Why do they call me 'Mr Liberty?'*

* Subtitle: "Everything you always wanted to know about 'Liberty' but were afraid to ask."

While a field research technician and member of the University of Vermont Apple Team from 1989 -- 1998, I was involved in a multidisciplinary, USDA SARE funded research and extension project evaluating the potential of scab-resistant apple cultivars for commercial production. From the beginning, we had a keen interest in 'Liberty', a multiple disease-resistant apple cultivar introduced in 1978 by the New York State Agriculture Experiment Station at Geneva. In fact, 'Liberty' appeared to perform particularly well in the Champlain Valley of Vermont -- in most years, high quality fruit could be produced with absolutely no fungicide sprays. Liberty is 100% resistant to apple scab, the primary disease problem of susceptible varieties such as 'McIntosh.' And although 'Liberty' is subject to summer disease problems, such as sooty-blotch and flyspeck, these are generally not a problem in the cool-summer growing climate of northern New England.

So, we focused considerable applied research effort on 'Liberty' -- including fruit quality at harvest and during storage; fruit thinning; tree training and pruning; production efficiency; harvest windows; susceptibility to other diseases; and marketability. The longer I worked with 'Liberty' in the field and laboratory, the more I liked it, and I wrote several articles expounding upon its' various virtues. Soon, a friend and colleague of mine, Win Cowgill coined the name 'Mr Liberty,' which has since stuck with me. Now, colleagues, growers, and friends all think of me -- for better or worse! -- as 'Mr Liberty.'

But what does 'Mr Liberty' really think about 'Liberty?' Well, like every apple cultivar, it has good and bad characteristics. Among its attributes are:

• precocity -- 'Liberty' will begin fruit production at an early age, often in it's second or third leaf of planting
• annual bearing -- it's hard to slow 'Liberty' down once it starts fruiting; in fact it's one of the most dependable bearer of consistent, annual crops I have ever seen
• productivity -- 'Liberty' sets heavy fruit crops; clusters of three to four fruit on spurs 3-6" apart are commonplace throughout the tree
• training and pruning --' Liberty' is 'grower friendly' in terms of training and pruning. It is easy to develop a well-structured, sturdy tree (although I recommend staking for M.7 size and smaller trees)
• winter hardiness -- I have seen 'Liberty' survive through some very cold winters in Vermont (-30F.) and Minnesota, which is actually much colder than Vermont! Clearly, 'Liberty' will survive all but the coldest winters in the coldest apple growing regions
• fruit quality -- 'Liberty' is a very tasty apple when -- pay attention here! -- picked fully ripe. It has a flavor reminiscent of freshly-sqeezed apple cider, and is hard to put down when you start eating one. I sometimes refer to it as the 'cider apple.' I suspect it has inherited some of it's great flavor and crunch from 'Macoun,' which if you are not familiar, has developed a 'cult-like' following in some areas of New England. 'Liberty' also makes excellent fresh and hard cider.

On the other hand, what about the not-so-good characteristics of 'Liberty' we identified? Unfortunately, there are more than just a few:

• potential for 'runting-out' -- because 'Liberty' bears early and heavily, trees can easily 'runt-out' early, thereby reducing final tree size and overall productivity. 'Liberty' needs to be lightly to moderately cropped (at the most) during the establishment years.
• fruit thinning and sizing -- is tricky. Fruit clusters need to be thinned to one fruit per spur (tops) to get decent fruit size, which has a tendency to be on the small size to begin with. Although semi-spur in fruiting habit, 'Liberty' has plenty of spurs that like to set clusters of three to four fruit. Adequate chemical or hand thinning is essential to get decent fruit size and quality!
• narrow harvest window -- 'Liberty' has a very short harvest period wherein fruit quality is acceptable -- I'd estimate it to be less than a week, centering around October 1 in most years in northern Vermont. Pick too early, and you're eating a 'green' apple (yuck!). Wait too long, and it rapidly becomes soft and off-flavored (double yuck!). Win Cowgill has experimented with ReTain in New Jersey as an attempt to prolong the harvest widow and improve fruit quality of 'Liberty.'
• susceptibility to summer diseases -- in the Hudson Valley of New York, David Rosenberger showed that unsprayed 'Liberty' are susceptible to flyspeck and sooty-blotch, resulting in a large percentage of the fruit being unmarketable. Farther north, I've seen where frog-eye leaf spot (from the black rot fungus) and burned-out rust lesions cover a significant portion of the leaf surface on no-fungicide sprayed trees. What impact this may have on the long-term productivity and vigor of an unsprayed 'Liberty' orchard is up to debate. My gut feeling is that it is going to be difficult to produce high quality fruit every year on 'Liberty' without at least a minimal fungicide program to minimize these diseases.
• plum curculio magnet -- although mostly anecdotal in terms of evidence, it appears 'Liberty' fruitlets are particularly attractive to plum curculio, and unless well protected during the PC immigration period, significant injury will result
• consumer acceptance -- although we did several taste and marketing trials with 'Liberty,' and the results were generally positive, it's still questionable whether consumers would choose 'Liberty' over a more well know variety such as 'McIntosh,' 'Cortland,' or 'Empire' --all fruit that is harvested within two to three weeks of each other. Sure, when presented with just 'Liberty,' the average consumer would say they like it, but will they really purchase a relative unknown given more familiar choices?
• storability -- 'Liberty' does not store particularly well. In refrigerated storage, I would give it no more than 4-6 weeks before the skin becomes greasy and the flesh becomes mealy. Expect somewhat longer life in CA, however, the limited research into CA storage of 'Liberty' that has been done by Autio and Costante showed that 'Liberty' readily developed browncore upon extended storage.

Who then, given it's pluses and minuses, who should consider planting 'Liberty?' No doubt, it is an attractive, tasty apple when picked ripe -- roadside stands with an upscale clientele will sell them. At the University of Vermont Horticultural Research Center in Burlington, VT, we developed a limited but healthy demand for 'Liberty,' largely amongst well-educated University personnel. 'Liberty' is also probably best adapted to northern growing areas (New Jersey northward) as reports of insufficient color development and overall poor fruit flavor have been reported from more southern growing areas (Although George Green in Pennsylvania was once quoted as saying he actually had a 'Liberty' that was "not too bad!") In addition, the farther south you go, the more likely you are to have problems with summer diseases. And finally, 'Liberty' is particularly well suited to backyard and/or hobby orcharding, wherein the advantages of a minimal spray program are always appreciated. Of course the commercial orchardist who wishes to reduce their reliance on chemical sprays is advised to plant 'Liberty' too if they can develop a market for the fruit.

I guess that is all I know about 'Liberty' -- which may just be about all that is worth knowing too! But, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me, 'Mr Liberty!'

Update, August 2015: My friend Kevin Hauser of Kuffel Creek Nursery in Riverside, CA has told me that Liberty does great in the heat and low chilling hours of southern California.