Scott, thanks for posting, and thanks to everyone else too. Here in Santa Cruz County, we've had one of our most dismal apple years ever. All the commercial growers were complaining about the long much cooler than usual Summer followed by a week of 108F temperatures in late September. It was a disaster, with a lot of burn damage. Needless to say, many varieties didn't do well as a result of these conditions. The lack of Summer heat lowered the brix level on many varieties, and the Fall heat destroyed the texture on many varietie. So my report isn't glowing, but heck, at least a few varieties turned out very good. The big winner for me this year was Oldenburg. I was amazed as to the flavor and complexity of this apple, it was really perfect. It was the first time this one ripened for me. On the other end of the spectrum was fraurotacher. I was excited about this apple, but it turned out to be the most horrible apple I've ever grown. It was virtually inedible off the tree, and reading all the descriptions, it sounded like it needed to store a while. Well, it just turned mealy in storage. This may be a good apple in Switzerland, but it will get grafted over to something else in my garden. So here is a summery of some of my apples: Summer apples: - yellow transparent was delicious, the cool Summer helped this variety retain excellent texture, and the flavor was good too. - William's pride, an amazingly delicious apple, so dark red it was almost black - Viking, now that I got to eat viking side by side to William's pride, it was hard to tell the varieties apart once picked. Flavor wise, they are also very similar, but William's pride is bigger and a better keeper. - Anna, a low chill variety really disappointed me, the flavor was really one dimensional, a great apple if you can't grow anything else, but dismal in competition to william's pride. - dorsett golden, the other low chill variety, it's more vanilla like in flavor, I like it because it's one of the first varieties to ripen, as early as June. The rest of the apples: - Gravenstein, one of the best apples around. We pressed 100 liters of gravenstein juice which usually ill last us into next Summer. Doesn't store well at all. Because of the cool weather, Gravenstein really ended up a late Summer apple, even though on normal years it's ripe by the end of July, early August. - Zestar, delicious, one of the best late Summer apples - Reine des reinettes, ripens early September here, really high quality, delicious, I love this apple, firm, crunchy, full of flavor This is the first year I've had these, they are a definite keeper for me. - Mother, first year I got this one too, it was delicious, I really like it. - Calville Rouge D'automne, last year this one was superb, this year, it was mediocre. It just didn't have that amazing sugar/acid balance that makes this a great apple. It's a keeper nevertheless, hopefully next year it will fare better. - Bella des jardins, first fruiting, was very, very tart but very flavorful, and it sure looks beautiful. Our cool Summer left this one with BRIX below acceptable levels, but on warmer years this one will be really good. I think this is a good candidate for hotter climates. I can't wait to see what I will get next year. - Double bon pommier: very good all around apple. A definite keeper. French apples seem to do very well in our climate and soil. - Reinette Franche: delicious green apple with a great sugar acid balance and a very good flavor. - Empire, was very good this year, getting better in storage - James grieve, a bit dissapointing, it goes mealy so quickly. I am not sure what the fuss is all about around this variety, it doesn't merit this much attention. - red gold, wow, talk about delicious, and it's one good looking apple too. It's just a good all around apple, and very heat resistant. It was unphased exposed to full sun at 108F. There wasn't a single trace of damage. - McIntosh, terrible, why do I bother growing this one, everybody keeps telling me it's a poor choice for Santa Cruz county. - snow, turned out good this year. THis one isn't exactly a good apple for our climate, I hold on to it mainly for breeding purposes. - Rubinette, very reliable and most excellent. - king, I love this apple, also very reliable and very flavorful. - arlette, tasty, especially after a bit of storage - orleans reinette, reliably good, pretty much the same every year no matter how the weather turns out. - nonesuch, ah, I think I am not liking this one anymore. I can eat one of these, and then I don't want to eat another one for the rest of the year. I am not sure why, there is something about this apple that my body just doesn't like. Produces reliably and the flavor is the same every year. - Jonagold, very boring this year, bland - mutsu, same thing, it just doesn't have that anise overtone it gets on good year. I still have mutus on my tree, that's how cold it has been last Summer. - Sweet valentine, very good new local variety, super sweet, deliciously flavored. - Freedom, good tasty apple, a bit on the tart side due to the lack of heat. - Belle de boscoop, bread and butter cooking apple, did very well this year. - Golden russett, very tasty, amazing flavor - Hudson's golden gem, one of my favorites, never fails every year. - Alexander, these were very good this year, excellent texture and quite edible as table apples. - Bella di pontoise, Scott raves about this one, I had one single apple ripen on my single branch of Bella di Pontoise, and I must have waited too long, because it eventually dropped and by that time had already gone mealy. -Winter banana, terrible apple this year, it's never really that good, but last year I had a few late stragglers that were quite delicious. - Sweet victoria, a 100% acid-less apple, very strange eating experience, but good and interesting. I cannot find any info on this apple anywhere. It showed up at a scion exchange one year. I always look forward to it, it's such an easy apple to eat. - Swaar, good basic apple, can't complain. But it didn't really stand out in any way. - Cox orange pippin, I placed my tree in 50% afternoon shade, and this placement seems to be paying off. The ripening was delayed by a full month, making it truly delicious and live up to its reputation. The lack of afternoon heat means the apples had perfect texture and a good sweet acid balance, plus the aromatics it's well known for. I am still waiting for brushy mountain limbertwig, pink lady, granny smith, Waltana, brownee russet and a few other very late apples. The late ones are definitely way superior here in flavor and texture.

Greco: Sorry to say that at this time, there are no cures for any viral disease -- not one, nada, none. We do have vaccines which will prevent some viral diseases, but I don't think there are any for bees yet. If CCD really is viral, we may be faced with the necessity of finding resistant strains of bees, or instituting scrupulous controls to prevent the spread of the virus to healthy hives, but there's no real hope of "curing" it.

That's sounds interesting! Thanks Mia, I'll be inviting both my sisters. :) Alexis

You might call the Natural Gardener. They have had that info posted when they sold their fruit trees last year so they possibly have access to that info this year.. I saw fruit trees out on the grounds in their spring fruit tree blits when I was there day before yesterday. I didn't walk down to the area and read it this year but last year, I was amazed how different places were in the amount of average chill hours around town. I don't think we had hardly any chill hours this year.