Scattered in orchards around the county are varieties of apple trees that were largely forgotten until the co-founders of the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project went looking.
In the process, Addie and Jude Schuenemeyer have found three varieties of apples once thought to be extinct.
The Raspberry apple was found in the area, the Cedar Hill Black in New Mexico and the Colorado Orange in Canon City.
Across the nation, the number of apple varieties has steeply declined since 1900. From approximately 18,000 varieties, now only about 6,000 types of apples exist and a few of the rarest types still grow locally.
Jude Schuenemeyer has been working to track down and clone the rare trees in the remnants of what used to be extensive orchards in McElmo Canyon and revitalize local orchard production for years.
“For a long time, it felt like jousting at windmills,” said Schuenemeyer.
But this spring the project is launching an effort to genetically test all the rare apple trees in the area, he said.
The project is becoming an official nonprofit and has started to raise the money for the equipment and lab services for the testing. The nonprofit will be under the umbrella of the San Juan Resource Conservation and Development Council, but a local board would run it.
The project members hope to do all the testing over the summer and create an online database of apple varieties.
Schuenemeyer is hoping to identify trees that may be more resistant to late frosts and more suited to this climate. Such trees would be part of the effort to encourage more local production.
Part of Schuenemeyer’s vision includes booming orchards with specialty apples that would draw in tourists and supply a local cidery.
Around the turn of the century, the county produced fruit that won ribbons at the World’s Fair.
“I believe that the fruit industry suffered from a thousand cuts, Washington State, high altitude frosts, the Great Depression, remote location, [and] a cultural forgetting of the greatness of an earlier generation,” he said.
But he knows the McElmo Canyon and other areas in the county could produce marketable fruit again.
“A generation went by and they forgot what was possible here,” he said.
Once identified and tested, information including photos, location and important identifying factors of the rarest varieties would go into the database so other researchers can have access to it. It would be like Wikipedia for apples, he said.
Much of local knowledge only exists in oral history and some books and articles dating back to the late 1800s.
Many of early the settlers of Montezuma County, brought fruit trees with them, some from Germany, others from east Tennessee. A few including J.D. Hall were experts in their craft.
As part the project, Shuenemeyer wants to start recording the oral histories of the orchards and settlers so the history won’t be lost.
To promote the potential for local production, the orchard restoration project is working with students at all three area school districts to plant and care for fruit trees as part of the Montezuma School to Farm Project. They are also replanting a small orchard at Battle Rock Elementary School.
While the focus has largely been on apples, there are also unique cherries, quinces, mulberries, and pears in the area the project would like to save.
The project also holds free workshops for those who want to learn how to care for local trees. The next one will be held at Let It Grow and will focus on grafting. It will start at 10 a.m. on March 22.
mshinn@cortezjournal.com
Spring pruning tips
General pruning guidlines:
A more open tree with fewer small branches allows light and air to flow through the branches and prevents disease.
Start as soon as possible this spring because the weather has been warm and most trees have started to bud.
Think about what the tree should look like three years from now and prune with that in mind.
Take off all dead branches.
Do not leave flat cuts facing the sky because they will fill with moisture that will cause decay.
Try to keep branches pruned high enough so deer can’t pull down the branches.
Try not to peel away the bark when making cuts.
Secondary branches should be a third of the diameter of main branches to keep the sap flowing.
Apple and pear trees:
Only Take off 25 percent of the live branches.
Pruning less of the tree prevents it from sending up so many small branches that can’t support the weight of the fruit.
A little bit of pruning each year will do more good than trying to get it all done at once.
Pruning some buds now will prevent having to thin fruit later.
Peach trees:
Respond well to heavy pruning as long as the secondary branches are a third the diameter of main branches to keep the sap flowing.
Cherry trees:
Only take off about 20 percent of the live branches
General tree health:
Clearing dead fruit off the ground prevents coddling moths and other pests from finding a home in the fruit. It will help keep next year’s crop healthier.
Manure makes the best fertilizer.
Be careful with systemic pesticides because they can kill bees.
Systemics, depending on which ones are used can also render the fruit unsafe to eat.
A healthy tree will fight off disease on its own.
-Tips acquired at a free pruning workshop held by the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project.
