When numbers become names
A new apple variety is created
Apples produce seeds from which new seedlings grow. These differ greatly from their mothers and produce a great diversity of traits. The more seeds you sow, the more diversity there is to choose from.
Each year thousands of seedlings are sown and only 100 are chosen based on their vigour and sturdiness. These saplings are given a number and are grafted upon specifically chosen rootstocks. It takes roughly 3 years until these trees bear their first fruit. The numbers with the best taste are chosen for further selections. In the following years other traits regarding cultivation are evaluated.
Finally after 10 – 15 years only a handful of the hundred seedlings remain. The numbers with the best characteristics are given a name and become a variety.
Would you like to participate in the breeding process of a new variety?
From the 100 numbers selected every year, you could choose a number. Should this number become a variety, you as a sponsor may participate in the name giving ceremony and are given a young tree of your variety for your home.
By sponsoring a tree with a one off payment of 100 CHF you make our work possible by helping to finance the long selection and cultivation process.