APPLEINDEX

The GRAMER SAMPLE of "HERITAGE" APPLES
NZTCA member 112609

All images are 320x240 resolution reductions from 2272x1704 using a Nikon 4500 digital camera. While the camera continues to function, images are obtained each year to fill the gaps and to replace the deficient ones.

SAMPLE:	94 varieties obtained from 17 sources within New Zealand.
LOCATION:	Grown beside the Waikato River near the HAMILTON Airport [ 37° 52' South ] [ 175° 20' East ]
CULTIVATION:	Grown on a 2mx4m grid in Horotui sandy loam. Very little fertilization except for some mulching. No sprays except for a single post-flower copper solution to combat black-spot (which may have increased russetting). The battle against black-birds, pukekos, rosellas, possums, rabbits, leaf-roller, codlin-moth...etc... was frequently entirely unsuccessful...hence the numerous gaps in the image gallery.
IDENTIFICATION:	Primarily from the Brogdale and USDA sites. There is insufficient authentication of so called reference samples and many examples are quite unsatisfactory. Click on this link to a page of several of the most glaring examples. REFERENCE INCONSISTENCIES There is such enormous worldwide number of named and renamed "varieties", that until a definitive technique like DNA sequencing is used, much "identification" is little more than informed guesswork.
CAUTION:	Variations in colour can be significant for various reasons: ...the variety may be intrinsically variable as well as changing colour thru the phases to maturity. ...the ambient lighting and the camera settings can markedly influence hues. ...each computer screen will have its own colour calibration. ...even the use of chemicals can influence characteristics like russetting. ...these images may have a red cast bias whereas the Brogdale images have a consistent blue cast.
EVALUATION:	~20% WERE NOT THE VARIETY CLAIMED ON THE LABEL.
.	Most of the apples were quite acceptable and interesting to grow. A handful were exceptional. A few were barely worth the effort. Those varieties grafted onto "dwarfing" rootstock were more pathetic than useful, whereas those grafted onto "Northern Spy" rootstock were strong and vigorous and significantly superior