April 16, 2025

Today in the orchard

We shipped out a truck-load of tree orders and the last of the scionwood orders. Scionwood season (alas) has come to an end. We’ll pick up where we left off on January I, 2026.  We will still dig trees for the next couple of weeks.  The peepers are now officially peeping. We saw our first Goldfinch of the spring. The daffodils are showing some yellow. Pruning is almost complete. We’ll be planting trees here on the farm later this week and next. The Red Sox (Sad Rox) are winning half their games. (Does that make this a good year?) As the Sun Ra Arkestra sings, “It’s spring, it’s spring, spring time again!”

April 15, 2025

Today in the orchard

The digging crew, April 15, 2025.

This morning we dug most of the trees in our nursery destined for other homes and orchards this spring. It rained early and then again late in the afternoon. The middle of the day, however, was cool, gray and still, the perfect conditions for tree digging. It was a stellar team effort. Gene Cartwright of Whaleback Cider, our neighbor Marc Cavatorta of Foxfire Farm, Skylar, Cammy and I dug, sorted, wrapped and bagged dozens of trees. We still have more to dig for folks who are not yet ready to plant and for ourselves. We also have some trees that are uncalled for, including some not listed on the website. If you’re looking for weird and rare trees, feel free to be in touch. We’re happy to make you a deal you can’t refuse.   

April 14, 2025

Today in the orchard

Fameuse tree, 2012

Cammy and I have nearly completed the pruning for the year.  Angus Dieghan joined us to help with the high climbers. It’s always a pleasure to have him spend a day with us. One of the trees Angus worked on was our ancient Fameuse tree. Cammy’s comment was, “I care less about the apples than the tree itself. I love that tree.” It is a really cool tree. The trunk is basically a shell. One branch pushed itself into the ground thirty or forty years ago and holds up what’s left of the rest of the tree. I imagine it was planted about 100 years ago. In 2012 when we took over Finley Lane there were six trees left of the original fifty or so. Now there are four. The Fameuse put on a burst of growth when we pruned it in 2012. That may have been it’s last big gasp. This past year the longest new growth was only a couple inches. It may be time to bid it farewell. 

April 11, 2025

Today in the orchard

John & Seth Yentes, Greenlawn Cemetery, Salem MA, March 4, 2025.

Another day of snow and rain - in fact it was the third day it had snowed this past week. I spent the day in the shop grafting crabapples with Alyssa Gavlik. I had collected the scionwood from the Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem MA, an arboretum cemetery with dozens of different tree species including an assortment of Malus (crabapples) that were planted in the early twentieth century. In early March Fedco grower Seth Yentes and I had stopped at the cemetary en route to the annual ‘Stump Sprouts’ apple growers’ conference. Unfortunately none of the crabapples are identified since whatever records there were of the plantings have been lost. In the coming months the cemetery folks will have them all DNA profiled in hopes of identifying as many as possible. 

We grafted three trees of each specimen. In May I’ll plant out the small trees in our nursery where they will live for the next 2 years. It will be interesting to watch the young trees as they grow to see their form and foliage. I suspect that because they are all ornamental crabs, we’ll find some interesting things. Crab genetics tend to be much more varied than those of the common domestic grocery-store apples. I know at least one will be red-leafed and red-flowered since the wood was red inside.  For a new grafter like Alyssa, grafting trees hour after hour is the perfect way to build grafting skills.

April 10, 2025

Today in the orchard

Today central Maine attempted to dry out a bit.  Nearly all the snow is gone (again!) and won’t be back for at least another day or two. Today’s task was cleaning out a winter’s worth of straw bedding from the duck house, located in the BRC.  (As readers of this orchard report will recall, there have been many suggestions for what “BRC” stands for. Our friend Bill who lives in the Boston area and regularly comes up to escape the city refers to it as “Bill’s Recovery Center.”)  The ducks reside there, although this time of year they wander far and wide across the farm taking dips in all our ponds. While they were off on an extended swim, Cammy cleaned the duck house. I provided tractor support, moving the bedding into the compost heaps. Once it breaks down it goes back into the gardens and round and round. (Will the circle be unbroken?)

