National Clonal Germplasm Repository Donation

Yay! The National Clonal Germplasm Repository approved our request for Ancient Pear tree varietal scions this fall! Our trees should arrive after the fall season winds down, and our trees will be in the ground by spring!

Here are the varietals we requested:

Blakeney Red: PI 541151 - COR - Pyrus communis

Taynton Squash: PI 541271 - COR - Pyrus communis

Yellow Huffcap: PI 541287 - COR - Pyrus communis

Red Pear: PI 541317 - COR - Pyrus communis

I will be grafting or budding onto OHxF 97, OHxF 333 or OHxF 513 Pyrus Rootstock. Right now I'm leaning toward OHxF 97, but we're still trying to find a good source.

More to follow...

Perry Pear Project Grafting

• We're getting ready to order some material from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for the Perry Pear Project for grafting this fall.
• We're hoping to T-graft three varieties of Perry Pear onto OHxF 513 dwarfing rootstock and plant them in the test orchard in Millersville.
• We've also begun a new Raspberry patch in an effort to mix native wineberries and non-native raspberries berries for a better local cross.

The new Raspberry Trellis with 5 different varieties.

More updates soon.

Otherwise, the 2010 vegetable garden is growing well and several heirloom seed varieties are producing admirably. Of particular intest are the black beans, which were killed to the ground by a late freeze and are now totally back and going crazy!

The Corn, beans and squash; already 3 feet high before June 1st!

Stay tuned for more news!

Summer Update

Greetings! The ACE project continues unabated with progress every month!

Now that all the snow is melted and the trees are alive again, we've been doing more clearing and planning.

For now, the West Hempfield properties are waiting for the cutting crew to clear the last quarter acre of land in preparation for tilling. The brush came up pretty high this spring and we're still dealing with a heavy poison ivy problem, but we should be in a much better position come fall.

For now, we're concentrating on the propagation efforts at the nursery in Millersville. To date, we've planted several heirloom varieties of raspberry, with intentions of wine berry experimentation this fall. We've also started about 100 Seaberry plants in the hope of local propagation.

This fall, our main goal is to chip bud Tayton Squash perry pears. Stay tuned for more updates and Picasa pictures archives.

Feet on the Ground

Wendy and Jake have surveyed some of the properties near Grubb Lake in West Hempfield Township, and it seems the soil is well suited for an Orchard of various varietals. Consultation with a retired PA Forrester confirms this fact, however, the ever-dreaded lurking beast, Poison Ivy, will have to be dealt with, so the deeper woods property will be left until everything else goes dormant in the fall when Ivy removal can commence with less exposure to Urushiol oils and such.

Meanwhile, the Metz parcel will be cleared next month, since it is mostly underbrush with fewer actual trees to haul out.

Also, negotiations with local nurseries are progressing to get cuttings from the USDA budded for potting in the greenhouse later this month. We're a bit off in our seasons, the preference being to bud in spring, but things should work out well this way.

More updates to follow. Enjoy the pics!

Welcome to the Experiment!

Welcome to the Ancient Cultivars Experiment, a preservation and dissemination project for ancient varietals of apple, pear, and plum trees. We hope to use this blog and our website as the online launch point and contact point for the project. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post and join us in preserving these great trees for future generations.