Annual Meeting Speakers

Speakers for 2005 Festival of Fruit

Speaker	Title	Summary
Tom Addison	White Sapote-- A Fabulous Fruit for your Garden	Join CRFG White Sapote specialist Tom Addison as we go on a 'sapote safari'. Botanical information, cultivation, and varieties of this rewarding fruit will all be discussed
Tom Burford	Pips & Spitzs (or Apples of the Past)	What are these apples, where did they come from and why do many of them taste so awful? The history, regionalism and popularity of so-called heirloom, antique, uncommon, vintage or old-fashion apple varieties are examined historically and sometimes irreverently. A brief history of the apple in America underlines Burford's presentation.
Tom Burford	Limited Space Orchards	Dwarf rootstock orchard designs, espalier, and containerized gardening will be discussed. Reference materials will be available.
Chef Joseph	The Apple of His Eye: From Apples to Love Apples and Back Again	Joseph Schultz has been a chutney on the Santa Cruz culinary landscape since he opened India Joze in 1972. His eccentric, practical, high-intensity approach to cooking draws upon and transforms diverse food practices through the long history of food. He currently teaches at Cabrillo College and UCSC when not performing at extraordinary culinary events.
Nancy Garrison	Che, mulberries, raspberries	Nancy Garrison will make a PowerPoint presentation on her research on blueberries and raspberries, and will discuss the growing of melon berry, mulberries and currants in San Jose , California . She is retired from the UC Cooperative Extension where she served as farm advisor, urban horticulturist and Master Gardener program coordinator since 1980. She also directed the Master Gardener research trials for fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Jules Janick	Cupid and Psyche: Festoons and Fables	The stunning frescoes of the master Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) illustrating the heavenly adventures of Cupid and Psyche were painted to decorate the Roman Villa of the wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi from 1515 to 1517. Surrounding these panels are festoons of fruit, flowers, and vegetables painted by Giovanni Martini da Udine (1487-1564). The fabulous festoon paintings consist of almost 2000 images of fruits, flowers and vegetables and almost 200 species including apple, pear, quince, medlar, citrus, pomegranate and figs. Most important for the history of horticulture and agriculture is that the festoons contain the first images of maize, squash, and beans from the New World barely a quarter century after Columbus’ encounter with the Americas. A deconstruction and collation of the images in the festoon makes it possible to analyze the genetic diversity of horticulture 500 years ago.
David Karp	Greengage Plums	David Karp will discuss and show slides from his visit to the Midiregion of Southern France, where he intensively researched with growers, shippers and scientists the most delicious of all temperate fruits, the greengage plum. He will relate up-to-date French knowledge of pollinizer varieties, a key to good cropping. David writes about and photographs fruit for The New York Times and Gourmet magazine.
Doron Kletter	Citrus	Doron Kletter is the propagation chairperson for the Santa Clara Chapter of CRFG and is very knowledgeable about new (and newly introduced) varieties of citrus, especially those for the San Francisco Bay Area and along the coast. Doron is an engineer with Xerox and holds several patents, unfortunately none for citrus
Dr. Craig Ledbetter	Apricot variety development with ARS in the San Joaquin Valley : Past, Present and Future	Dr. Craig Ledbetter of the Agricultural Research Service will be giving a talk about apricot variety development in California . Craig is a research geneticist at the ARS facility in Parlier, CA, and has been breeding apricots there for the past 14 years.
Jim Maley	"Some like it hot, some do not"	Jim Maley will present 9 years of chile pepper research results for sweet to hot varieties, as well as the background of Capiscum and interesting pods types. The Power Point show includes methods of growing peppers and using them in savory dishes. Actual pods and plants will available.
Andy Mariani	Apricot Culture	Andy Mariani will discuss apricot varieties, growth factors and cultural practices. Andy sells an unusually varied selection of stone fruit, including many flavorful heritage varieties not available elsewhere. Andy’s well known orchard produces artisan fruit—tree-ripened fruit—grown, harvested, and packaged with special care to produce exceptional quality. Fruit tastings are open to the public several times a year. Andy has been an active supporter of CRFG for many years
Roger Meyer	Kiwis	This well-known expert on tropical and subtropical fruit will discus his experiences here and in other counties. Roger and his wife Shirley has been a strong supporter of CRFG for many years. Their commercial groves and nursery are popular with the public, CRFG and NAFEX folks looking for that perfect tree ripened fruit or unusual plant.
