Tuesday, December 20, 2005

NEW VARIETIES

Ambrosia
Appears to have a fairly narrow picking window, which appears to be right after “Empire” here in the Northeast. It will store exceptionally well if it is not harvested too late. In the U.S.A., the “Ambrosia” apple will be under the management of McDougall and Sons of Wenatchee, Washington. McDougall and Sons Inc. in partnership with Columbia Marketing have signed an exclusive license agreement with PICO to grow and market this variety in the United States. The acreage allocated to McDougall and Sons Inc. of this cultivar in the United States is reported to be filled.

Pinova
A.k.a. “Sonata” and “Corail” has been renamed by its new owners in the U.S. to PiƱata (U.S. Plant Patent #11601). Stemilt has purchased this cultivar and will monitor and limit the production of it. Stemilt is developing promotional programs for this cultivar.

NovaSpy
This is the cultivar that had a lot of attention paid to it in Michigan at their Hort Show last December. Growers in Michigan are looking for grower friendly cost - effective cultivars to produce for the processing market in Michigan. “NovaSpy” is out of the Nova Scotia Breeding program and was introduced in 1986. It has an intense sweet-tart flavour and is highly suitable for baking. The fruit are similar to “Northern Spy”. It is scab resistant and the tree habit is more of a semi spur and quite easy to work with. The tree is moderately productive and an annual bearer. The fruit ripen mid October and have a long storage potential with no major storage disorders.

Bohemia®
A red bud mutation of the winter cultivar “Rubin”, as discovered in 1984 by Mr. Josef Thor in Pencine, Czech Republic 300 meters above sea level. This cultivar performs better in a cooler climate. The scion is considered to be high in vigour. The original “Rubin” is a cultivar that resulted from a cross of “Lord Lambourne” and “Golden Delicious”. “Bohemia” has many of the physical characteristics of “Lord Lambourne”. “Bohemia” is attractive and aromatic, intended for fresh market sales but also useful for cooking. It carries a relatively good tolerance to scab infection and is harvested in the “Empire” season. “Bohemia” stores very well and has a bud sport that produces a yellow apple called “Bohemia Gold”. This cultivar is protected by registration. Propagation of “Bohemia” for commercial production has an attached royalty. This cultivar was added to our Provincial Cultivar Trials during the 2004-planting season.

From OMFRA:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/orchnews/2005/on_0305a3.htm