Pruning Curt and Deena’s tree

Late in the day I traveled south to prune an ancient apple tree owned by Deena and Curt Ball. Although the tree has been DNA profiled, it remains unnamed, suggesting it could be a local historic variety that we have not been able to identify. Curt and Alyssa Gavlik provided back-up support while I did the climbing and cutting. The old tree should still have at least a few more seasons of apples yet to come.

Afterwards, we visited an old orchard site by a salt marsh at the suggestion of Curt and Deena where we found a very large and equally ancient apple tree that someone had admirably excavated from the bittersweet and multiflora rose. There were multiple small seedling apples growing only a few feet from the high tide line. Those amazing apple trees. 

On the way home I stopped at the A1 diner in Gardiner and, to my surprise, there was a truck parked in front of mine also adorned with two apple ladders. It was Laura Sieger en route home from a pruning job.  Tis the season.   

April 9, 2025

Today in the orchard

Yesterday’s sloppy mix of snow and rain turned to all snow after dark, and by this morning we had four inches of fluffy snow on everything down to the smallest twig on the apple trees. It was a perfect “winter” wonderland. When the sun broke through about 8:00, it was dazzling. Skylar came over for the day. We began to create a “passport” file of all the apples and pears in the Maine Heritage Orchard. Going forward, each accession will have its own entry including its location in the orchard, a brief history of its rediscovery, DNA results, fruit description and more. After noon we worked on bench grafting apples in the shop. Skylar did only minimal damage to one finger. Meanwhile the snow was rapidly being absorbed into the earth, and by evening most of the ground was once again bare. 

April 7, 2025

Today in the orchard

One of the earliest to flower in our orchard is the Japanese Pussy Willow, Salix chaenomeloides. 

Our former farm-mate Emily Skrobis came over yesterday to cut willow (Salix spp.) She was here all day harvesting the long, colorful, one-year-old shoots she will use in her exquisite basket-making, a tradition that goes back many thousands of years. We have a wide assortment of willows growing throughout the farm—most are the native Salix discolor and other local species. Some we introduced. Years ago, Emily planted most of the strikingly brilliant-hued willows she uses in her weaving. 

When willows appear spontaneously in the orchard, we allow them to do their thing. They tend to remain as shrubs or small trees when left on their own. They flower early in spring and are a good source of food for the pollinators. The soft furry ‘pussy willows’ are the first stage of the flowers before they bloom. We consider the willows to be welcome members of the Super Chilly orchard cooperative community!

April 6, 2025

Today in the orchard

Today was the Seed Swap & Scion Exchange at MOFGA in Unity.  It’s an annual event that dates back over 40 years and typically draws a mob of wildly enthusiastic plant geeks from throughout Maine and beyond.

Seed Swap & Scion Exchange, 2025

The idea is simple: to share scions and seeds. You bring what you have, and you take whatever you like. Admission is free, and there’s no obligation to bring anything with you. There are grafting supplies, rootstock and miscellaneous odds and ends for sale (donuts this year), but the Scion Exchange has mostly remained true to its original intent: the free and generous sharing of information and plant material. 

The Scion Exchange which is usually held the last Sunday in March was delayed due to weather by a week. Even with the postponement, the long tables were piled with scions of hundreds of varieties of apples, pears and other fruits. There were educational displays and workshops. Skilled grafters were custom grafting trees right on the spot. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon early spring.

April 5, 2025

Today in the orchard

The snowdrops answer the question

Although most of the plant world on the farm is still looking dormant, the daffodils and other spring bulbs are beginning to show green throughout the orchard. They will be bursting out of the soil any day now. We have planted them around nearly every tree. Something about the bulbs appears to deters voles. (Apple trees don’t like voles, but voles love apple roots!) The Snowdrops (Galanthus) are now in full bloom. The Galanthus genus includes about two dozen species. As far as I can tell, most are fairly obscure. The one we grow is probably a selection of G. nivalis. It is low-statured and spreads slowly by the production of new bulbs. Despite that, every year we see new patches far from the old ones, suggesting that they may also spread by seed. Either that or the old memory’s not quite what it used to be… “Where did I plant that Galanthus nivalis, anyway?” 