Joseph Postman	Shipova and other intergeneric hybrids	Joseph Postman is the curator for pears and minor pome fruits at the USDA-ARS Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis , Oregon . Within the pome fruits are a number of what might be considered deviant hybrids between different genera. Joseph will discuss the history and characteristics of some of these odd hybrids between pear and mountain ash (Pyrus x Sorbus), pear and quince (Pyrus x Cydonia) and assorted other promiscuous relationships between Sorbus, Mespilus, Amelanchier, Crataegus, Malus and Aronia. If we're lucky, he may have fruit available for tasting.
Dr Bob Raabe	My Fruit Tree Has WHAT!!	Dr Raabe, well know expert and a favorite speaker on plant diseases will discuss what strikes fruit trees, how to recognize various diseases and what if anything can be done to slow or cure the problem. His monthly public plant clinics at University of California Botanical Gardens at Berkeley are famous for the quality of detective work and his narration of the process of diagnosis .
Jim Rider	Growing Apples Where the Winters are Warm and the Summers are Cool	Jim will cover new varieties, old varieties, production, pest control, pruning, planting systems. He has been an active supporter of CRFG activities for many years.
Todd Rosenstock	Reconstructing Afghanistan grape orchards	Todd Rosenstock, UC Pomology with talk of the problems and successes of reconstructing vineyards in a war-torn land..
Joe Sabol	"Apple Grafting 101"	Joe Sabol will demonstrate the basic cleft graft as modified for teaching hundreds of high school students to graft apple trees. Safety and proper care of the knife will be stressed. "After care" of the grafted tree will be covered as well as sources of rootstock and other grafting supplies.
Patrick Schafer	The Uncommon Exotic Fruit, Loquats.	Loquats can be grown in virtual all California garden , but seldom are. The quality of the fruit , its ease to produce on a handsome tree , Begs for an answer , WHY not . Capitalism? Patrick Schafer grows many named varieties and selected seedlings of loquats in a colder climate than most in CRFG. He is an expert on other fruits including unusual figs.
Dennis Sharmahd	Butia Palm (Jelly Palm)	Dennis Sharmahd successfully selected several varieties of this palm. He will discuss growing Jelly Palms and may have some ripe fruit as well as a number of seedlings.
Tom Spellman & Ed Laivo	Tantalizing Tasty Tidbits and the Future of Stone Fruit	A Power Point presentation from the Dave Wilson Nursery—the Tom and Ed Show.
Dr. Maxine Thompson	Haskap (Japanese blue honeysuckle): a potential new berry crop.	Haskap, an edible-fruited blue honeysuckle species was introduced into Oregon in 2000 for trial as a potential new berry crop. Since then, several thousand seedlings have been evaluated and a breeding program was initiated in 2003 to develop superior cultivars.
Rick Walker	Plant Tissue Culture in the Kitchen Lab	Rick Walker says that tissue culturing (TC) is a modern way of propagating plants by growing them in sterile media. TC is often considered a high-tech lab procedure. However, it can be easily done at home. He will present the basics of Tissue Culture, describing a simple home setup.
Duane Wieden	Persimmons	Duane Wieden , a current expert on oriental persimmons, has surveyed Wolfskill’s Experimental Farm’s collection and is in the process of writing a book on the subject. He lives in Round Mountain CA on 10 acres with a goal of self sufficiency. In his collection of 185 fruit and nut trees, persimmons, apricots and figs are his current favorites.
Sam Benowitz	Disease Resistant Apple Cultivars from Around the World and How NAFEX Members Can Assist Beleaguered Fruit Research Programs	Discussion, with audience input, of new and existing cultivars and even apples not bred for disease resistance that have proven to be disease resistant. Also, the financial and other problems researchers and institutions are having, why they are having those problems, how this affects NAFEX members, and how we can help these researchers.