Good Fruit Grower

October 2014

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Growers and consumers like the look of WA 38. by Geraldine Warner T wenty-four lucky Washington growers will be able to plant Washington State University's new apple variety, WA 38, in 2017. Other Washington growers will have to wait until 2018. Although WA 38 (brand name Cosmic Crisp) will be available at fi rst on a limited basis, it is not being managed as a club variety. All Washington growers will be entitled to grow as much of the variety as they like, once enough trees are available. WSU has contracted with a company called Propri- etary Variety Management to commercialize the variety, and PVM has granted propagation rights to nurseries who are members of the Northwest Nursery Improve- ment Institute. They are: C&O Nursery, Van Well Nurs- ery, Willow Drive Nursery, Cameron Nursery, Gold Crown Nursery, and Brandt's Fruit Trees. The nurseries have enough propagation material to produce 300,000 trees for planting in 2017. After that, it's expected that there will be plenty of trees available to meet demand. WSU held a drawing this summer to allocate those initial 300,000 trees to growers. The random drawing, which attracted 458 grower applicants, was conducted in two tiers—one with 12 lots of between 3,000 and 5,000 trees each, and a second tier with 12 lots of up to 20,000 trees each. The 24 winners will arrange with one of the six licensed nurseries to receive the trees in 2017. Royalty Tom Kelly, with the WSU Research Foundation, said a royalty of $1 a tree will be charged, but there will be no acreage or membership fee. He said the university wanted to keep royalties at a level that would encourage growers to plant the variety. There will be a production royalty based on the f.o.b. price per 40-pound box of apples. For sales at less than $20 a box, no royalty will be due. At between $20 and $35, the royalty will be $1 a box. At between $35 and $50 a box, it will be $2, and at $50 or higher, it will be $3 a box. Brent Milne, horticulturist with McDougall and Sons and chair of WSU's Cultivar Licensing Committee, said he was not aware of any pushback from the industry on the proposed royalty rates. "There's nothing but excite- ment about this variety," he said. Consumers Research by WSU shows that consumers are excited, too, Dr. Kate Evans, WSU pome fruit breeder, reports. In consumer taste tests last season, WA 38 was compared with Honeycrisp at three times of year (October, Decem- ber, and March). The fruit tasted in October and Decem- ber had been held in regular-atmosphere storage and fruit tasted in March was held in controlled-atmosphere storage. The Honeycrisp apples had been treated with MCP, but WA 38 had not. In October, consumers slightly preferred the taste, appearance, and fl avor of Honeycrisp though there was a slight preference for the texture of WA 38. In Decem- ber, they preferred the appearance of Honeycrisp but the taste, fl avor and texture of WA 38. In March, they pre- ferred WA 38 all across the board. "We were really enthused by this," Evans said, noting the exceptional storability of WA 38. WSU selected the brand name Cosmic Crisp for the apple after receiving input from consumer focus groups in Pullman, Seattle, and Yakima. PVM also conducted a poll on Facebook and interviews with grocery store shoppers. Consumers much preferred the name Cosmic Crisp to the other fi nalists, Zanita and Tempo. Part of the appeal was the allusion to Honeycrisp, one of WA 38's parents. PVM will meet with apple marketers to get feed- back on a logo that is being developed. Horticultural traits Dr. Stefano Musacchi, pome fruit horticulturist with WSU in Wenatchee, said WA 38 is a vigorous tip-bear- ing tree with a drooping growth habit similar to Granny Smith's. The tree will continue to grow even after it begins to crop. It is a mid-season bloomer, so it is not particularly sensitive to frost, but it tends to produce secondary 22 OCTOBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com The fi rst 300,000 trees of WA 38 were allocated through a drawing. WA 38 in 2 Growers to

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