The Heritage Fruit tree Nursery Catalogue Contents General Information Page 3 About Us Page 3 Contact Details Page 3 Choosing an apple tree Page 3 Rootstock Information Page 6 Pricing Information Page 7 Dessert Varieties Page 8 Culinary Varieties Page 30 Cider Varieties Page 38 Dual Purpose Varieties Page 42 Irish Heritage Varieties Page 47 Pear Varieties Page 52 Perry Varieties Page 53 Plums/Gages/Damsons Page 54 2 General Information About us The Heritage Fruit Tree Nursery is a small operation situated on a few acres of land in the lovely county of Leitrim. The land in question is very well drained, with deep, black peaty soil, which is rich in natural organic matter. This is a huge advantage as it means the soil is always moist but never wet, allowing roots to enjoy optimum growing conditions all year round. As a result, our trees are strong and healthy with well-developed root systems. The fact that all our fruit trees are grafted on site and ‘grown on’ in the open field for 1 or 2 years before selling is another huge advantage as it means that when you receive your trees they will already be well acclimatised to Irish growing conditions. We are probably fairly unique in that we don’t import any of our fruit trees. Apples are our speciality, and we can offer more than 300 varieties for sale, by far the largest selection of apple trees for sale in Ireland and perhaps one of the largest in the world. We are particularly interested in collecting and conserving those wonderful old and unusual varieties from all over the world that will surely disappear and be lost forever without some sort of human intervention. As part of our conservation work we hold back one tree of every variety we propagate for our own use. Each tree is then planted in our orchard where it is safe from extinction and also provides cuttings for future grafting. Growing each variety in our orchard also allows us to carry out important research regarding how each tree performs in the Irish climate. Other top fruit we sell includes; Pears, Perry Pears, Plums, Gages and Damsons, Quinces and Medlars. We also grow and supply a small selection of soft fruit including Black, White and Redcurrants, Gooseberries and Jostaberries. Contact Details Email: [email protected] Phone: 0877701937 Choosing an apple tree There are a number of things to consider when choosing your fruit trees. Some of these considerations are explored below but we would also encourage all our customers to carry out their own research before making a purchase. Pollination Some fruit trees are self-fertile, or partially self-fertile and might produce some fruit without a pollination partner though it is likely that even your-self-fertile tree will perform better if there is a 3 partner present. That vast majority of varieties are self-sterile and must have a pollination partner nearby to fruit successfully. This work is carried out by bees and insects that collect pollen from the flowers of one variety and deposit it on the flowers of another variety. This is called cross pollination. As flowering time is critical, fruit trees are classified into various flowering groups, so that it is easy to choose cultivars that will flower at the same time and effect pollination. When choosing varieties it can be assumed that varieties from the same or adjacent groups will pollinate each other. For example, the variety ‘Discovery’ is in Flowering Group 3 so can be pollinated by any varieties from Groups 2, 3 and 4. To complicate things further, a few apple and pear cultivars are triploids. These produce mainly sterile pollen and won’t be any use for cross-pollinating other trees, and for their own fruit to set, still need other trees. Therefore if you grow a triploid cultivar you will also need two other trees that will pollinate each other as well as the triploid, and these three cultivars must all flower at the same time. On the plus side, bees and insects can travel long distances and there is always the chance that your fruit tree will be pollinated by a neighbour’s tree or by wild fruit such as crab apple. Our catalogue lists the flowering group of each variety listed and also indicates the small number of varieties that are classified as ‘Triploid’ Harvesting Fruit The fruit harvesting season is generally divided into Early, Mid or late Season. In general, early fruit can be eaten straight from the tree and once picked does not store very well. Some are delicious, with unusual, fresh flavours which do not appear in later fruit. Mid-season apples, picked in September and early October, will keep for one or two months, depending upon the variety. Late apples often need to be kept for the full flavour to intensify and are often much more complex than early fruit. They will often last over the whole