Spring Work

This spring,

The Central Wisconsin Apple Rediscovery Project has discovered new apple seedlings on the old farms of William Masters of the town of Weyauwega and the A.S. Bennett orchard. The Project has collected scions from the Masters orchard from 9 apple seedlings! The scions are small but numerous so there should be a few that take. The Project is working on obtaining scions from the overgrown apple trees on the property of A.S. Bennett.

The Central Wisconsin Apple Rediscovery Project has many things planned.

1. Locate any old apple tree roughly over 100 years old and collect scions from the tree(s).
2. Graft scions onto existing trees for better scions.
3. Try out root hormone growth with scions.
4. Plant 60 apple seeds from Maine.
5. Go to mapped known old apple trees and collect scions for re-propagation

Exciting news!
Dan Bussey the orchard manager and historian of the Seed Savers Exchange has been a huge help in the re-introduction of the Ratzburg apple variety. The Project sent him some scions last spring and was able to get some scions to take (8 to be exact). He has 8 trees and the Project will be receiving 4 of these trees. 1 tree will go to the current owner of the Ratzburg who has been very, very kind in letting the Project come whenever we want to collect scions or record data. 2 trees will go to the grand-daughter or great grand-daughter of the originator of the Ratzburg who originally guided the Project to the tree. Finally, the last tree will go to the orchard here at the Project where it will be expected to grow for many years.

The CWARP is in the process of writing a short book called: A History of Apple Growing in Waupaca County

The Central Wisconsin Apple Rediscovery Project's main goal is to rediscover the lost and once famous Waupaca County Seedling's and other apple varieties of Central Wisconsin. Other goals include, bringing awareness to the greater Waupaca County about how great the county used to be in apple growing, planting heirloom apple trees around the county, and also promoting diversity in plant species.