Roadside fruit finds

looks alot like the one i just made sauce from. its a roadside apple ive been foraging from for several years now. probably a Gravenstein seedling.

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Your apple may be a dutchess seedling? John Bunker certainly seems to think there are a lot of dutchess seedlings in your neck of the woods.

https://www.outonalimbapples.com/varieties/duchess-of-oldenburg

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I found a couple of apple trees next to a Wendy’s the other day with excellent fruits. both are as good as any properly ripened orchard apple I’ve bought. I’m 90% sure these are both grafted trees. They both have secondary trunks that are producing cherry sized fruits (suggesting rootstocks) and the odds of two propagation worthy seedlings springing up within 20 ft of each other is astronomically low. I’m particularly interested in the smaller red one and have plans to propagate it.




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that would be my 2nd guess.

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I found this apple in an Albuquerque park. Seeds where dark but still slightly brown, so on September 28 may have been a week away from fully ripe. It was very sweet with a nice taste and no tartness. It was not crisp which was understandable do to no rain for a long time. Size was about 3 inches.
Any guesses what the variety might be?

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The color looks similar to Golden Delicious. Ripening time is about right. Shape isn’t quite right, too squat but that can vary. Taste sounds about right.

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This post is beautiful, wonderful story, hopefully you picked some this year as well! :+1:

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Thank you. I posted more information about his trees in a thread this year and the negativity was overwhelming by some members here due to the fact that he doesnt spray his trees. I think some even chimed in on the poor choice of the cultivar. Its shameful… and i regret sharing information to this group more and more each day.

I ate a few of his peaches this year…they were ugly but tasted good. I gave him a couple of varieties of heirloom tomatoes that i grow. He grows lots of tomatoes… and was grinning ear to ear to get new ones to him. I also gave him a couple of my blackberry plants.

The trees i gave him are doing well…and he has a couple of seedlings that have promise. The church and the neighborhood all look forward to his peaches. To me thats what community is all about…even if he doesnt spray and the cultivar is a poor choice… us simple folk are ok with that. Most of us carry pocket knives anyways… and just cut out the bad spots.

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I say no regrets for sharing, Kris. Everyone has a story to tell, so to each their own. We’re not here to change one another’s minds, though that might hopefully happen here and there in the course of things. I think this comment captured really well what the potential is of growing things and sharing them. Present company being no exception

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If you waste half of 1000 peaches due to rot and lack of care, you still have 500 more peaches than I do growing in my yard, so you’re still winning. This is especially true for stone fruit that’s way better home grown. I’ll be spraying my red haven and likely chip budding other varieties to it for lack of real estate.

I don’t remember seeing your past post on the subject, but it seems like if you elected to spray for him, even just an organic approach, maybe the challenges complained about would be lesser and everyone gets more peaches? I’m not here to start arguments, just making a comment and I’m glad you shared your story.

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I recently did the same for a lady who lives near the American hazelnuts I harvested to grow for this year - last year. Alongside her driveway she had some extra space that I took note of and remembered to grow a couple for her to plant there, she asked me what she could do to maintain the hazelnuts, as they aren’t that prized in the neighbourhood; I just suggested she take out any small limbs, damaged, dead or diseased ones, she just had her felco pruners out not the best tool for the job since these hazelnuts are about 25ft tall, multiple thick branches coming out from the base of them, many have been cut over the years, planted by a lady who went by the nickname Bimp, she use to be a nurse in world war 2.

Trees that have stories behind them are truly special, another example is the Sweet Chestnut trees I harvest to grow, these chestnuts are surrounded by horse chestnuts on other roads, leading to a lot of confusion, but the person who planted them was a priest named father Vullinghs him and sister Colette would go around the island and do landscaping for churches along there way of doing service back in 1910, the seed source is from the netherlands, as he Father Vullinghs had family back there, and would often bring along plants and seed to beautify church landscapes. As I go on to eventually sell these plants for folks, I need to pass on these stories within means, as I think that helps us attach ourselves to nature a lot easier.

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I have no idea…i dont even spray my own stuff. I read reports on here and some guys that even tell others to spray what and when seem to have bad harvests it seems. One of the experts talked about a 50 year old peach tree that had delicious peaches. I cant imagine spraying a tree for 50 years.

Kind of still on topic…but a ‘Roadside fruit find’… who sprays them? I see posts on NAFEX and my other groups of people finding trees on old farms or homesteads…even parks and roadsides… who sprays them? Those guys usually talk about how good they taste etc. The whole reasoning for their posts and taking time to share their pics and stories is that they found something that obviously had no care.

Personally i think his trees are old…the ground is worn out…and not the best cultivar in the world for disease resistance. Changing all three of those things would likely help him more than the spray and pray method. Maybe his seedlings will do better.

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@Buzzferver has a very cool page of vermont wild apples here perfect circle farm

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I think after several years i may have found the name of the Tomato that I found at a local nursery/greenhouse. Its a local heirloom grown by ‘Speedy’ the owner and has been grown by her family since the depression as far as her memory goes. The tomato is fantastic and i have shared seed with several people… We all agree that its our own personal favorite tomato. The name of her tomato is ‘Speedy’s Pink’.

I can only judge by the pictures and reviews that this local heirloom may be Missouri Pink Love Apple. The reviews state that its a wonderful pink beefsteak that is a pumping machine…the potato leaf fits as well.

This is just a guess by me… and i would never tell her any different. Her family has been selling it for nearly 100 years.

I can see where someone could easily never know about a cultivar that their grandparents or great grandparents grew and how it could become a local family heirloom.

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Went to walmart today… found a couple soft persimmons on the roadside tree there. Several more to be collected over the next month or so.

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Another trip to walmart today… found 3 soft persimmons. This is a young tree but the fruit is very nice… taste wise it is a little better than the wilds at my home… hard to describe the differnce but hints of vanilla seem right.

I have seen this tree hold fruit until first week of December. I will keep checking.

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Found this apple beside an abandoned log cabin. Very good piece of fruit.



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I found a few chestnut trees in a small city parking lot. Too bad all the nuts have been taken away already.

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Not my pics…but this persimmon was found and named ‘Halloween’ recently. (Indiana Nut and Fruit Growers)

Another one called ‘Madison’ (Indiana Nut and Fruit Growers)

Both guys seem to offer scion… and were roadside finds. Not sure if we have talked about either before.

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My roadside persimmon near walmart… had several softies on it today. These are very tasty.

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