Variety Wrap Up

During last week's annual hort convention a panel discussion looked at finding winning varieties with a number of industry experts weighing in on the subject. Tim Welsh with Columbia Fruit looks at a lot of factors when choosing a winning apple variety.

WELSH: I've also learned that appearance is pretty darned important. I had the opportunity to look at an apple and eat an apple that had some fairly unique qualities about it. Internally it would be one of those apples that would be on our punch list that we would be looking for but externally it looked awful. I couldn't get passed that and I don't think the consumer would get passed that very easy at least that's starting to be my experience.

Appearance is also key for marketing the fruit as well.

WELSH: In my mind you have to have a good apple to begin with. It doesn't have to be great because we would say then that it is better than a Gala or a Fuji and it's not necessarily. There's some great other apples out there. But you have to have a good apple. Then you have to have a strength in marketing that is a little bit unique from the way we are marketing our everyday apples, if we are talking about a a unique apple.

There are many new and unique apple varieties either on the market now or just getting ready to come into the market and it would be interesting to know how you consider some of these new varieties compared to the old favorites. You will soon be hearing names like Lady Alice, Pacific Rose, Piñata and Sonya. I'd love to hear from you.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.