***A collection of seedling apples from 2019***

This year I’m sending several apple varieties out into the world to be tested and grown by you all. Aside from my seedling bite me which has been available for a while, these are pretty much the first new seedlings I’m sending out. That is exciting! I have more promising and worthwhile apples than just these few, but nothing goes out until it has a name, and some apples I just want to grow, observe and eat more before I send them out or name them. This project has always had a larger group focus in mind, beyond my small efforts here. Therefore, unless I get lucky enough to grow something worth patenting, I would prefer to get new varieties out so that anyone can be part of testing and vetting them. That has always been the plan.

Some of these are probably most suited to further breeding, so those should get out to other breeders asap. One of them is going to be primarily suited to cider making. I’m not much of a cider maker, so the best way to test and vet cider apples, is to get them into the hands of cideristas, and I’m sure there are plenty who would like to trial them. Others I just find very promising, and I’m pretty sure I will want to grow them personally for home use, so out they go. It doesn’t make sense for me to sit on them trying to test them in my one climate. lets get them out and growing from Alaska to Florida, and eventually to other countries.

One ostensible and obvious reason for breeding apples is to create new apples. But that is just one facet. It is also largely about two other things, citizen involvement in breeding and selection, and fostering an altruistic, open source, paradigm that serves plants, people and the plant/people relationship. My observations lead me to think that there are two basic types of plant people. People who are generous and support diversity and community and people who primarily serve themselves to hoard and control; in a nutshell, “how can I help” v.s. “what can I get”. Clearly there is a large gray area in between, but I think the far greater majority of plant people tend in the former direction. I just want to encourage that tendency, by making scions, seeds and pollen available, including my new varieties and their pollen for breeding.

It was suggested by a patron that I consider auctioning off the scions of my new varieties. I think that is a great idea and we are going to give it a try this year. That way I don’t have to price them and it’s a good way for folks to support my work in plant breeding and other pursuits. These varieties are intentionally released in the public domain and once out there, anyone is free to share them, trade them, or even sell them. I encourage their broad dissemination, so please share and trade them out. I think in an ideal world, I would get some funds flowing back this way from propagation and scion sales, but that is another topic for another time. I hope to write up a proposal at some point for a digital community that interfaces small scale and amateur breeders with small scale and home growers, and all in between, while providing a user built data base on the varieties and their performance. Sounds cool right!?

For now, we’ll let demand play out naturally in a bidding format. Auctions will be on ebay this year, just because it is easy and most people already have an ebay account. Details and a list of all auctions and ending times at the end of this post.

Below are descriptions of the apples and what I know so far.

CHERUB (WICKSON X RUBAIYAT 13/2)

***When it gets enough light to color up well, Cherub really stands out on the tree with it’s rich red skin, and red stem.***

Cherub is a chubby, irregular, little pink fleshed sugar bomb of a crab apple. I say chubby because it’s appearance is squat and plump. That morphology was part of the inspiration for the name, chosen from several options by my patrons. Cherub’s deep red skin stands out on the tree when well ripened. It is not solid red, but the parts that receive light turn a rich red color. The season seems to be late fall, but it also appears to be an extended season, so I haven’t decided where the peak falls. The flesh varies from mottled pink to solid pink, developing as it ripens. The sugar level has measured as high as 24 percent, one of the sweeter apples in my trials so far.

It has some of it’s crab apple seed parent Wickson’s rich, malty and almost umame like flavor, as well as some of it’s red fleshed pollen parent Rubaiyat’s berry like red flavors. Neither is always in enormous abundance, but both contribute to the unique flavor profile. I would say the flavors are a little bit of an odd combination, but I think that is part of the intrigue. I remember thinking long ago before making any Wickson x Red flesh crosses, that Wickson mixed with red fleshed apples might make an odd flavor combo. I guess I was right, but the flavor is at least as intriguing as it is confusing.

I think if this apple has a fault in the eating department, it is over-politeness, quite possibly due to relatively low acidity. And they only become less sharp and more insanely sweet as the season progresses. Late in the season, the flavor deepens as the red flesh color really sets in. It also becomes deliciously aromatic. Anyone sniffing a good ripe specimen if this apple, would want to bite it. I’m really looking forward to having a lot of these to eat so I can get more familiar with them.

My notes say Cherub is not highly scab susceptible, I’ve not grown observed and taken notes enough to really say for sure though and it does get at least some scab. It had some black staining on the trunk, which could be fireblight, but the tree seems to have lived with it fine, or even outgrown it. The original tree appears lanky and spreading in a way that crabs sometimes are, though it’s parent Wickson is not. Until it is grown more and in different conditions, growth habit can’t be assessed with any real confidence. My guess though is that it is likely to be a smaller tree tending to spread and grow some downward branches with wide crotch angles. High productivity will keep it small and bend the limbs downward. The growth will probably support lots of spurs, with relatively low vigor. We will see.

It is worth noting that Cherub was the first apple seedling of it’s class year of 2013 to fruit at only 4 years from seed. It has set fruit the two following years as well. So another prediction is that it’s going to be precocious, producing early after grafting and somewhat reliably thereafter.

