Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/572389
36 OCTOBER 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com into the leader. When it becomes established, the original leader for the older variety is cut off above the new graft. Hard cider Retired Cornell horticulturist Dr. Ian Merwin spoke about hard cider varieties. He has pursued the cider business more passionately since he retired. His Black Diamond Farm contains French and English varieties that are traditional hard cider apples, but he encour- ages growers to look carefully at what they already grow. Hard cider consumption in the United States has been doubling every two years since the year 2000, he said, and the number of cideries in New York has grown from 6 to 60. Regulatory barriers have come down, and demand for cider apples is soaring. While cider apples are classified into four types— sweets, sharps, bittersweets, and bittersharps—and some are "treasured" as cider apples, the growing U.S. market has not hardened into rigid styles. "There are no rules, and very few cider snobs," Merwin said. Growers need to decide what not to take out when evaluating orchards that are growing less-than-modern or less-than-desirable varieties. That means growers can use many of the varieties they are already growing. Desirable varieties, especially the European ones with great names like Brown Snout and Foxwhelp, sell for $400 a bin—field run, sometimes even as drops or apples shaken to the ground and picked up. Because of the shortage of rootstocks, Merwin thinks topworking makes sense. Cider variety scion wood is often cut from older orchards and may not be virus free, he said. The DeFishers grow fruit mainly for processing. They grow apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, and some fresh-market berries and sell them to several different processors. But they look for markets that will return a higher value. Now, they have diverted a large portion of their apples to the hard cider and distilled spirits market. New shoots grow from a cleft graft, keeping the rootstock and changing the tree to a more desireable hard cider variety. Dave DeFisher leaves "draw limbs" below the site of the graft. goodfruit.com goodfruit.com The essential resource WELCOME Shannon Dininny has joined the Good Fruit Grower editorial team as Senior Editor. She can be reached at 509 853-3522 or shannon@goodfruit.com.