winter, and sometimes as late as April or May. Flavour and Appearance Classification The diversity of fruit tree flavours extends far beyond the usual few varieties found on our supermarket shelves and we would urge all our customers to be adventurous and open-minded before making a purchase. In relation to apples, some of the early apples such as ‘Discovery’, ‘Katy’, and ‘Devonshire Quarrenden’ have a distinctive strawberry flavour, while ‘Reinette Rouge Etoile’ is flavoured with rasberries. Pineapple acidity is a highly esteemed quality associated with many old varieties including ‘Lucombes Pine’, ‘Pitmaston Pineapple’ and ‘Allington Pippin’ while ‘Ashmeads Kernel’ ‘Rosemary Russet’ and ‘Ross Nonpareil’ and many others are renowned for their sweet/sharp, acid drop quality. Some apples like ‘Elstar’ and to a lesser extent ‘Jonagold’ share this sweet sharp quality but are also regarded as having a ‘Honeyed’ flavour. Conversely, a good ripe ‘Golden Delicious’ would be regarded as a ‘honeyed’ apple without the sharpness. ‘Blenheim Orange’, ‘Claygate Pearmain’ and ‘Egrement Russet’ are said to have a nutty flavour. Some apples 4 such as ‘Cornish Pine’ and ‘Cornish Gilliflower’ have a floral aroma that is often compared with rose petals while ‘Borisdorfer’ is said to be flavoured with elderflowers. ‘Spicy’ and ‘exotic’ are other characteristics associated with some apples. ‘Darcy Spice’ is flavoured with nutmeg. ‘Ellison’s Orange’ has a strong aniseed taste while the varieties ‘Mother’, ‘St Edmunds Pippin’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’ all carry a hint of vanilla. Well known Irish variety, ‘Ard Cairn Russet’ is most unique in that its flavour is often said to resemble Banana. This is just a snapshot of the diversity of flavours available. The great thing about growing and collecting your own apples is that every variety is different and we have more than 300 to choose from. ‘Russets’ and ‘Russeting’ refers to the skin of some varieties which have a light sandpapery texture and a golden brown or burnt umber colour. These are often very visually attractive and the russeted skin often lends a ‘nutty’ taste to the apple in question. Some apples are completely covered in russet, some have patches, and some like ‘Buttemilk Russet’ have a lovely network of russet that can be visually stunning. ‘Pearmain’ refers to the shape and not the flavour of the fruit. Any variety with pearmain in its name will be distinctly conical in shape. Cooking apples are distinguished from dessert apples by their higher levels of acidity and often by their greater size also. Flavour is determined by the proportion of sugar and acid in the fruit. Apples such as ‘Bramley’s Seedling’, ‘Catshead’ and ‘Cottenham Seedling’ have strong acidity and are rarely overpowered by even the spiciest, sweetest recipes. The sugar/acid balance can also determine how the apple cooks and generally speaking the higher the acid content the more easily it will cook to a puree while those with higher sugar content will keep their shape when cooked. Apples that break down easily such as ‘Bramley’s Seedling’, ‘Catshead’ and ‘Cottenham Seedling’ are good for closed pies, crumbles and apple sauces while those that keep their shape include ‘King of the Pippins’ used by French chefs to make open tarts such as ‘Tarte Tatin’ and ‘Glockenapfel’ which is famous for making apple strudel as it retains a little ‘bite’ when cooked. Some chefs use dessert apples for these types of dessert. These may also hold their shape well when cooked but lack the flavour of a true culinary or dual purpose variety. It should be mentioned that the sugar/acid balance of a particular variety is often determined by when the fruit is picked and used. Fruit picked early will have a higher acid content than stored fruit. Theoretically speaking, a Bramley Seedling that is picked early will have more acidity and should break down to a sharp puree while one that is taken from storage in March might be sweeter and less acidic and might make a very good Tarte Tatin. Disease Resistance Apples are generally speaking fairly easy to grow. They can be susceptible to a range of pests and diseases such as aphids, coddling moth, scab, fireblight and mildew. In most cases action can be taken to prevent or control the problem. Susceptibility to the problems differs between cultivars. 5 The best preventative measure is to choose varieties with good natural disease resistance. Disease resistant varieties are a specialty of ours and our catalogue indicates varieties considered to have good disease resistance. This is no guarantee however and good hygiene practices such as using clean tools to make pruning cuts and treating pruning cuts with a wound paint help to prevent the spread of scab and other diseases.