Ram Fishman rediscovered unnamed Albert Etter varieties starting in the 1970’s, he then named and presumably trademarked them. Ram sold these varieties for many years requiring purchasers to sign non propagation agreements. Mr Fishman did the fruit growing world a great service with these efforts. I think the non propagation agreements on the other hand did the world a great disservice. In my opinion many of these varieties are not far from becoming nearly extinct again because of this. As an example, I have been trying to acquire Atalanta’s gold scion for 2 years. In all my research and attempts I have determined the only sources to be Trees of Antiquity which has very limited availability, only m111 rootstock and high prices. Maple Valley Orchard lists scion for sale but always seems to be out of stock. It appears that only one member on this message board has grown this variety but his tree seems to have died.
Jade seems to be even more difficult to find. The other varieties are also not easy to come by.
One way or the other I will be growing these varieties and sharing the scion to anyone that wants to grow them. I already have Eden and Crimson Gold and will send scions for shipping only to anyone that wants them.
If trademarks actually become a problem, I will list them with their original Etter numbers. I am tired of this nonsense.
Definately see both sides of it because people want to monetize their ideas so they can make an income. In our pursuit to look out for ourselves there are times our efforts can turn into greed at the expense of others. What is best as you said long term for the world? It is my belief that without a patent noone can stop you from growing an apple however by trademarking it they can keep you from using the apples name. If you are not the one who signed a non propogation commitment than you signed no commitment to not grow Etters apples. Would also like to mention that i do like the company but i don’t personally care for people skirting around our countries 20 year patent laws by “trademarking” things. It is a way of watering down our propagation laws in my opinion. The 20 year patent law was made to address exactly the problem of losing varities your bringing up. These are only my opinions so my own apples i neither patented or trademarked them. The “clarks crabapple” is patent and trademark free always was and will be.
My only problem with this is that many of these apples are now very rare even though they were rediscovered 40 years ago. Because of the non propagation agreements they have been rarely shared on scion exchanges.
I had it, but alas, both it and Amberoso were killed by a freakish late freeze after an unseasonably warm January. I’ve lost a few young trees that way. The cambium freezes.
AG was interesting - quite small, smaller even than Wickson, but crisp, very tart and citrus-y. We liked it a lot. I’d replace it with a ToA tree now but I’ve already re-used the spot and I’m out of room here.
If you like a citrusy crabapple then the roadside find I’ve been evaluating might be of interest to you. I’ve been working on propagating it for further trialing.
@jerry If you’re interested I could send you a scion of the citrusy crabapple to graft for yourself. You’re two climate zones warmer than where I am so it would be awesome to get info about how it does there (if you want).