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PSS 211 Tree Fruit CultureHistory and Origin
M. Elena Garcia Ph.D.
Back to PSS 221 Notes
Fruit Trees• Why?
History and Origin
• Family: Rosaceae• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Subfamily: Prunoideae
History and Origin: Pomes
• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Pome fruits
• Malus (apple)• Pyrus (pear)• Cydonia (quince)
History and Origin: Drupes
• Subfamily Prunoideae• Drupes or stone fruits
• Prunus (peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot, plum, and almond)
History and Origin
• Temperate zone, deciduous trees• Origin in areas with cold winters• Mechanisms for winter dormancy and
spring budbreak and flowering
• Generally adapted for animal dispersal• Colorful fruit• Often seeds are poisonous
History and Origin: Malus
• Malus• Native to the Caucasian Mountains
(Russia)• ~ 28 species, mostly European, some
American (some crabapples)• Obligate cross-pollination • Malus x domestica- the domestic apple
Geography
Geography
Historical Background: Apple
• Cultivated by primitive man• Evidence of domestication by 10th
century B.C.• In 9th B.C., in The Odyssey,Homer
wrote about apple trees
Historical Background (Apple)
• Propagation• Greece ~ 300 B.C.• Romans refined the practice• Extremely important
• Heterozygous• Difficult to root
Historical Background (Apple)
• 3rd century B.C.• 7 varieties
• 1st century A.D.• 36 varieties
• Today• >10,000 varieties
Historical Background (Apple)
• Pearmain• Oldest European named cultivar still in
existence
• Roxbury Russet• First American named apple
Roxbury Russet
Vermont Apple Industry
• Colonial - prior to 1800• Seedlings or ‘natural varieties’
• Cider-apple time - 1800-1875• in1810 :125 distillers/12300 gal brandy
• Farm orchards - 1875-1890• Commercial - 1910-1940• Specialized commercial - 1940-date
McIntosh
McIntosh
McIntosh
• Frosty mornings and bright sunny days• beautiful coloring • flavor development
McIntosh
• Ontario farm (1811)• Brought to Newport VT in 1868
History and Origin (Pyrus)
• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Pyrus (pear)• Native to most Europe, the Near East and
temperate AsiaOne ornamental evergreen species in Japan
• ~ 20 species
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus (pear)• Obligate cross-pollination• Pyrus communis- common or European
pear• Pyrus pyrifolia- Chinese or sand pear
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus communis- Common or European pear
• Domestication~ 2500 years ago during• ~ 300 BC Theophrastus recorded 3
cultivars• ~ 50 BC, Romans knew 40 cultivars• By 1600, in Europe, 1600 cultivars
History and Origin (Pear)• Common pear• Most older cultivars were firm, crisp
types • Today’s cultivars are soft buttery• Introduced to North America in the 17th
century• Not many new cultivars have been
developed
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus pyrifolia- Chinese or Sand pear• Brought to California by Chinese
immigrants
History and Origin (Drupes)
• Subfamily Prunoideae• Drupes or stone fruit• Prunus• ~ 150 species• Most abundant in temperate zone, but a
few species are found in tropical mountains
History and Origin (Prunus)
• Prunus• Subgenus: Amygdalus• Subgenus: Prunophora• Subgenus: Cerasus
History and Origin
• Prunus• Subgenus: Amygdalus
• Prunus persica (peach and nectarine)• Mostly self-fertile• Prunus amygdalus (almond)• Obligate cross-pollination
History and Origin (Peach)
• Wild peaches• Western China, Tibet
• Wild almonds• Mediterranean basin and Southwestern
Asia
Geography (Peach)
History and Origin (Peach)
• Peaches• Archeological remains ~ 4000 BC• Object of reverence in Chinese culture• Introduced to Europe at the beginning of
the Christian era• Very adaptable
History and Origin (Almond)
• Prunus amygdalus - Almond• Neolithic and Bronze age• Remains of plantings~ 3000BC• Not adapted for bird dispersal• Recessive gene for not producing cyanide
History and OriginPrunophora
• Subgenus: Prunophora• Prunus domestica - European plum• Prunus americana - North American plum
History and Origin (Plum)
• Prunus domestica- European plum• Center of origin : Europe• Domestication in Rome and Greece• Hexaploid (2N= 48)
• cross between a 2n=16 and 4n=32• Very few new cultivars• Prunes
History and Origin (Plum)
• Prunus americana- North American plum
History and Origin (Apricot)
• Prunus armeniaca- Apricot• Center of origin• Manchuria, Siberia, and Korea
Geography
History and Origin (Cherry)
• Subgenus: Ceraus• Prunus avium- sweet cherry• Prunus ceraus-sour cherry
Origin (Cherry)• Subgenus: Ceraus• Prunus avium- sweet cherry
• Northwestern Europe to Russia• Obligate cross pollinator
• Prunus ceraus-sour cherry• Origin- South Eastern Europe• Some cultivars may be as hardy as apples• Will cross to form hybrids (Duke)• Some sweet cherry cultivars are self-sterile
Cultivars and Rootstocks (Tree fruits)
• Most commercially sold fruit trees consist of two parts
Scion
RootstockGraft union
Botany and History
• Most fruit trees require cross pollination• You must have two different cultivars in
order to have fruit
Apple propagation
• Asexual propagation or cloning
• When you take part of one plant, place it into another plant, and let them grow together as a new organism
When the pollen grain germinates and fertilizes the egg, fertilization takes place.
After fertilization, the seed forms
Sexual Reproduction
Asexual propagation used in fruit trees
• Grafting
• Budding
Major limitation• Winter Minimum Extremes• Vermont in hardiness zones 3, 4, and 5• usually determined by latitude, weather
fronts, difficult to avoid• depends on how cold, duration, pre-
freeze environment (hardening)
Major limitation
• large differences in hardiness in species, some difference in cultivar
• health of plant contributes to hardiness• avoidance measures - mulching, snow
cover• cold can damage buds, shoot tips,
canes, crowns, whole plants
Vermont Hardiness
Zones
Major limitation
• Spring Frosts• short duration• result of inversion• temperatures of 30° to 25° F commonly• damage is due to tissues exposed to
surrounding cold
Chilling hour requirements
800-1700Apple
500-1400Pear
400-700Peach
300-600Apricot
Approximately chilling hours (<7 C) to break winter rest for fruit tree species
Critical temperatures for bud killCritical temperatures in degree F at which 90% of the flower buds are killed at various stages of development
2525*25252115102Apple (McIntosh)
Bud developmental stages* Indicates full bloom
24*2115951.4Peaches
25*252421171495Cherry
322524*2219148-0.4Apricot
2423*232319156.8-0.4Pear
2527*26252415102Apple(Red Del)
8 7654321Species
Cultivar and Rootstock
• What to look for in a cultivar• Type of fruit• Disease resistance• Type of tree• Cold hardiness• Pollination