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[nafex] Re: marketer's mirage



> With selections like a "collection" apple, which is bound to 
produce an
> unusual, unbalanced tree, which will most likely dissapoint the 
grower, it
> is no wonder there is less interest in fruit.
I think it is a combination of factors that is causing the problem 
with less and less interest in fruit:

1) Catalogs and Nurseries promote trees over the small fruits.  Fruit 
trees in general are not "easy" to raise.  You have to prune, and you 
have to spray, or you won't get fruit.  People don't want to spray, 
and they don't know how to prune (or aren't aware of the need for it).
I'm not in the nursery business, but if an "average" homeowner came 
to me and wanted to grow some sort of fruit, I'd recommend one of the 
berries first - easier for them and a higher chance to suceed.

2) I was at a pesticide update meeting where a PA promotion board rep 
spoke.  They basically said they had assumed that "ag" knowledge had 
been passed down even to the 2nd generation off of the farm, and had 
found out that this wasn't true.  They were starting an ad/promotion 
campaign to educate the public.  But given the small budget they had, 
I feel they were probably spitting in the wind.  (Although I am more 
than 2 generations off of a farm, I happened to have a father and 
grandfather who lived in "semi-rural" condition and were avid 
gardeners).

3) The grocery stores don't help.  With the exception of apples and 
pears, all fruit is marketed as "Peach", "Red Plum", "Black Plum", 
etc. Which means that it may not be the same fruit from week to week, 
but the consumer isn't going to know this (Did you know that the 
standard yellow banana you see in the store is actually 
the "Cavendish"?).  And of course for the most part the fruit is 
picked before it was ready, so it could be shipped.  So it tastes 
bad, and then people don't want to repeat the experience.  And in 
general you don't know where your food is coming from.  And it's 
being shipped world-wide so you get food out of season. 

Enough diatribe.

Sorry

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6


--- In nafex@y..., Thomas Olenio <tolenio@s...> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Speaking of a "marketer's mirage", 90% of the apple trees at one 
local
> nursery are "collection" trees.  They each carry 4 grafts of various
> apple varieties.
> 
> It is funny...  When I talk to the nurseryman they tell me there is 
less
> and less interest in fruit.
> 
> With selections like a "collection" apple, which is bound to 
produce an
> unusual, unbalanced tree, which will most likely dissapoint the 
grower, it
> is no wonder there is less interest in fruit.
> 
> Regards,
> Tom
> 
> --
> Thomas Olenio
> Ontario, Hardiness Zone 6a
> 
> On Wed, 9 May 2001, dwalsh/wchase wrote:
> 
> > Joe,
> > 
> > I agree that the columnar apple trees are a marketer's mirage.  
The ones I've seen
> > definitely grow branches and these must be cut off early and the 
person who buys
> > this does not know it ... result is a dwarf semi-branched apple 
tree with
> > bland-tasting fruit.
> > 
> > Also, they are marketed as stand-alone apple trees, but they are 
not self-fertile.
> > 
> > Derry
> > 
> > Derry Walsh & Bill Chase  email:wchase@i...
> > Aldergrove,  B. C.,  Canada
> > phone/fax (604) 856-9316
> > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> > Home web page  http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/wchase/HTML
> > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> > :
> > : My two cents is that the columnar form stinks for raising 
quality
> > : fruit.  One vertical with
> > : many 6" side branches and fruit on side branches.  Roger's kept 
pushing
> > : vigorous side branches at 30 degrees from vertical which then 
competed
> > : with the central leader.  Stark's response was that the grower 
had to
> > : prune them to make them look like the picture in the catalog.  
Roger was
> > : put-out because he could prune *any* tree to look like the 
picture.
> > :
> > Columnar apples are an
> > : bad idea that was some Madison Avenue types used as a gimmick 
to foist
> > : trees onto the naive public.
> > 
> > :
> > :                                             -Joe Hecksel
> > :                                              Eaton Rapids, 
Michigan
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to 
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> > 
> > 
> >


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