Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/386317
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER OCTOBER 2014 35 Consider for your next planting: • BRUCE PONDER • SUSAN WILKINSON • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com www.treeconnect.com BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Roots available for SPRING DELIVERY Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001 Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock Krymsk ® 5 Krymsk ® 6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] "Krymsk ® 5 and Krymsk ® 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon Growers & Fruit Industry Truck Buyers. . . Partner up with your GMC Business Elite Dealer Lee Peterson Motors Every dollar counts in the ag business, and you need hard working trucks from a reliable dealer you can trust, your GMC Business Elite Dealer. 4'JSTU4USFFUt:BLJNBt L P MOTORS .com www Click! Drive! Save! .0/'3* ".1. SAT ".1. SUN ".1. 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 Regular Cab Standard Box Rich Ausink Fleet Manager Jim Peterson General Manager The right truck customized to your specific agricultural businees needs. rich@lpmotors.com jim@lpmotors.com Since then, Jacobson has given samples of the apples to customers at the farm market. "They liked it. They really like it. They like the texture and the crunch. It's very palatable," he said. For direct marketers in Minnesota, there's not much appeal in having apples that mature in October. "We have enough varieties at the back end of the season," he said. "What we need is a good apple that provides a good reason for customers to come out early." MN55 provides that incentive. Jacobson is impressed by the apple's crisp texture so early in the season and at the fact it will store like a late-season apple. When younger, Bedford sold his own fruit to consum- ers at a Minnesota farmers' market for 15 years, so he's learned the value of instant feedback. The road to profit, he says, is having apples that offer an eating experience that consumers are willing to pay more for. Honeycrisp set a new standard of what consumers will pay for an apple, and that's where the bar has been set for new varieties, he said. Alas, the new apple is not without its quirks—some, but not all, the same as its parents. MN55 has a tendency to drop some fruit at maturity, so growers will need some extra cultural management, Bedford said. It also has a tendency to biennial bearing, so thinning treatments will be needed to prevent crop overload. Flavor can also suffer if it is overcropped. • MN 55, the newest apple released by University of Minnesota apple breeders. It is earlier than Honeycrisp by a month but stores well and has that desirable crunch. "What we need is a good apple that provides a good reason for customers to come out early." —John Jacobson PHOTO CREDIT: DAVID HANSEN, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA