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