I’m continually trying to decide whether I’m too biased toward the quality of my apples, or too hard on them. One day I realized this was one of the best few crabs I’ve ever tasted, in the same general pool as wickson, chestnut and trailman. Um, like that’s a big deal mkay. I think there are better crabs to come and relatively soon, but I also think this is likely to find a welcome place in any apple or crab collection, or on any frankentree for the foreseeable future.

In terms of breeding, here we have a very interesting, very sweet apple, with one very red fleshed parent and one scab resistant parent with unique flavor traits. I’m already making crosses using this apple and I think it has high promise for generating some REALLY interesting offspring, especially if crossed with other wickson x red fleshed apple crosses! I just planted seeds pollinated this spring of, Black Strawberry x Cherub, Pink Parfait x Cherub and BITE ME! x Cherub. For crying out loud, something good has to come of those! :D

Video tasting here: https://youtu.be/0goZspLQa74

And here: https://youtu.be/f2q4VlYiJEo?t=750

Blog Post Introducing Cherub: http://skillcult.com/blog/2020/12/3/introducing-a-new-crab-apple-variety-cherub

Cherub in a collection of new seedling apples, showing flesh color, which varies from solid pink to mottled pink and white. Flesh color is dependent on ripeness, genetics and weather, and can be quite variable.

FLAXEN: Grenadine x Gold Rush

I love this name and its very fitting for an almost glowing yellow apple often with a tow colored beautiful splashy crown of russeting on it’s pretty head. And a flaxen beauty she is. This is a healthy, lass of an apple with demure flavor and character. In some ways it is fairly pedestrian, but it just works. The flavor is fairly rich, not complex or overly abundant, but without flaws of any kind. It tends toward the Golden Delicious flavor line, and bears some similarities to it’s pollen parent Gold Rush, but much less intense or complex. There is one special flavor component in Flaxen of citrus, more specifically lemon. It is quite noticeable at times and absent at others, but never very strong so far. I don’t think that the lemon flavor will every be consistent enough to be relied on, otherwise this would probably have a name involving lemon.

***Flaxen produced some fine, comely apples in the worst apple year I can remember for both quantity and quality.***

The flesh is very firm and crunchy, almost hard, though not woody or fibrous. There is a hint of pink flesh late in the season. It appears to get almost no scab here, which resistance it gets from it’s pollen parent Gold Rush. I have seen it sunburn, but we get that a lot here. It looks very much like the mild sunburn I see on Gold Rush. It didn’t take me long to decide that in it’s fall season, I want a branch of these enjoyable, scab free, and very probably reliable apples to munch on. I suspect it will make quite a good pie too, and be suitable for other processing.

The parent tree is in rough shape, so I don’t know much about the growth habits. I doubt it will prove to be a very good keeper, but I have not tried picking it early for storage. The season really isn’t right for that anyway. I did note that it produced a lot in it’s first year and produced again it’s second year. This past season it produced plump, beautiful apples in the worst apple year I’ve ever had for both quality and quantity.

I suspect that Flaxen will prove to be a steadfast and reliable friend, weathering the seasons to express it’s health and life giving vitality year in and year out. Lets find out!

Video tasting here: https://youtu.be/9EKc2azN1vY

SUGARWOOD

This is an odd little Grenadine x Wickson cross that won’t be useful for much other than juice/cider/processing or animal feed. That’s because the flesh is quite woody for lack of a better word. It has a texture that is both hard, but also seems to release it’s juice easily. Apples that turn to sauce when you crush them up for pressing are a real pain when it comes to extracting the juice with any kind of old school press. The pulp squishes out everywhere, clogs screens or sacking, takes a longer, gradual squeeze, and yields murky juice. I think it will be found that this apple, even when very ripe, will release it’s juice easily enough, and that it will run clear from the press. I can tell that just from eating it and squishing some juice out of it. At least I think I can! Time will tell.

Like I said, glossy, clean complexion. Do you exfoliate bro? Someday there may be hundreds of Sugarwood trees, with masses of these ping pong sized sugar factories, hanging steadfastly to the tree until dead ripe. I’m predicting precocious, prod… — Like I said, glossy, clean complexion. Do you exfoliate bro? Someday there may be hundreds of Sugarwood trees, with masses of these ping pong sized sugar factories, hanging steadfastly to the tree until dead ripe. I’m predicting precocious, productive trees and juice that runs easily from the flesh with an uncommonly high clarity. Comparing to Wickson I think the following things are probable- more fruit flavor, probably as high or higher in sugar, higher tannin, better pressing, better hanging, less cracking, more durable in handling, better storing.

The flavor is fairly rich, though I don’t think I can describe it in any way other than just fruity. I can taste that it is a Wickson relative, but it doesn’t have a ton of Wickson flavor. It is definitely more fruity. It inhereted Wickson's high sugar gene, testing up to 28%. That might be the highest sugar apple I’ve tested here, or at least equivalent to anything else. I would not be surprised if it edges out Wickson in the sugar department, under the same conditions. I remember it having a decent bit of tannin and it is not un-acidic, but then my notes say it is neither, so it may just be a matter of year, season or ripeness. Either way, it is probably more of a blending apple than a single varietal cider apple. It seems a good apple for making juice for processing, as a source of sugar for instance, to make apple butter, apple syrup and cider jelly.

