Iowa State University will host an open house on September 13 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Horticulture Research Station, 55519 170th St., Ames, to present its apple research program and new crop.
The event will include orchard tours, opportunities for questions, and tastings of doughnuts and Iowa-grown cider. It will also highlight cultivars currently available in local orchards and heritage cultivars not yet released to the public.
Since 2021, fruit specialist Suzanne Slack, assistant professor of horticulture, has expanded apple production to 15 acres at the research station. The focus is on evaluating historical and new apple cultivars for adaptability to Midwestern conditions and market requirements.
Iowa was once a leading apple-producing state. Varieties such as Chieftain, developed by Spencer Ambrose Beach in the early 1900s, became widely grown. However, the Armistice Day freeze of 1940, along with later competition from other regions and the expansion of row crops, reduced apple cultivation in the state. Iowa State's original orchard was eventually removed after disease and storm damage. Germplasm from heirloom varieties was preserved through regrafting and transferred to the current research station, where more than 61 cultivars are maintained.
Slack's trials emphasize Midwestern varieties and measure productivity, pest and disease resistance, cold tolerance, and compatibility with trellis systems. "We are looking at everything from how they do on a trellis, do they taste good, and do they make good cider? There are winners and losers, as we expected," Slack said. She noted that old Iowa State cultivars Secor and Joan are performing well under trellising, while the original Red Delicious from Winterset is also being tested.
The trials are aligned with industry trends toward high-density plantings of 2,000–4,000 trees per acre on dwarf rootstocks, requiring trellis support. Slack explained that high-density systems are easier to harvest, reduce spraying, and provide faster returns on investment. "Some apple varieties can adapt readily to being on a trellis, like Honeycrisp, which prefers trellising," she said.
Growers in Iowa are also experimenting with trellising. Maury Wills of Wills Family Orchard noted its benefits for pest management and reduced ladder use. Benji Deal of Deal's Orchard emphasized the importance of research support on issues such as fire blight.
Funding for Iowa State's orchard research comes from the USDA's multi-state Hatch program "Improving Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Tree-fruit Production Through Changes in Rootstock Use" (NC140), seed funding from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a specialty crop block grant from the State of Iowa.
For more information:
Suzanne Slack
Iowa State University
Tel: +1 515 294 0035
Email: [email protected]
www.cals.iastate.edu