Although we are used to seeing beautiful orchards, and they are where most of our fruit comes from.
I need to tell you about another farming method most have never heard about.
I will preface it with, have you seen a grape farm? Rows of posts with two layers of wire stretched between them to hook the vines too?
OK, now picture a field of fence posts with wires running between the fence posts for the length of the field.
The best apples come from 3 to 4 year old branches on tree. But there is more to it than that, the internal mechanism of the tree must know that branch is now strong enough to hold the fruit before it will produce enough buds. There are ways of fooling their internal mechanism to believe the branch is strong enough.
4 year old branches are rooted and planted in long rows and clamped to the wires.
After the harvest, all but the new top growth from the main trunk is removed.
The now 5 year old branch is pulled out, cut off and turned into mulch.
The new growth is now considered as a 3 year old branch, and it goes to the rooting area for a year.
But before it goes to the rooting area, the one rooted branches now four years old are removed and used to plant the next crop of apples.
And this cycle just repeats itself. You get more apples in less space which are easier to harvest.
But not too many are doing it this way, except in places with extended growing seasons.
And NO, how they are doing it is not well known. Most of these apples are for pies, cider, apple juice, etc. Not raised for pretty or for straight out eating as an apple, although they do taste great.
Electrical Problems
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Re: Electrical Problems
It wasn't but a few days ago when I saw a documentary about tomato farming. It was exactly as you say where a line of posts with two wires stretched as far as you could see. The fruit I saw was obviously for consumer buying in that it looked beautiful. It struck me odd that the tomatoes grew in bunches, several on the same vine. Each bunch ripened as a group separately. So the same vine had tomatoes ready to harvest as well as some still green.
I've been able to buy what is called vintage tomatoes over at Schnucks. They taste great but look ugly as sin. The color and shape of those vintage varieties are very odd. They generally don't have a lot of them for sale, and they always cost more. I often laugh at paying a higher price for what appears to be defective tomatoes.
It's not surprising that apples can be grown the same way. However, I attributed the availability of apples year round to the fact that they have special ways of storing them so that they keep "fresh" for many months. So, apples harvested in September can be held in a warehouse until April if you put the right kind of gasses in the air and keep the temperatures stable. Or something.
I've been able to buy what is called vintage tomatoes over at Schnucks. They taste great but look ugly as sin. The color and shape of those vintage varieties are very odd. They generally don't have a lot of them for sale, and they always cost more. I often laugh at paying a higher price for what appears to be defective tomatoes.
It's not surprising that apples can be grown the same way. However, I attributed the availability of apples year round to the fact that they have special ways of storing them so that they keep "fresh" for many months. So, apples harvested in September can be held in a warehouse until April if you put the right kind of gasses in the air and keep the temperatures stable. Or something.
Re: Electrical Problems
One of the reasons Vine Ripened started appearing on so many tomato box labels in recent years, is because for decades, all tomatoes were picked green, graded by size and packed in boxes. When they were ready to ship to a store, the released a gas canister into each one to make them be ripe by the time they reached the store.
But now with faster transportation, and newer tomato varieties that have a longer shelf life, they can pack ripe tomatoes and get them to market before their quality begins to decline.
Apples on the other hand can be stored in hyperbaric storage for a really long time, sometimes a whole year or longer. But those are stored for exceeding amounts of time usually end up as applesauce, apple juice, or cider.
When you raise tomatoes at home that form clusters like grapes, even the larger tomatoes, they will not all ripen for you at the same time. But those raised commercially will due to certain nutrients added to the soil and/or a spray used on the plants themselves to speed up ripening. Even so, the larger ones on the vine are still riper than the smaller ones.
Also, the cluster is not exactly the same. More often than not all the branches of the cluster grew at the same time, not one after the other as on home grown.
When I was doing the rooftop greenhouses, the only two tomato varieties we raised were Supersonic and Jet Star. One right after the other or one right beside the other a row apart. They were nice firm tomatoes, the kind you could eat by themselves or slice for a sandwich, not to juicy and not to meaty either. But the best thing was, although raised in a greenhouse, they didn't look or taste like the cannonballs we get during the winter months at the stores.
