
The 'extinct' Colorado Orange Apple: How a couple on a mission found it - dsr12
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/colorado-orange-apple-trnd-scn/index.html
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Alex3917
Is there a good place to learn about new apple cultivars? I want to plant some
apple trees, but since they would be in a backyard orchard there isn't any
need for them to be commercially viable, just whatever tastes good. I know
there are heirloom Apple orchards and festivals I can go to, but not sure
where to find info on more modern cultivars beyond the ones like SnapDragon
and Cosmic Crisp that have huge commercial releases.

It's a lot easier to learn about things like North American Pawpaws and
American persimmons, because there are only a couple people working on the
genetics for each and you don't have millions of dollars worth of SEO spam
preventing any useful information from surfacing.

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quercusa
I'd encourage you look at some of the heirloom varieties that you'll never
find in a grocery store. There are fantastic old apples that aren't a good fit
for commercial production but are awesome in the back yard (depending where
you live). Check out Esopus Spitzenberg or Cox's Orange Pippin.

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jdhn
Is there a preferred place to buy these heirloom varieties of apples?

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quercusa
I bought some years ago from Raintree Nursery[0] and was very happy with them.
Their selection seems smaller these days.

Trees of Antiquity[1] seems to have a huge variety but I have no experience
with them.

[0] [https://raintreenursery.com/collections/apple-
trees](https://raintreenursery.com/collections/apple-trees) [1]
[https://www.treesofantiquity.com/collections/apple-
trees](https://www.treesofantiquity.com/collections/apple-trees)

(Earlier typo: Spitzenburg, not -berg)

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anfilt
A wax apple... Not the most solid proof. That just proves it has the right
appearance. (although if there is a distinctive feature might be good enough)
Honestly, was expecting that they found either an old seed or dried sample to
compare genetics. Better than nothing though.

Honestly, surprised no has even a dried leaf.

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jerrysievert
I'd love for there to be an affordable way to test wild growing or even
"abandoned" apples to figure out their genetics. it you can do it easily with
cannabis, why not fruits and vegetables?

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MichaelZuo
A lot of naming is misleading, in this case “extinct” should probably have
been called “believed to be extinct”.

Of course proving something is extinct is quite difficult, perhaps infeasible
for the small organisms. So maybe also a “provisionally extinct” category?

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happytoexplain
There are definitely cases where that distinction is made due to reasonable
uncertainty, but there is no line. Proving it is more than difficult - it's
impossible.

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MichaelZuo
Well impossible means that it can never be done, which I wouldn’t put past the
capabilities of some far future civilization. There are a finite number of
ways something can be alive, at least in the current consensus.

‘infeasible’ is probably a better way to describe our present capabilities.

