Where to Buy Apple Trees

We recently had two customers send us catalogs to a couple of the more off-the-beaten-path types of places to buy apple trees. In the past we’ve placed our order with Maple Valley Nursery out of Wisconsin where they did a stellar job with some bench grafts we ordered (bench grafts are new apple trees). Although we had difficulty getting in touch with them via email, we were able to get in touch via phone and were quite happy with the survival rate of those bench grafts. Probably the biggest drawback with Maple Valley when considering buying an apple tree? No pictures and brief descriptions! That’s where these two new sources come in.

Courtney gave us her copy of her Trees of Antiquity catalog. Trees of Antiquity is out of California and sells a wide selection of fruiting plants — though before you buy, always check the zone recommendations. Trees of Antiquity has nice descriptions, photos, and a good selection of heirloom varieties. Trees are priced at around $34 and are on a semidwarf rootstock, which is a good-sized tree for a home orchard.

Heather introduced us to the Fedco seeds catalog and while it doesn’t include photographs of apples, it has the most extensive descriptions of apple varieties that I’ve ever seen. Looks like good winter reading to me. Like Trees of Antiquity, Fedco also sells fruiting plants other than apple trees. But here’s what’s really cool about Fedco: they’ve established an orchard that they’re attempting to manage without sprays — organic or otherwise. They’re not quite there yet but in the process, they publish their entire orchard treatment calendar for the past year at the back of their tree catalog (on page 66 of this year’s catalog). We’ve used some of those sprays ourselves (DiPel, neem), but as part of an integrated pest management program that includes synthetic pesticides. We’re always looking for evidence about healthier orchard management practices, so we’ll definitely be keeping up to date with Fedco’s orchard management program.

End of the Season at Sweetland Orchard

Mother Nature finally did the apples in this week. Tuesday and Wednesday nights’ cold temperatures have rendered the apples into mush. They’ll eventually turn into liquid inside their skins, drop to the ground, and start fermenting, at which point Clementine will be in hog heaven  – she’ll always choose a far-gone apple over a just-ripe one.

The Haralson trees were prettiest at the end of the season with their yellow leaves and their dark red apples still hanging on

We also pressed our last big run of cider on Sunday, though Mike will still be pressing, fermenting, and blending single varieties as part of our hard cider R&D. Last year we pressed until Christmas but this year we set the goal of finishing pressing by Thanksgiving because of our concern for patulin.

Patulin is a toxic byproduct of mold that, in sufficient quantities, is grounds for a recall of cider. Though research on patulin isn’t quite clear about the effects of patulin ingestion, patulin is definitely on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) watch list this year after the past two years saw cider recalls for patulin from relatively large orchards (Minnesota Harvest in 2009 and Pepin Heights in 2010). We were inspected this year by both the Food and Drug Administration and the MDA and our cider was found to be safe in both instances. But the later in the season one presses, the better the chances for finding patulin in cider.

A certain degree of mold is to be expected, even when apples are stored at optimal temperatures, and so our primary means of mitigating the risk of patulin is to stop pressing cider before mold is abundant in the apples. Even when we pressed cider on Sunday, I found an average of one molding apple per bushel. I know that doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it’s simply a fact of cider as an agricultural product.

The second way we mitigate the risk of patulin is by increasing our inspection of apples that go into cider. Again, this may not sound so appetizing but standing at the culling table, I squeezed and visually inspected every apple that went into the cider in this week’s blend. As you can imagine, pressing later in the season thus takes more time than pressing earlier in the season. But we’re risk averse individuals — especially when it comes to food safety — besides which, we never want our cider to be subject to a recall, so we take the time to reduce the risk as much as possible.

By the way: not even pasteurizing rids cider of patulin. The only treatment that will do so is fermentation, which is why Mike has no qualms about pressing his R&D batches in December.

So there’s a little education about patulin for you as well as an explanation for why we don’t press cider continuously throughout the winter. And since we don’t, if you’re a cider lover it’s time to stock up now and freeze your cider for winter consumption. This weekend offers you two last chances: delivery on Saturday the 19th, and the Fulton/Kingfield market on the 20th. After that, we’re settled into a long winter’s nap (if only we could get Audrey to do the same!).