But now with faster transportation, and newer tomato varieties that have a longer shelf life, they can pack ripe tomatoes and get them to market before their quality begins to decline.
Apples on the other hand can be stored in hyperbaric storage for a really long time, sometimes a whole year or longer. But those are stored for exceeding amounts of time usually end up as applesauce, apple juice, or cider.
When you raise tomatoes at home that form clusters like grapes, even the larger tomatoes, they will not all ripen for you at the same time. But those raised commercially will due to certain nutrients added to the soil and/or a spray used on the plants themselves to speed up ripening. Even so, the larger ones on the vine are still riper than the smaller ones.
Also, the cluster is not exactly the same. More often than not all the branches of the cluster grew at the same time, not one after the other as on home grown.
When I was doing the rooftop greenhouses, the only two tomato varieties we raised were Supersonic and Jet Star. One right after the other or one right beside the other a row apart. They were nice firm tomatoes, the kind you could eat by themselves or slice for a sandwich, not to juicy and not to meaty either. But the best thing was, although raised in a greenhouse, they didn't look or taste like the cannonballs we get during the winter months at the stores.
Re: Electrical Problems
I kind of got the idea why they went through the trouble of making it obvious that certain produce is "vine ripened." The difference is very obvious with tomatoes, but as you point out things seem to be improving. Since I've been down here in Missouri I've noticed that the type of tomatoes are different than what I was able to get up north. I love plum tomatoes for various reasons, but the quality down here doesn't match what I could get back home. On the other hand they have Mennonite tomatoes here in O'Fallon which are superior to any I've had before. I'll put a slice or two of tomato on a sandwich and put the remains in a plastic bag in the fridge for future use. I swear that those Mennonite toms retain their goodness for two weeks and more. Northern tomatoes barely make it for a week after being cut.
The "Georgia" peaches in Missouri also seem to be different than the same named peaches I was buying a few years ago. As often as not they are named tree ripened and they don't have a very long shelf life. But, they are fantastic as far as taste goes. There is also a lot of "local" farm produce available which I love to get. However, the best corn I recall eating was from Illinois farmlands. Most of the time local grown does taste like it came from my own garden, plus they are not too fussy about appearance. LOL It's unbelievable how many odd shapes a sweet bell pepper can take.
The "Georgia" peaches in Missouri also seem to be different than the same named peaches I was buying a few years ago. As often as not they are named tree ripened and they don't have a very long shelf life. But, they are fantastic as far as taste goes. There is also a lot of "local" farm produce available which I love to get. However, the best corn I recall eating was from Illinois farmlands. Most of the time local grown does taste like it came from my own garden, plus they are not too fussy about appearance. LOL It's unbelievable how many odd shapes a sweet bell pepper can take.
Re: Electrical Problems
Down here we have the world famous Grainger County tomatoes which are shipped nationwide.
However, just since I've lived here, they have changed the varieties of tomatoes they grow, and the new varieties don't have the great taste as the older varieties.
I guess like any business, they sacrifice some quality to get higher yields per acre.
Take corn for instance. Farmers used to raise one ear corn because it was the sweetest and had the shortest stalks.
But then they all switched to two ear corn, which almost but not quite doubled their yield, growing time was slightly longer, and the stalks higher, but they could get almost twice the amount of corn per acre.
So, once again, they gave up some quality to get a higher quantity.
There's actually a lot to growing corn commercially that most home growers don't bother with, such as detasseling.
My poor uncle Leonard almost got in trouble once, not because of the tomatoes he was selling, but because he mislead how they were raised. He got into this kick on raising some square tomatoes. People liked them and several bought them so they could raise their own from the seeds, hi hi. He didn't tell them that is not how they become square, hi hi.
He would laugh under his breath when folks would complain about theirs not coming out square like his, and all he would say is you, you must have done something wrong, but not tell them what, hi hi.
