[nafex] Re: Are your plants working for you? AKA, Ruthless culling

[edforest55@hotmail.com]

I agree that "antiquitis" can be rather annoying, there is a local 
pear grower who had been marketing Luscious and Harrow Delight 
as "Heirloom varieties" and jacking the price up to three times a 
reasonable cost. This really irks me and give me the impression that 
there are some really gullible, rich consumers out there.
There was one aquaintance of mine who was eductated in the hard 
science of genetics and earned her living in research of field crops 
who did support the idea that generally, the older varieties were 
more nutritious- blue corn was her example. But I quickly discounted 
her credibility when she started in on Honeycrisp as another example 
of what breeders should not be doing. 
However, I think that there are two sides to the coin, two types of 
collectors- those that keep everything and those that cull most 
everything out. I have a neighbor who constantly trashes material 
that takes too long to bear, ie his kiwis, in their 4th year, in my 
estimation one year from bearing, he decided to rip the vines out 
because he was tired of waiting and labeled them as inferior fruit 
crops without ever having tasted them.
A lot can be said for diversity, I was thinking the other day about 
this problem we're having with the Japanese ladybugs which totally 
destroyed my Frontenac and St Croix grape crop. I don't know how I 
will get any fruit now with these insects. Some of the varieties I 
own were less palatable to them and these varitits, although inferior 
in quality, at least produced something and suddenly soared in my 
estimation of their worth. 
Another point, with grapes again, is that I was going to throw Beta 
Grape out as Valiant is so much hardier and at least equal in 
quality. But Frank Foltz told me that Valiant is very susceptible to 
humidity and in some locations really suffers from mildew. 
I guess that its a little different for me as a nursery owner as I am 
concerned about different locations and conditions. I do find that I 
am more a culler when it comes to selections for my own use. 
But even nurseryman have their spetrum of cullers and keepers: I am a 
keeper and tend to let the customer decide and experiment. What does 
well for me in Madison, Minocqua, or Watertown may not do so well for 
someone in the Dakotas, and since the genetic variances are so vast 
who am I to dictate the choices for my customers. I do what I can to 
bring them as much info as possible to make informed choices. Whew 
this is longer than I intened!
Kevin


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