April 3 & 4, 2025

Today in the orchard

Not much action in the warming-up department outdoors, but nice and warm in the shop with the wood stove crackling. Cammy and I sat by the stove and bench-grafted apple trees the past two days. We still have another day or so of grafting left. Much of what we’re grafting this year are back-ups of rare discoveries from around the East Coast, trials from friends’ breeding programs and some odds and ends. Much of the scionwood we’re working with is tiny, dry and challenging our best skills, but we’re forging ahead and hoping for at least a few takes of each cultivar. The rootstock we’re using is a combination of Bud 9 (dwarf) and standard seedlings (full size trees).  Most of what we’ve selected to expand our own research collection will be top-worked (outdoor grafted onto existing trees) in mid-May.  That’s still five weeks away. For now, grafting in the shop by the wood stove is the perfect way to spend a few of those cold, windy days in early April. We still have some pruning to do, but we’re coming down the home stretch. We should have the pruning done in the next week or so. 

April 2, 2025

Today in the orchard

Tree on the Colby Rugby Field

It was 16F last night at Super Chilly Farm and never got above 32F all day. With the wind it felt like winter all over again. I did the last scion collecting tour of the season with stops at Cayford Orchards in Skowhegan, Mulph’s Lane Orchard in New Sharon and Colby College in Waterville. Colby was originally located in downtown Waterville but ran out of space and eventually moved to the outskirts where it was rebuilt on the site of a beautiful hilltop farm.  The new campus opened in the early 1950’s. As you might imagine, the original farm is unrecognizable today. But amazingly enough, a few apple trees remain. One of the oldest is near the Rugby field. I visited the tree with my apple-class students in January and knew instantly the tree should be saved. I thought I saw some live wood on the tree but wasn’t certain. When I returned today I found several living branches. With my trusty pole pruner I was able to cut a couple of scions. We’ll graft 3 or 4 trees this week and DNA profile it this summer.  I’ll go back in the fall to see if there’s any fruit.    

April 1, 2025

Today in the orchard

It rained all last night. Today there was still a bit of snow left in the orchard though not much. We spent most of the day pruning some of the older trees. COA student Skylar Bodeo-Lomicky joined me for the afternoon.

Ben Davis

Late in the day we received new and exciting DNA profile results from Washington State University. It’s been confirmed that the infamous Ben Davis (AMHO 0401) is in fact a cross between a Red Delicious and Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus).  It’s something a few of us had suspected for some time, but no one thought that the two species were compatible. That suspicion has now been confirmed by Dr. Cameron Peace and his genetics team at WSU. Congratulations, guys. No wonder Ben Davis tastes like cardboard.  It is!

March 31, 2025

Today in the orchard

Sasanoa tree and Barry Rodrigue, The Basin, Phippsburg Maine. 

The rain came with gusto one day before the official beginning of the rainy season (“April Showers bring…”). The snow that piled up a couple of days ago ran in rivulets across the driveway and into the stream to the delight of the ducks. I did a bit of work outdoors, cutting some scionwood including ‘Sasanoa’ an emerald green and russeted sport of Rhode Island Greening. Sasanoa is a provisional name for the tree discovered by Barry Rodrigue down in ‘The Basin’ in Phippsburg. Whatever community was once there is long gone, and the scattering of remaining ancient apple trees are now reaching the end of their lives.

