Red-fleshed, non-GMO apples?

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by lord andrew barham, May 22, 2020.

  1. lord andrew barham

    lord andrew barham Member VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society

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    I have no idea how to initiate a discussion or ask a question on here, and hope this is how one does either. Anyway, I have been trying to find out if there is a known variety of apple that has carmine red skin and similar wine red flesh. There was a big old one growing on Lasqueti Island, that I have since heard has been cut down. The apples were delicious, but I have never seen another whose fruit was so intensely coloured. I have tried searching via google (perhaps the worst search engine ever created, so perhaps I should not be too surprised at being utterly unable to find anything other than GMO apples with red flesh) but not found anything. It would be a shame to think that the tree on Lasqueti might have been the only one left of some forgotten variety. Anyone know anything about red-fleshed, non-GMO apples?
     
  2. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    I found several non-GMO red-fleshed apples during a brief search on Google; but, if you don't like Google, you could try contacting the BC Fruit Testers Association, an organization that participates in the UBCBG Apple Festival, another good source of information about apple varieties.
     
  3. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Yes, do contact the BC Fruit Testers. I have seen red-fleshed apples at Apple Fest demonstrations.
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Typically these have a genetic involvement of Rosy bloom type crab apple cultivars which impart the flesh pigmentation and other characters.
     
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  5. lord andrew barham

    lord andrew barham Member VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society

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    I too have found red-fleshed apples via google search lately, derived, as you say, from crossing between crab and cultivated apples; however, none of these varieties is more than about 20 years old so far as I can tell. Indeed, it was about 5 or 6 years or even ten years ago that learned that cultivators were creating red-fleshed apples via mostly GMO techniques. (About 5 0r 6 years ago, I was able to find red-fleshed apples via google search, but they were all genetically modified ones.) Reason I'm curious about possibly older varieties, is that there is (or was – I have heard it was cut down) a very old apple tree with red-fleshed apples growing beside the General Store on Lasqueti Island, and I wondered what variety it was and if there are any others like it. I do have to say, these Lasqueti apples (which I have tentatively named Lasqueti General, for obvious reasons, should this be the only known one extant) were delicious, excellent eating apples. I may have a seedling of this one growing, but am not certain it is an apple yet. (It's about four years old, but still quite small, in a large pot. Some of its leaves definitely look like apple leaves, but others are more elongate. They have a decidedly purplish tint. The bark is dark, definitely the sort one finds on fruitful members of the Rosaceae: smooth and shiny, with lenticels. It came up in a container I had outside on my balcony in Kitimat, into which I had sown seeds from the Lasqueti apple in the Fall to leave over Winter to see if any might come up. Trouble is there may have been other seeds in there from having grown things in the past. (This was not a controlled experiment where I started with fresh soil and a set number of seeds, recording time and date of sowing, etc. The seeds were from apples(s) consumed on Lasqueti in September, 2009 from the aforesaid tree, which looked like it might be dying, or at least, in need of severe cutting back. It was a very large, old apple tree. The seeds travelled with me from Vancouver to Kitimat, where I was able to keep them cold in a small fridge. In 2014, I took a one year job in a place called Prespatou, in the Peace River North region. Since I sublet my flat in Kitimat, I packed all the seeds from the small fridge into a cooler and took them to Prespatou. They stayed outside and were subjected to both extremes of hot and cold, ranging from -43º C to +38 º C. So, I was not expecting a lot of viability, and the experiment was more to see if any of these apple seeds were still viable. This and two Black Cherries (Prunus serotinus) came up, though the cherries barely survived two years and never grew well.) So, I daresay, what I'm really interested in is if anyone knows anything about that tree on Lasqueti Island or what variety it might have been.
     

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