Backyard Chickens & Bees

The new apple trees are ordered! I went with Cummins Nursery in New York State, since they have such a wide selection of fruit varieties and are experts with rootstocks (Dr Cummins was a professor emeritus at Cornell University, working on developing new rootstocks for fruit trees). The apples I will get are all dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstocks (more on that later), so should be reasonably sized (and won’t block the sun from my neighbor to the north), but will still yield a nice amount of fruit. Below is a list of the types I bought, what rootstock they will be on, where and when they were first cultivated, why I chose those particular ones, and what flavors they should impart to any resulting cider, in a perfect world. Also, I had to take into consideration that apples like to have another pollinator nearby, so I chose varietal pairs that had similar bloom dates (e.g., the Kingston Black and Muscadet de Dieppe both bloom late, while the Roxbury Russet and Ashmead’s Kernel both bloom mid-season). Bloom date data for the PNW was taken from WSU’s apple program in Mt. Vernon.

Kingston Black on G.30 (England, 1820)

This is reported to be a good stand-alone cider varietal. That is, I should be able to make a good cider with only this varietal, and none other, and it will be well-balanced for acidity and tartness. The WSU apple/cider program at Mt Vernon described their resulting 2004 Kingston Black cider as “tannins are soft, good balance, wonderful flavor jumps all over the mouth.” While it’s not as highly-regarded as the Dabinett for the Pacific NW region, it seems to do quite well. Overall, this is considered to be a bittersharp apple, which typically have tannin levels over 0.2% and malic acid levels over 0.45% (per Barker’s cider apple classification). Specific data for this variety, taken from the WSU-Mt Vernon site for fruit grown in the Pacific NW, are shown in the following table (an ideal cider apple is 14 °brix, 0.4% malic acid, and 0.2% tannin):

Year	% tannin	% malic acid	°Brix	lbs./gal.
2003	0.14	0.71	14.3
2004	0.07	0.63	13.9
2005	0.12	0.70	13.8	14.9

The G.30 rootstock is a newer semi-dwarf that is more precocious and more productive than standard semi-dwarf rootstocks (e.g., M.7). This semi-dwarf should get up to about 50% of the normal tree height, or about 15 ft.

Muscadet de Dieppe on G.30 (Normandy, 1750)

This apple varietal appears to also grow well in the PNW, and can also be used as a stand-alone cider apple. The description of the 2004 WSU cider based on this was given as “Very good single-varietal cider, even when fermented to dryness still gives a slightly sweet taste, mix of fruit & grass flavors.” The MdD is a bittersweet apple (tannin level > 0.2%, malic acid level < 0.45%). Specific data for this variety taken from the WSU-Mt Vernon site are shown in the following table:

Year	% tannin	% malic acid	°Brix	lbs./gal.
2003	0.26	0.34	17.2
2004	0.08	0.35	13.8
2005	0.27	0.33	15.3	19.9
2007	0.13	0.30	13.6	17.2

Roxbury Russet on M.7 (Roxbury, Massachusetts, mid 1600s)

This apple has been around in the USA since about 1649, and is considered to be the first fruit that was developed in America. It is supposed to grow well in the PNW climate and have a great flavor and versatility. The description that really sold me on it (I had been considering Golden Russets before settling in the Roxbury) was from All About Apples: What Variety Do I Want?: “But, although an extremely high quality eating apple, it is as a cooking and cider variety that Roxbury really excels. You have never tasted cider like this apple produces and if you like your apple pies and sauces to retain the shape of the apple pieces, this is your apple! Provide a heavy, rocky, moist, clay loam and high cultivation, pruning and feeding, and you will find that this apple, even after nearly 400 years, is hard to beat. Yes, you really need one of these, too!” So I’m getting two.

Ashmead’s Kernel on G.16 (Gloucester, England, 1720)

Finally, my dwarf rootstock apple. This one I know less about than the others, but it flowers at the same time as the Roxbury Russet and will be a good pollinator. Most sites claim that it is, at best, an ugly, misshapen fruit, but according to Trees of Antiquity: “Fruit explodes with champagne-sherbet juice infused with a lingering scent of orange blossom.” As with other russets, this one should be great for eating, baking, cider, and pretty much anything else.This one is on a dwarf rootstock, so will only grow to about 10 ft tall.

So, it looks like the great grape experiment is at an end, and apple is the future. With luck, I’ll get good at it and actually be able to make something that tastes great! Now I need to go read up on apple orchard IPM and understand what diseases to look out for…

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