This is a lot more difficult question than the pecans. There are many more nectarine choices and a whole lot depends on growing conditions. If you go by Dave Wilson taste testing results, then Arctic Jay is your answer. I've liked Arctic Star better but it is low chilling and might bloom too early for the Sierra foothills.
Go to Dave Wilson Nursery website and find the taste testing results. That will give you lots of choices in white, yellow, low acid, and regular acid nectarines.
Are there posts missing? I feel like I have come into the middle of a conversation. I'm not sure what you mean by you are only finding patented varieties. Finding where? There are a gazillion (OK, maybe not a GAZILLION) nectarines out there, and many of them were growing before 1989 (20 year patent date). You can be pretty sure any of the "big box" ones are not patented, and a lot of the ones sold at smaller nurseries too. My favorite nectarine I am growing is Liz's Late but it's only sold at a few places. Fantasia is also very good, and it is widely available.
amiart: I'll assume you are referring to Dave Wilson. Many of the nectarines sold at Dave Wilson and listed in their taste test results are patented, but many are off patent, even many of Zaigers. I'm sure Liz's Late for instance is off patent.
Mericrest is a classic yellow nectarine that is off-patent; it is sold by several nurseries. Fantasia is very good as well; in general there are quite a few good nectarine varieties out there, that classic flavor is pretty dominant in the crosses.
How can they patent "LIFE" ? It is obscene that people are able to patent "LIFE" IMHO...
If Nectarine "x" drops a seed in my yard and it grows .. that seedling would NOT belong to me.. I find that highly offensive...
RE: Liz's Late... Filing Date:12/12/1994 I think they can renew forever ???
Inventors:Zaiger, Chris F. (929 Grimes Ave., Modesto, CA, 95358) Zaiger, Gary N. (1907 Elm Ave., Modesto, CA, 95358) Gardner, Leith M. (1207 Grimes Ave., Modesto, CA, 95358) Zaiger, Grant G. (4005 California Ave., Modesto, CA, 95358) Application Number:08/365353 Publication Date:01/23/1996 Filing Date:12/12/1994
amiart, under current plant patent law that fruits are patented under, the seedlings would belong to you so no worry there (there is a way to protect seedlings but that is used on seed crops not grafted crops). Also there are no renewals allowed; Liz's late will be off-patent in 5 or so years. And, nearly all of the best nectarines are not under patent anyway; the nurseries however would like you to think so, since if they feed the hype growers will rip out the old and plant the new and the nursery harvests the $$.
Are you actually looking for nectarine tree to buy? Again, I'm not sure exactly what you were asking when you originally posted. You haven't mentioned where you live, whether you are grafting yourself, or buying a tree ready-to-go, etc etc.
Plant breeders like the Zaigers have created an extraordinary range of new fruit varieties over the years, to the benefit of commercial and backyard growers alike. To do to, they have invested a great deal of time, knowledge, and money. When they introduce a new variety, the patent system is the only way they have to recover these considerable investments, and, hopefully, turn a profit. They have far more failures than successful varieties actually brought to market. To keep doing what they are doing, they need the protection of the patent/royalty system or anyone could clone, propagate, and sell their varieties making all of their efforts worthless. The few dollars charged by nurseries for patented varieties are well worth it for what the Zaigers and other plant breeders introduce to the market, and 20 years protection is none too long to recover their investments given the small amounts charged for royalties.
Patent protection of fruits covers only those propagated by vegetative or laboratory methods, not chance seedlings. If one of your nectarine seedlings produces fruit that is superior in some way, it is yours and you may patent it yourself if you like, regardless of the status of the tree that produced the seedling.
I think amiart is right,"If Nectarine "x" drops a seed in my yard and it grows .. that seedling would NOT belong to me.. I find that highly offensive..." Even the seedlings of patented trees cannot be propagated(grown) legally. If I grew out a Methley seedling and it turned out to be pollinated by a patented Pluot, the Methley x pluot would be patent protected. But, since the Flavor King growing next to the Methley is off patent I might get a new early pluot plum that I could patent.
There was a discussion of patents on this group awhile back and the conclusion is that the standard plant patent (PP#) does not provide protection for seedlings. There is a type of patent on seed-propagated plants but it is not the sort of patent being used to patent fruit varieties today. I am not sure if sometime in the future they could start using this seed patent mechanism on fruits, all I know is I have not seen one filed yet. So I think it is safe to seed-propagate from your patented pluot at this point.
As far as I can determine, plant patents for plants like fruit trees can be issued only to cover plants that are "asexually reproduced", which means by methods other than seeds. If you have information to the contrary, please let us know where you found it.
Of course you could not grow out a seedling of a patented plant and sell it under the variety name of the parent plant or you might have a lawsuit on your hands. Maybe that's what Amiart wants to do, but he has not told us so.
Now I remember reading, you cannot patent a new variety bred from a patented variety, even the pollen is patent protected. It is ok to grow seedlings from patented cultivars.
It is my understanding that any seedling is a completely new plant and is now your plant and you have the right to patent it yourself if you want. The only thing you can't do with a patented variety is graft it or root cuttings. So even if one or both the parents is under patent, the seedling isn't as it is different genetically from either of the parents.
As Scott points out, there are different kinds of patents that cover different kinds of protection. Patents for things like seed corn can cover the genes themselves and prohibit using the offspring of the patented corn. I this type of patent protection falls under utility patents.
As athenainwi mentions, fruit trees are completely different. The patent only protects against unauthorized asexual production. Even all aspects of asexual production are not protected. Sport mutations can be patented even if the sport comes from a patent protected cultivar. Of course sexual reproduction is OK. That is it's fully acceptable. I mean you can legally do it.
fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
amiartOriginal Author
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