Cosmic Crisp Growing Rules

At the recent cosmic crisp field day, current and potential growers heard about the rules and restrictions on growing the new variety.

Kevin Brandt with Proprietary Variety Management, or PVM, said right now, only Washington State growers are able to buy the variety.

“Fruit growers may not top work, or propagate their own trees until 2018 and then only after complying with the following conditions. Propagation material may not be taken from orchard or newly purchased or planted nursery rootstock. The reason for that is to help provide trueness to type, also help eliminate virus spreading throughout the state.”

There are also $1 royalties per tree payable upon purchased and less than five percent production royalty and producers can sell their fruit anywhere as long as they have a grower agreement.

Brandt said they have more than 600,000 trees in the ground this year, but they are reluctant to commit to selling any fruit next year.

“They don’t want to put a bad taste in the customer’s mouth, they don’t want to put an immature piece of fruit out there that doesn’t have the true characteristics of WA-38. They, I believe wisely, have decided they want to get mature trees, true to type fruit and take that out to market.”

More information can be at the Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute website, nniifruittrees.org.

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