New Malus Sieversii seedlings - fruit report

[Nick MacLean]

Hi all,

Here is some info on a longer term project I have related to finding new hard cider apples that work well in my climate. This post specifically is about the first fruitings of two Malus Sieversii seedlings I grew from seed.

I first started getting into cider and the unique apples used in its production back when I was in college ~2014. It was around that time I first heard about Malus Sieversii. The mystery and intertwined history of the apple immediately caught my attention. I was able to source some seeds shortly thereafter. During the summer of 2016 while working as an intern at a mining company in the middle of nowhere AZ, I stratified a small number of seeds on a damp paper towel. The spring of 2017 I planted the sprouted seeds at my garden in Arizona in small nursery pots. Four of those specimens were transported to Oregon to be planted in my new hobby cider orchard.

Since then, the 4 Malus Sieversii seedlings have done very well compared to their M. Domestica cousins.

To my delight and great excitement, two of the 4 trees bore fruit this year. Here are some notes for the first fruiting:

Siversii 1: Smaller green apple that gradually turns yellow as it ripens. Has a soft but not mealy spongy flesh. Very juicy. Taste is pure sweet, no acid, and soft astringency after swallowing the flesh. Specimens collected from the tree had Brix of 17-19. pH of the juice was 4.4. I'd call this a sweet, or maybe a mild bittersweet.

Sieversii 2: Larger apple that is blushed with red and pink on exposed sides. Similar texture to 1, but a bit softer. This apple is noticeably sharper than Sieversii 1, but is still not very acidic. Nice sweetness as well, but not as sweet as 1. Much stronger tannins, leans slightly to the bitter side over astringent. These apples also have a very unique/weird aromatic note I can't nail down. Its vaguely similar to Wickson, where upon first biting the apple you get a distinct savory/malty note. However, the aromatic note on here is more on the savory side instead of malty. 

Its the first year of fruiting, so not enough fruit to make any cider. I am pleasantly surprised that both apples look like they will be useful in cider production.

Nick

 

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Fun project!!!

I also have 2 small Sieversii trees that I germinated - I took the seeds from apples that I brought back from Kazakhstan... But yet no fruit.

[Nick MacLean]

Thank you, Claude!

It was the documentary on Malus Sieversii that you and Andrew Lea created that inspired me to stick with this project. Up until then, I had never seen any modern media representations or depictions of M. Sieversii. To me, watching the footage documented in the film was like seeing a video of the moon landing for the first time.

Some other early observations from the two fruiting trees: They both seem to have much darker more saturated leaf color vs their domestica counterparts. Their leaves in general are visually free of any disease pressure. We don't have too many issues here, but I often find scab on the leaves of other trees so I find that interesting. Additionally, both specimens seem to be less attractive to insect damage as well. Depending on the year, we can get quite a bit of fruit damage from coddling moth and leaf rollers. Of the 30+ varieties I have, the Sieversii fruits were noticeably less damaged/attacked. 

I'm excited to see how the fruit develops next year, and hopefully there will be enough to make some cider. I'm also really curious what type of apples you will get when your trees begin fruiting.

Nick

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[Ryan Gorham]

Claude & Nick,

Do you have a link to this video/documentary? I tried looking it up on YouTube, but couldn't find it. Where can one watch it?

Thanks,

Ryan

[Claude Jolicoeur]

It is on the Vimeo platform, and last I looked, it was not free.

Another nice one in French on wild apples in Quebec... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFL9XZSSj1s

[Ryan Gorham]

Purchased! Thank you,

Ryan

[Andrew Lea]

To be fair to all concerned, the genesis of the Kazakhstan cider documentary was nothing to do with Claude and myself.  We were just willing bit part players along with the real movers and shakers. The idea and organisation came from Alex and Aizhan Thomas, the dynamic husband and wife founders of Apple City Cider in Almaty see https://timesca.com/a-taste-of-kazakhstan-interview-with-almatys-apple-city-cider/   

  Also https://applecitycider.com/the-documentary/

It was tremendous fun though - the achievement of a lifetime's ambition at least for me and I suspect for many of us on the team!

And like Claude I still have a few seedlings  from the bottom of my backpack but they haven’t flowered yet!

Andrew

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[Matthew F.]

Nick, this is fascinating--thanks for sharing!  

Where did you source your Malus Sieversii seeds from? 

[Nick MacLean]

Andrew, thank you for giving proper credit to the documentary makers. It’s been years since I saw the film and had forgotten.

Matthew, I had purchased them through a mail order catalogue. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head, but I’ll see if I can dig it up.

Nick 

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[Nick MacLean]

Matthew, I found the place. It was a company called FW Schumacher. Back in the day I ordered from their catalog, but it looks like you can do it from their website as well.

Nick

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