Identification of Historic Homestead and Orchard Apple Cultivars in Wyoming

Thousands of apple trees were planted in Wyoming’s orchards and homesteads in the 1800s, many of which are still alive today. Unfortunately, cultivar identity of these trees has mostly been lost or obscured. The purpose of this research was to identify heritage apple cultivars in Wyoming using genetic fingerprinting (microsatellite) techniques and to use this information to make recommendations on candidate cold-hardy cultivars for specialty crop and breeding programs. Leaf samples were collected from 510 heritage apple trees from 91 sites in 19 locales across Wyoming. Known cultivars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)–National Plant Germplasm System, Seed Savers Exchange, and Washington State University apple collections were used as standards to determine cultivar identities. Overall, 328 (64%) of the previously unidentified apples trees were identified to 47 known cultivars. Fifteen of these known cultivars comprised more than 80% of the samples that were identified, with all 15 of those cultivars developed in states and countries with average temperatures or winter conditions similar to Wyoming. Seventy-one of the heritage trees were identified as the Wealthy cultivar. Other commonly identified cultivars were Haralson, Patten’s Greening, Yellow Transparent, Northwestern Greening, and McMahon. It is likely that a combination of popularity and cultivar origin affected the choice of cultivars that were grown in Wyoming. Although most original Wyoming heritage apple trees are reaching the end of their life span, many surviving trees continue to produce fruit. This strongly suggests that despite lower resistance to certain pathogens than many modern cultivars, these heritage trees should be considered for use today. The results provide insights into possible cultivars that could be grown in Wyoming and also in other states with similar harsh growing conditions.