The Apple Club Newsletter, Winter 2009, Page 1

Welcome to our winter newsletter. I would like to wish all our customers and friends a happy Christmas, and a healthy and rewarding 2010.

A busy 12 months

Wow! We have just had a really exciting year, which I hope goes some way to excusing the fact that this is the first and last newsletter of 2009. So apologies to all our subscribers; here’s hoping you enjoy the read despite the long wait.
I think as you read the newsletter you will see just what we have been busy doing.

A new plum orchard

One of the most important things we can do as fruit growers is plant a new crop. For some fruits like strawberries, they may only last for a few years, but for others, like apple or plum orchards, they might be there for forty years or more, so it is important to get it right.
Last spring we planted some new plum trees; about an acre in total. The variety we selected is called Opal, which is probably the second-most reliable plum you can grow in Ireland. (Victoria is probably even more reliable, but not as tasty a plum in my opinion).
Traditionally Opal plum trees were planted far apart from each other, as the trees, typically on a rootstock called St. Julian A, grow quite large, and need a space of at least 5m x 5m in which to grow. The trees also grow tall, and after a few years a ladder is needed for picking. While the plums are so tasty to be well worth the climb, it is quite tricky to get to all of them, and of course the tastiest ones are always at the top of the tree. Sometimes too, after getting the ladder and climbing up, you find that the plums are not as ripe as they looked from the ground. So they must be left for a few more days before they can be picked. The result is a lot of climbing, which though fun when you are young, can be a bit tiring after forty years. How often we have wished that we could have a miniature plum tree, just like we have with the apples. No ladders, and all the fruits fully exposed to the sunlight, as the trees would not be tall enough to be very shaded lower down.
The great news though is that a new dwarfing plum rootstock is now available, although thus far only for growers. It is called VVA-1 or also Krymsk-1, and originated in Russia in 1966, having come from a breeding program commenced in 1956. Krymsk is on the North-Eastern shore of the black sea, and though really only a provincial town, its horticultural station holds the largest collection of fruit plants in any part of Russia or the former USSR, with 9,000 different types of plums, cherries, peaches and apricots, including 2,500 named varieties.
The story of the breeding of this rootstock is an interesting one. It is a hybrid bred using natural techniques. Trees of the female parent Prunus tomentosa from the Moscow garden of the breeder, Dr. Guennadi Eremin, were planted in an orchard of Prunus cerasifera in Krymsk at blossom time. The latter trees (known as cherry plum, often grown in Ireland as spectacular flowering trees for early spring) acted as male parents donating the pollen which fertilized the female flowers. The resulting seeds were sown and one of these gave rise to a daughter which was named VVA-1.
It is considered a unique rootstock of Prunus (plum, cherry, peach etc.) because its characteristics include resistance to low temperatures, dwarf habit and ability to serve as rootstock for quite a number of different species. In 1976, after ten years of observation, and twenty years after the breeding program commenced, VVA-1 was released. However, it was not until after the fall of the iron curtain that the rootstock travelled west, making its way to The Netherlands in 1994, for further testing, and into commercial orchards only in the last few years, practically forty years after the initial plant was selected. Dr. Eremin has continued to breed new plant selections, and as recently as 2005, another of his selections was released for growers to use. However, it seems likely that VVA-1 will be his most significant legacy.
It is certainly the rootstock of most interest to us here, as its ability to keep plum trees small could transform plum growing in Ireland from a niche interest into something much more mainstream. It is for this reason that we planted 1200 trees on a single acre last spring, a planting that would have needed 7 acres using the traditional rootstocks. We look forward to the fruits of our labours, but also the much more significant labours of Dr. Guennaddi Eremin and the state-sponsored research of the now defunct USSR.

In our farm shop

We have our usual range of apples, including really beautiful Elstar, as well as that traditional favourite, Karmijn de Sonnaville. Bramley cookers are also available, as are Golden Delicious. Jonagold will also be available shortly.
Our juices are as popular as ever and really good value, with a case of 12 large bottles of apple juice; enough to keep you going for ages, only 22 euros.
The sparkling juice is going from strength to strength, with people coming from all over Ireland to get it.
All the juices also make a great Christmas present, either in a presentation basket or bag, or with a few fruits.

Newsletter Winter 2009		page 1 of 4