I last visited the Sasanoa tree in 2023. I was able to salvage a few scions off it, but I suspect that by now the hollow, twisted tree is probably dead. I always wondered why I’d rarely found Rhode Island Greening (RIG) trees in Maine. It appears that I had, I just didn’t know it. Evidently RIG sports were not unknown in Maine 150+ years ago. They DNA profile as RIG, but they look really different.  We found another probable sport  in Boothbay, not far from Phippsburg as the crow flies. The two apples are very similar. Perhaps both trees were grafted from the same source.   

March 30, 2025

Today in the orchard

Is it too late to cut scionwood? No! At least not in central Maine and points north and west. The weather has remained blissfully cold, and the apple trees are all breathing a sigh of relief. They love their winter break, and though they’ll never get to the Bahamas, they do get to shut down, relax and do nothing for a nice chunk of time every off-season. It was looking like it was going to get warm a or so week ago, but now the nights are back to below freezing, and many of the days are as well. You’ve got at least a week or maybe two before it’s time to stop collecting twigs and start bench grafting. (We won’t do our outdoor topwork grafting until May.)

Scion Exchange 2017

But if you don’t have time to cut the scions yourself or are looking for something special that you don’t have access to, you’re in luck!  MOFGA’s annual Seed Swap and Scion Exchange that was supposed to happen today (March 30) was postponed due to the ice and snow and freezing rain.  It’s been rescheduled to Sunday April 6 from noon to 4 PM. There will be scions of hundreds of varieties of apples and other fruits all given away for free. There will be seeds from all sorts of plants. There will be grafting demonstrations, workshops, rootstock for sale and a whole lot more. You don’t need to bring a thing except yourself. Come early—stay late. Hooray for cold weather. Keep it coming. And, hope to see you at the Scion Exchange. 

March 26, 2025

Today in the orchard

Today I began to tackle pruning our Northern Spy tree. What a beast! I grafted it nearly forty years ago not knowing what it was. I knew it was a great apple, and I’d heard of Northern Spy, but I had not yet put two and two together. I was still learning the basics. I called it Dimmock’s Red - a poor choice since there is a Dymock Red in the UK. I eventually figured out that what I had grafted from behind the Dimmocks’ farm up the road was Northern Spy. And so… I waited.  Northern Spy has the reputation of taking forever to bear. We definitely had the real thing. 

Fast forward. We’ve been getting ‘Spys’ for many years now, and they live up their reputation. It’s a great apple. Our tree is incredibly vigorous. Across the top it pushes out about 500 water sprouts annually that we dutifully cut off, one by one. Last year I began a new strategy: I tied a few of the watersprouts into pretzels and loops per the inspiration of Matt Kaminsky and Laura Sieger. Those loops have fruit buds this year. So today I tied about 70 more loops. Maybe we’ll “tame” our Northern Spy and turn her into a fruiting pretzel! 

March 25, 2025

Today in the orchard

It was only 15 F this morning. We seem to be sliding back into winter now that it’s officially been spring for the past three days. The daytime temperature reached nearly freezing, but the wind never let up.

Redford

Yesterday winter returned to the farm only five days after officially passing the baton to spring. In the morning there was hardly a splat of snow left in sight with the exception of a few tired piles in the shade by the shop. That all changed at noon when it began to snow. The snow continued until well after dark. We arose this morning to a ‘winter’ wonderland. 

At an apple meeting in Massachusetts a few weeks ago I met Bleecker Wheeler of Watson Wheeler Cider. We were sharing ciders, and he poured an excellent rose. Being ever-curious about what gets crushed to make juice, I asked him about his fruit. He told me about a red-fleshed apple he discovered—evidently planted as an ornamental—in the driveway circle of a home in Vermont. He submitted leaves for DNA profiling. The results came back as having no match in the reference dataset, but with the same parentage as the well-known Redfield. He had found a full-sibling of one of my favorite apples! (I should add that he had also made a clever label for the cider, which showed perfectly the two-toned white and pink flesh of the apple. I can’t adequately describe it. You’ll have to buy a bottle for yourself.)