Another useful trait is that it seems to ripen over a long season and hangs pretty well. I’ve seen some fall off, but more than likely those were dislodged by birds, or maybe high winds. Only further growing experience will reveal how reliable and useful this trait is, but I suspect that it will hold well either on the tree, or off the tree while ripening for the press; and it won’t turn to mush in the mean time. That trait is going to prove valuable, whether hanging it in to december, or picking in late fall and ripening in a shed to convert all the sugars. In this. video, I’m tasting it in late Nov. and it’s still a bit starchy. https://youtu.be/BEXTqAhK2sg?t=177 My notes say it was still crisp and juicy out of refrigerated storage in the first week of february. I’m sending a scion to my friend Eliza Greenman, along with other good hanging apples, to try in her hog tree pigs-and-apples system. It hangs late until very ripe, and has a super high sugar content. Bring on the pigs!

The original trial row tree is upright and self supporting. My notes say the apples had some scab, but that it is resistant. I’ve seen it’s parent Wickson pretty much scab free here in a bad scab year, so that is not surprising. It’s too early to say for sure, but it is certainly not a scab magnet.

All things considered, it seems worth testing out further. Though it shows no red flesh, the leaves show a bright orange in the fall, and the stems are also red. So the red fleshed genes from Grenadine are lurking in there and given it’s other probable virtues, Sugarwood might make a good breeder to cross into other red fleshed lines, in pursuit of improved red fleshed cider apples.

Another video tasting: https://youtu.be/pbaklnXXcoA?t=308

Instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5tZk0uHHGV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

BLACK STRAWBERRY Grenadine x King David

This new apple is strikingly dark skinned, with white speckling. Between the appearance and the intensely fruity flavor smacking of strawberry, the name is very fitting. Black Strawberry is a gorgeous apple, which can have an amazing, complex flavor. But it also comes with some flaws a well, mostly from it’s seed parent Grenadine. I think that given the current condition of red fleshed apples, Black Strawberry will have a place in the orchard due to novelty and because the flavor is so compelling that it can over ride some of it’s faults for the time being. But it is really an evolutionary step in creating better red fleshed apples. My suspicion since I started breeding these red fleshed apples, is that the red flesh is most often going to come with other less desirable genetics that in most cases will probably require generations to breed out, while retaining what we want. This apple seems to have inherited some of Grenadines negative traits, namely scab susceptibility and poor flesh texture. We’ll have to see as it matures and produces over more years, but I think it will probably be an improvement on grenadine in some important ways, and probably not inferior in any.

So, it gets a name, and I hope it gets into the hands of amateur breeders out there to sow it’s genes. I also suspected from the beginning that if I ganged up a very dark red skinned apple with a red fleshed apple, there would be some synergy there. I think there is with this King David x Grenadine cross and that this kind of combination is worth pursuing. I have a second KD x red fleshed apple cross that is also very dark skinned and very red inside. Neither it, nor Black Strawberry had any significant red flesh this year, but it was super weird year and many red fleshed apples reddened up poorly or late due to weather conditions. So, your mileage may vary, but I’m sure the flavor of this apple will blow a few minds.

Bottom line is that this is not the superlative red fleshed dessert apple that we all want, but it’s a major step in the right direction and shows some of what is lurking in the flavorful genes of Grenadine, which does not taste like strawberries. And I’m quite sure I want to eat a lot more of them until something better comes along. It should be crossed with other, more refined red fleshed tending apples, like William’s pride, Pink Parfait, Pink Pearl, Rome Beauty and cherub. And also with anything that has berry flavors, especially strawberry, like Pink Parfait. Guess what cross I’m this year.

Blog post here: http://skillcult.com/blog/2019/12/6/introducing-black-strawberry-a-new-seedling-apple

Video tastings here: https://youtu.be/f2q4VlYiJEo?t=35

and here: https://youtu.be/pbaklnXXcoA?t=34

So those are the 4 apples I’m releasing officially this year. I have not been able to think of a good way to auction them off, so I’m going to do it this way. I will take pictures of each scion and list it separately in an ebay auction. These auctions will end 3 minutes apart, one after the other on a Sunday Afternoon/Evening. Is that a good way to do it? I don’t know, it’s going to be chaos lol, but it should be memorable :D The auctions will only be 3 days long, starting Thursday evening the 18th of Feb 2021 at 5:00pm Pacific Time (8:00 pm Eastern) They will all end Sunday the 21st at the same times.

Below are links to every auction with starting and ending times. All scions will start at 5.00, which is more than mine usually are, but a pretty average scion price elsewhere. My patrons will get a % discount on the closing price that is equal to their monthly pledge, starting at the 3.00 dollar level (3%) and up to 25.00 level (25%) But you have to let me know after the auction closes and request an invoice through ebay. I can’t keep track of all my patron names. I won’t send scions outside of the U.S.

I have these numbers of each:

Cherub 12

Flaxen 3

Sugarwood 10

Black Strawberry 18

Good luck and happy bidding.