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| Hello! I am searching for a specific apple, but I only have a vague second-hand account of its attributes to go on. My mother says that her grandfather had an apple tree that produced very pale green, sometimes almost white apples that were irregular in shape, small to medium in size, with smooth waxy medium thick skin that would only very rarely blush a very pale pink. The flesh was very pale white or tinged slightly green, very firm with no mealy or soft spots, very very tart and juicy, and she says that the juice would leave a powdery or chalky feeling on her teeth and tongue. Her grandfather never knew the name of the apples, but she says they were annual and fruited around September or October, and that she doesn't think they had a very long shelf life because every year they were harvested her aunt would make loads of apple pies with them right away. The tree was located in Elwood City near New Castle, Pennsylvania, and the house has since been torn down. We aren't sure if the tree still stands. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 12:30
| Not enough to go on Applehunter. There are over 8000 archived apple varieties and probably many hundreds would fit the loose description you set forth. I'd suggest going to fruitid.com in your mother's presence to narrow it down. It will walk you through numerous descriptive choices (with photos) until it finally narrows it down to a few select cultivars. Things like stem length, shape horizontal/vertical, stem depression, seed cavity and on and on. If your mother only has vague recollections of these things it will quite frankly be impossible to identify. Take a trip over to the old home site and see if the tree is still there and alive. If it is, make a mental note of the healthy branches now. Find out who now owns the property and ask if you can come and retrieve some scion wood in the winter around February. You can the graft this to some purchased rootstock and you will have a genetic clone of the same tree in your yard. |
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- Posted by nyRockFarmer 5A South Central, NY (My Page) on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 13:00
| The FruitID website is good idea, but the database seems to be lacking. I got the impression that it is based in UK, which explains missing varieties unique to North America. Maybe the current database is just a starter with the expectation that the people around the world would eventually contribute to help build it up. In addition, I doubt inexperienced people can effectively use to optional filters without having a specimen to observe while going through the filter forms. It's good to go through for awareness though. It might help someone to make more detailed observations of unknown apples in the future. |
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- Posted by milehighgirl CO USDA 5B/Sunset 2B (My Page) on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 16:34
| There are quite a few people who dedicate their lives to finding old apples. Tom Burford, Tom Brown, Lee Calhoun, and others I can't think of now. Orange Pippin has a lot of information on apples and might be a place to start: http://www.orangepippin.com/varietyindex.aspx If you can't narrow it down you might want to contact one of the professional apple hunters. I did a quick search on Google and found several interesting sites. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/345738559/the-lost-apple-project |
Here is a link that might be useful: The Search for
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Mon, Sep 22, 14 at 22:32
| milhighgirl...there's also the guy from Fedco trees I posted the article about a while back...can't think of his name now. I think Lee Calhoun may have passed...not sure. Trouble is, even these experts would need a fruit to go on. Just a loose description and we're right back where we started. PS...just thought of his name...John Bunker |
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| Although Edith Calhoun passed away in 2010, rumors of Lee Calhoun's demise are greatly embellished. I'm growing out an apple named "Chalk" sent to me from Alabama, and will see if it matches the description you gave. |
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- Posted by scottfsmith 6B-7A-MD (My Page) on Mon, Sep 22, 14 at 23:58
| Download a copy of Apples of New York Volume II and look through all the pictures/descriptions. It has apples of that period since the book is from 1904. Volume II has the summer and fall apples in it. Good luck! Scott |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 1:12
| applenut...you're right, I got confused. I read that he was setting a young fellow up in business with scion wood etc to start a antique apple business. I guess he figured he'd hang it up after his wife's passing. Maybe he is still involved too, but the article sounded as though he was retiring. |
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- Posted by milehighgirl CO USDA 5B/Sunset 2B (My Page) on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 2:01
| Appleseed, I put the link for John Bunker in the above post. Great article. |
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| We are only assuming it's a known variety but keep in mind 50% or more of the apples grown during the old days were seed grown wild varieties. I grow dozens of unique fruit varieties on my farm today. It would be best to determine if the tree still stands as mentioned and collect scion wood if it does. It is very possibly a seedling. My grandfather grew many unique varieties of fruit as did others that have long since been lost to the years. |
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- Posted by harvestman 6 (My Page) on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 13:02
| If the tree no longer stands, there is no one and no way to accurately identify it. The most experienced and skilled identifiers (it is requires a combination of unusually strong physical memory and a ton of experience with a very wide range of apples) need a sound apple to do the job and even then it is very difficult. Years ago I used Roger Way to identify old apples- and he was somewhat hit-and-miss even when provided with fruit. He had legendary skill as an identifier amongst Cornell fruit specialists like Jim Cummins. What Scott said is a good idea- at least you may find a very similar apple that way. It is true that there is a good chance it was an unnamed seedling. |
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| I agree, close enough is good enough. Trying to ID my niece's apple with unsound fruit I came out between Newtown Pippin and RI Greening. I bought a Newtown and have my niece's grafted a couple times. Side by side I can tell the trees aren't the same. But I am happy with the close enough Newtowns. I am still left wondering what my niece's is but that's more for curiosity since I have a dwarf and S-D from it. You've got a description of the apple you want. Find one that fits and you should be happy whether or not it's the exact one. A lot of good links in this thread. Had fun reading them last night. |
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