eat. I think local Red Delicious are just delicious. But then, everyone knows, Red Delicious is a terrible apple. Why do we have so much acreage of this apple?!! Bill William H. Shoemaker Retired fruit and vegetable horticulturist University of Illinois wshoe...@illinois.edu<mailto:wshoe...@illinois.edu> ________________________________ The problem is, poorly grown HC are just not good tasting apples. They need a cold winter, heavy thinning to avoid over cropping, calcium sprays every 4-6 days and careful handling. /// On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Steven Bibula <sbib...@maine.rr.com<mailto:sbib...@maine.rr.com>> wrote: In Hannaford (a major regional supermarket) today, all apples were 99 cents per pound, except some smallish, mediocre-looking honeycrisp at $2.49 per pound. How long can an apple coast in the premium price range on little more than the name? Steven Bibula Plowshares Community Farm 236 Sebago Lake Road Gorham ME 04038 207.239.0442<tel:207.239.0442> www.plowsharesmaine.com<http://www.plowsharesmaine.com> _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net<mailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net<mailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop ________________________________ _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net<mailto:apple-crop@virtualorchard.net> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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