Pacific Tree Farms - A Major Loss? Feijoa, etc...
I've found a common occurrence when looking for plants...many leads point to Pacific Tree Farms. I have the book Cornucopia II and scour it for its lists of fruit cultivars. I was looking for Feijoas and it seems PTFs had so many varieties that I would love to try.
Many of these cultivars now seem lost in trade, and that's not good. I have little access to the main CRFG's scion exchanges and I would love to see a better nationwide attempt, as a non-commercial group, to preserve cultivars from being 'lost' forever.
Is that even possible?
In an ideal world we could keep a 'live' list of cultivars we grow and where they are being grown. I know this is being done (Dave's Garden, Seed Savers), but not really on a non-commercial grassroots rare fruit level. This may also help us understand favorable growing conditions, and the near limits of what we can push.
hmmmmmm....
Well, if anybody has any of some of the early ripening Feijoa cultivars, please shoot me an e-mail!
Mark
Seattle, WA
The following thread was started by Mark (Seattle, z8b) on May 13, 2008 at 11:43 am PST
All of these have supplied scionwood to me:
usda germplasm
mountvernon.wsu.edu/FruitHorticulture.html
nrsp5.prosser.wsu.edu/
fpms.ucdavis.edu/
The above followup was added by vino101 on May 13, 2008 at 3:55 pm PST.
so check the above sites and search...
The above followup was added by vino101 on May 13, 2008 at 3:57 pm PST.
I just checked all three sites (btw, FMPS changed their URL some time back and it's now just FPS) and don't see anything listed. I've been to the repository in Davis a few times in the past year and FPS last fall and don't recall ever seeing any feijoa there.
However, in Googling, I saw http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?16573 which seemed to indicate that the repository in Hilo had feijoa (listed as "species priority site", whatever that means). Although I don't see it listed at http://ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53-20-03-45, it might be worthwhile to write Dr. Francis Zee.
The above followup was added by HarveyC on May 13, 2008 at 8:28 pm PST.
Mark,
Yes, many or most feijoa cultivars seem to be lost to the commercial nursery trade. (In California, at least.) LaVerne nursery distributes several cultivars, and I think Raintree carries a few, but that's about it in terms of easily available plants. Some of the small specialty nurseries in Southern California may carry more, but (short of a fruit-caravan road trip) it is often not easy to get plants from such growers.
Some CRFG chapters do sponsor and maintain fruit collections in public parks or botanical gardens.
While botanical gardens would generally not permit the collection of propagation material, there is a large collection of fruit trees, in Prusch Park, San Jose, that was specifically founded to be a source of scions. (It is maintained by the CRFG Santa Clara chapter in coordination with the park; the local Master Gardeners may help out as well, although I'm not certain.) A large proportion of the scions at the Northern California winter scion exchanges come from this collection.
Last time I heard, however, they had their hands full taking care of what was there already, and they weren't interested in adding new plants to the collection. But (in theory) a site like Prusch Park would be ideal for a hobbyist-maintained feijoa (or other) repository. (They do have two or three feijoa bushes.)
One local CRFG'er in Lafayette had a large collection of about fifteen different feijoa cultivars, but he's an older gentleman, and he decided to give up his house in the past year or so. So his plants may now be lost to the local network of hobbyists, sadly. (I tried to air-layer some of his cultivars before he moved, but I didn't succeed, unfortunately.) Cases like this are pretty common, I'm sure, so the value of publicly-accessible collections like the one in San Jose is undeniable.
Regarding Wolfskill, there actually are (or were) a few feijoas on the U.C. Davis side of the property, near the "teaching" citrus grove. As I recall they were seedlings, not named cultivars. There are none on the U.S.D.A. germplasm repository side, however.
The above followup was added by Ashok on May 14, 2008 at 0:15 am PST.
There is a fellow who is quite active in the CRFG Redwood Empire Chapter, Mark Alpert or Albert?
I think he has the best collection of Feijoa on the west coast as he has adopted some private collections, and continues to actively collect as many varieties as he can get a hold of. At Jan '07 scion exchanges he was distributing a true to type seedling variety of what he regards as a superior variety.
You could perhaps contact the CRFG Redwood Empire president Phil Pieri to ask about Mark and his collection:
email- redwood_empire@crfg.org
phone- (707)795-6574
The above followup was added by John Valenzuela Novato, CA SunsetZ16-17 on May 16, 2008 at 8:13 am PST.
Maybe we can work out a visit together? I had never heard of Mark or his collection.
I just checked out Redwood chapter newsletters and saw mention of Mark Albert of Ukiah in the November 2007 newsletter available at http://www.borglum.com/crfgr/ and I will continue looking at older issues to see if I can find more. I see a Mark & Judy Albert listed in an online directory with a phone number of 707-462-7843. Since I've never heard of him before, I'd prefer for you to call, if you don't mind, but I'll call if you want me to.
The above followup was added by HarveyC on May 16, 2008 at 11:47 am PST.