Two low chill apples Anna and Ein Shemer was introduced by Abba Stein in Doar Na Shomron, Isreal in 1963. The were both low chill apples and sold and planted in low chill areas of the United States for many years. May be this was the same Anna apple.
Jerome L. "Jerry" Frecon Agricultural Agent I (Professor 1) Gloucester County Extension Department Head Cooperative Extension, Gloucester County 1200 North Delsea Drive, Clayton, N.J. 08312 Phone 856 307-6450 Ext 1 Fax 856 307-6476 http://gloucester.njaes.rutgers.edu -----Original Message----- From: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-c...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Jim Rahe Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 7:57 PM To: Apple-Crop Subject: Apple-Crop: apples in Indonesia >Dear all, A belated reply to Dr. Chiranjit Parmar's email of 2/17/09 regarding apples growing in Jawa, Indonesia that might be of interest of apple growers in temperate climates. I had the privilege of visiting this area, Batu Malang, approximately 100 km south of Surabaya in the eastern part of Jawa in 1991. It's a short drive out of the city of Malang (In the Indonesian language, 'batu' means 'rock', so Batu Malang means Malang's rock or hill. You can locate Malang on most maps of Indonesia, but not Batu Malang because it's relatively small). It was an amazing, eye opening experience. Batu Malang is, or at least was in 1991, a relatively prosperous town whose economy is largely derived from growth of apples and container nursery stock. The area is at about 1500 metres elevation, with an idyllic climate of daytime highs in the mid 20's and nighttime lows in the upper teens, centigrade. It appears that the trick to getting around the absence of winter chilling is to defoliate the trees by hand immediately after harvest. This throws the trees into a pseudo dormancy and new blossom buds break 6-8 weeks later. The area as a whole produces fresh apples 12 month of the year, with individual growers producing in Jan/Jul, Feb/ Aug, Mar/Sept, ..... The apples are exported to major cities throughout Indonesia, not only on Jawa but distant islands such as Sulawesi. (We lived in Manado, North Sulawesi from Aug 90-92, and apples from Batu Malang were often available in some of the commercial grocery stores, but not local markets.) There were four main varieties of apples being grown at Batu Malang, one of which was called 'Biasa', which means 'common' or 'nothing special', in the Indonesian language. It was commonly used for cooking and I was told that it was a Red Rome, although it was a nondescript yellowish color rather than red. Anna was another variety grown at Batu Malang. Anna is believed to have originated in Thailand, and is noted for having a low chilling requirement. One of the many unanswered questions that I have regarding growing apples in the tropics is whether the defoliation 'trick' would work with any or most varieties, or whether the four varieties being grown at Batu Malang are unusual in that defoliation can be substituted for winter chilling on these varieties but perhaps not others. Certainly, high elevation is a factor. Near Manado where my family lived in North Sulawesi, we saw apples being grown, albeit with very limited success, at the village of Tomohon, at an elevation of ~1200 meters. I was also informed that apples were being grown at high elevations on the Island of Irian Jaya, in the easternmost part of Indonesia. Although growing apples in the tropics was a surprise to me, and probably would be to most pomologists, it has been known long enough that the Indonsesian Ministry of Agiculture had a published handbook on methods of apple cultivation that I was able to obtain from the Batu Malang Research Station in 1992. There is also a Government Research Station at Batu Malang, with a research orchard. There I learned that defoliation does not work on stone fruits, but is being tried on several other temperate climate fruits. Jim Rahe -- Annie's Orchard 4092-248th Street Aldergrove, B.C. V4W 1B5 604-856-3041 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'Apple-Crop' LISTSERV is sponsored by the Virtual Orchard <http://www.virtualorchard.net> and managed by Win Cowgill and Jon Clements <webmas...@virtualorchard.net>. Apple-Crop is not moderated. Therefore, the statements do not represent "official" opinions and the Virtual Orchard takes no responsibility for the content. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'Apple-Crop' LISTSERV is sponsored by the Virtual Orchard <http://www.virtualorchard.net> and managed by Win Cowgill and Jon Clements <webmas...@virtualorchard.net>. Apple-Crop is not moderated. Therefore, the statements do not represent "official" opinions and the Virtual Orchard takes no responsibility for the content.