Once the Des Peres News & Views Newspaper published an article with photo's on LP's square tomatoes, then everyone knew how he did it, so they quit buying them hoping to get their home grown to come out the same way, hi hi.
One of his common phrases was "There is more to getting married than just getting married."
However, just since I've lived here, they have changed the varieties of tomatoes they grow, and the new varieties don't have the great taste as the older varieties.
I guess like any business, they sacrifice some quality to get higher yields per acre.
Take corn for instance. Farmers used to raise one ear corn because it was the sweetest and had the shortest stalks.
But then they all switched to two ear corn, which almost but not quite doubled their yield, growing time was slightly longer, and the stalks higher, but they could get almost twice the amount of corn per acre.
So, once again, they gave up some quality to get a higher quantity.
There's actually a lot to growing corn commercially that most home growers don't bother with, such as detasseling.
My poor uncle Leonard almost got in trouble once, not because of the tomatoes he was selling, but because he mislead how they were raised. He got into this kick on raising some square tomatoes. People liked them and several bought them so they could raise their own from the seeds, hi hi. He didn't tell them that is not how they become square, hi hi.
He would laugh under his breath when folks would complain about theirs not coming out square like his, and all he would say is you, you must have done something wrong, but not tell them what, hi hi.
Once the Des Peres News & Views Newspaper published an article with photo's on LP's square tomatoes, then everyone knew how he did it, so they quit buying them hoping to get their home grown to come out the same way, hi hi.
One of his common phrases was "There is more to getting married than just getting married."
Re: Electrical Problems
Somewhere, back in the depths of my ancient mind, is a memory of owning square tomatoes. LOL I did a lot of gardening at the first house we owned after we married. Most of the veggies I grew were traditional, but I loved to try the odd things too. I don't recall if I tried to grow those square tomatoes or if I purchased them from some vendor. Either way I know I have seen them and actually touched them. Can't tell you if I ate them; I have no memory whatsoever of that.
Farming is all about yields and market prices. I can understand why they would switch corn varieties if the yields doubled. They gonna sell that corn no matter how it tastes. The University of Illinois at Urbana has a fantastic agricultural department. We pass by their testing grounds every trip we make up to Chicago. One year they invented a multi colored corn with white and gold kernels. The white kernels were super sweet, so the story went. I got my hands on some seeds and grew corn in my garden for the first time. That's when I learned you only get one ear per stalk. It seemed like a waste of space, but I managed to get a dozen or so stalks planted in a small space. The story from farm people back then is that the flavor of the corn is at it's peak for about one minute after it is picked; it deteriorates rapidly after that. So, the strategy was to have a pot of water boiling, run out to the garden and pick that corn, shuck it while running back to the kitchen, then toss it in the boiling water immediately. Yes, I actually did that. Well, the corn was exceptional. However, the super sweet kernels overpowered the taste of the regular gold kernels and kind of biased the test. It was great fun but I never grew corn again.
Farming is all about yields and market prices. I can understand why they would switch corn varieties if the yields doubled. They gonna sell that corn no matter how it tastes. The University of Illinois at Urbana has a fantastic agricultural department. We pass by their testing grounds every trip we make up to Chicago. One year they invented a multi colored corn with white and gold kernels. The white kernels were super sweet, so the story went. I got my hands on some seeds and grew corn in my garden for the first time. That's when I learned you only get one ear per stalk. It seemed like a waste of space, but I managed to get a dozen or so stalks planted in a small space. The story from farm people back then is that the flavor of the corn is at it's peak for about one minute after it is picked; it deteriorates rapidly after that. So, the strategy was to have a pot of water boiling, run out to the garden and pick that corn, shuck it while running back to the kitchen, then toss it in the boiling water immediately. Yes, I actually did that. Well, the corn was exceptional. However, the super sweet kernels overpowered the taste of the regular gold kernels and kind of biased the test. It was great fun but I never grew corn again.