Today in the orchard
Today I did a deep dive into another apple mystery we’ve been attempting to solve for the past decade - finding the true Brigg’s Auburn. 'Tis the season for attempting to sort out ID errors and mysteries. What we originally thought was “Briggs” turned out to be Northwestern Greening. But in his 2023 apple exploration adventures, Sean Turley found an old tree in Poland, ME with fruit that resembled Briggs. We DNA profiled it, and the results did not match anything in the reference panel. Hooray - maybe it’s Briggs. Sean returned this fall and obtained eight apples that he gave to me. This would be a major discovery if it is turns out to be Brigg’s Auburn.
I spent several hours examining the fruit and all my historical records. Everything matched. The location is right: Poland is only five miles from Minot where the apple was said to have originated. The tree is old, which it would have to be. And the relatively detailed historic description in Bradford’s 1911 Apple Varieties in Maine matches the Poland fruit. Next step is to meet with our Historic Fruit Tree Working Group and convince them. I think we may have found the true Brigg’s Auburn.