So what is this mystery apple? Redfield was released in 1938 along with a full-sibling, Redford. Both were the creations of Richard Wellington, the brilliant NY breeder who also introduced Macoun and Lodi. Redford is not nearly as well-known as Redfield. In fact, I don’t know anyone growing it other than us. We grow both Redford and Redfield here on our farm. Although I’ve tried hard to find variations between them, they appear to be phenotypically indistinguishable.

It may be that the apple Bleecker found is Redford. That would be fun. It also could be that he found a third full-sibling, one that was never named. That would be fantastic. Redford is not in the myfruittree.org reference dataset, so it has not yet been profiled. We’ll remedy that this summer. Once we get the results, we’ll know if he found a rare Redford or an insanely-rare third sibling.

Now, back to the snow. 

March 25, 2025

SUPER CHILLY FARM APPLE TREE SALE

Once again this spring we have our annual selection of unusual apple trees for sale.  The trees are 2 years old and 4-6 ft. in height. They include an assortment of promising New England seedling selections, European cider cultivars, recent historic discoveries and a whole lot more. We’ll be digging trees in mid-April. You can pick them up at the farm or have them shipped right to your doorstep. You can find descriptions of all the trees and order them right here on the website. If you have questions, feel free to be in touch. 

March 23, 2025

Today in the orchard

It was only 15 F this morning. We seem to be sliding back into winter now that it’s officially been spring for the past three days. The daytime temperature reached nearly freezing, but the wind never let up.

Jughead, Super Chilly Farm, 10.17.24

Cammy pruned our dwarf block of G11’s and Bud9’s. We have about 30 dwarf trees just to keep tabs on how they do in central Maine. They are precocious, and some of the trees look great. In 2024 a one-year graft of “Jughead” on Bud9 produced two apples! (We were probably supposed to pick them off as they started to develop but who would ever do that?)

On the other hand, some of our dwarf trees haven’t done well at all. That may have more to do with the cultivar than the rootstock. We have Reine des Pommes on G11 and Bud9 that both have failed to thrive despite our TLC.

We do not have the dwarf trees growing on wires, although we do have each tree tied to a cedar post. Free-standing dwarfs do not have the strength to stay upright. They can also be drought sensitive so we irrigate ours.

Of the two rootstocks, we like Bud9 better than G11. These days we don’t even try to keep up with the dozens of rootstocks out there to choose from. We focus our attention on the cultivars, and grow most everything on standard seedling roots.

March 22, 2025

Apples in Japan, March 2025

Today in the orchard

Cammy and I spent the day pruning in the orchards. It was below freezing early but warmed up to nearly 50F - ‘shirt sleeve’ weather. We assess each tree as we go along. Every tree gets a grade for how it looks. Last year’s growth was really impressive. Most of the trees look great, including a number that had languished for years and then, all of sudden, took off in 2024. The weather, the stars or the Apple Godesses were good to the orchard. Or as Hafiz put it about 800 years ago, “…when the clouds were generous with what fell from them and the sun rationed itself with precision…” 

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, our son-in-law, Gregory, was on a ski trip to Japan. He generously photoed all the apples he could find and forwarded the images back to us. One of them is of a poster of Japanese cultivars. I can’t wait to find someone who can translate Japanese apple names! Feel free to be in touch if you’re willing to give it a shot. 

March 21, 2025

Today in the orchard

Lauren picking apples not so long ago

Today was an indoor day. Outside it was 32F and raining. In the morning I talked to a writer from the Saturday Evening Post then met for a few hours with Todd Little Siebold. Later we were joined by CJ Walke and Lauren Cormier of the Maine Heritage Orchard. We discussed what to add to the collection as well as what to remove. Space is limited, and we always have important new discoveries that deserve to be saved. Following our “MHO” meeting, Todd and I joined in a zoom meeting of the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group. We’re developing protocol for adding cultivars to the DNA reference panel to which submissions for identification from around the USA can be compared. After that meeting I continued to work with Cammy on our website. We’re adding descriptions of the apples in our Finley Lane test orchard. Check it out.