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
on behalf of vincent.phil...@irda.qc.ca
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2021 3:35 PM
To: Apple-crop discussion list
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 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.
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