—by Matt Milkovich
MN33 apples rising in a Minnesota orchard. The newest launch from the College of Minnesota, MN33, marketed as Kudos, is a cross of Honeycrisp and Minnewashta (Zestar!). (Courtesy Dylan VanBoxtel/College of Minnesota)
The College of Minnesota’s apple breeding program launched its twenty ninth apple final fall.
MN33, branded as Kudos, is a cross of two Minnesota-bred apples, Honeycrisp and Minnewashta (marketed as Zestar!), making it a sibling of Minneiska (marketed as SweeTango).
UMN apple breeder David Bedford in contrast the standard of Kudos, an open launch, to the standard of SweeTango, a managed selection launched in 2006.
“That is the everyman’s model of SweeTango,” he stated. “They’re completely different apples, however of the identical caliber.”
Kudos has Honeycrisp’s “crisp, juicy, breaking texture,” Bedford stated, however what actually set it aside is its taste: candy and well-balanced with “tropical overtones.”
“It jogs my memory of Hawaiian Punch,” he stated. “It’s like having a crunchy, juicy, tropical get together in your mouth.”
Kudos is on the market to all apple growers however will in all probability achieve probably the most traction with direct-market orchards. New varieties can wrestle to penetrate the wholesale market with out a sturdy advertising and marketing marketing campaign, in order that they determined it was higher to “ship this one out by the grassroots,” Bedford stated.
They selected the identify “Kudos” as a result of it’s pronounceable, recognizable and optimistic, however “most significantly, it handed the trademark muster,” he stated.
Kudos additionally inherited Honeycrisp’s scab resistance. The fruit ripens in late September, barely later than Honeycrisp, and may last as long as 5 months in customary storage. It persistently achieves a pleasant crimson shade, Bedford stated. Kudos is hardy to U.S Division of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 4 and also can develop in Zone 3. Bushes have survived minus 35 levels Fahrenheit in northern Minnesota. The timber have medium to excessive vigor with a spreading type.
The tree “appears to self-thin,” he stated, hardly ever requiring hand or chemical thinning, and it has confirmed a constant annual producer. Fruit hangs on the tree nicely and may be harvested in a single or two picks.
“One consequence of the intense crimson coloration and juicy texture is that birds are generally interested in it,” Bedford stated. “Everybody appears to adore it, even within the animal world.”
In Appleton, New York, growers Jill MacKenzie and Mark Russell trialed 10 Kudos timber on Budagovsky 9 rootstock for practically a decade. MacKenzie stated the tree is “remarkably well-behaved” and “grows completely.”
Fruit dimension, crop dimension and crimson coloring are “precisely the identical each single 12 months,” she stated, however the crop load is simply too mild and the fruit too large for his or her wholesale orchard’s goal markets.
Russell stated Kudos self-thins right down to single fruitlets, managing its personal crop load with out a lot enter from the grower. The apples are large, nearly all the time bigger than 3 inches in diameter, and by no means fall off the tree.
“It’s a completely excellent candidate for a direct market or U-pick operation,” he stated.
To be taught extra, go to: mnhardy.umn.edu/kudos. •
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