Lubera apple varieties

[maverick451]

Just wondered if anyone else is growing apple varieties from the swiss company Lubera? how did they find them?

I ordered lilly last year which looks very healthy and just ordered Julka last week

Was thinking of ordering of ordering a few more but was looking for reviews

[Mrs Bee]

Personally I wouldn't touch this company with a barge pole.

I bought an orange currant bush from them several years ago and have never had a single currant.

After contacting them they told me that I needed one of their other currant bushes to pollinate.

A great pity they didn't tell me that at the time especially as I spent a lot of money on their stall!

[Guest]

not much help with apples but Lubera came up with aprimira which is made out to be an apricot - Mirabelle but it is actually just a nice yellow plum. With Mrs Bees issues I would be wary of other things.

[chrisdb]

The thing is that most new varieties are mediocre, regardless of who develops them. If you go for a variety that's sold by many suppliers or has a long history then it's been prefiltered by a lot of other people and been judged to be good.

If you buy a new variety from the people who bred it then they have an incentive to say it's the best thing since sliced bread even if it's actually just ok. What else are they going to do, hold their hands up and say 'sorry, it turns out we couldn't breed better a better apple afterall'?

I'm sure that something good has come out of Lubera's breeding programs. But do you really want to pay a premium to learn which is which the hard way?

[flynch]

I have red love era and red love Serena. Both very healthy trees and good scab resistance but not completely immune my old pearmain does better than them in This regard. The fruit is good but not exceptional, I prefer pitmaston pineapple. Very deep red flesh so a good novelty tree. Biggest problem is no Choice of root stock and all grafted onto m9 (at least when I ordered). I'm absolutely in love with their eternal love strawberries.

[Jungle Jane]

Personally I wouldn't touch this company with a barge pole.

I bought an orange currant bush from them several years ago and have never had a single currant.

After contacting them they told me that I needed one of their other currant bushes to pollinate.

A great pity they didn't tell me that at the time especially as I spent a lot of money on their stall!

They might have thought you already had one. I bought a pear tree from an excellent nursery,they didn't say it needed a pollinating partner,I don't think they have to,I felt like I should've known what I was buying & nothing negative about the retailer in my experience.

[Mrs Bee]

The currant bush was a new breed and there was no information anywhere about pollination so I didn't think I should have known whether or not it needed a pollinator.

I have been in touch with the company and had very poor information and customer service from them.

Finally I got an apology for the unhelpfulness of their replies and told that I needed to get one of their other plants to pollinate.

They told me that they had thought the bush was self pollinating, but now realised that they only got fruit from the bushes because in the trial field they were next to other currants of the same family.
So basically they got it wrong and their breeding program for new plants was flawed.

At the event I bought the plant the company was marketing the currant bush as a new plant bred by them producing currants with a mango flavour.

It serves me right for falling for the 'new breed, new plant' advertisements which usually result in a fruit of veg that is not as good as the older tried and tested ones. And usually mean that I never grow them again or dig it up and get rid because they are not good.

[Jungle Jane]

Sorry to hear about that but good to know what could happen,I can't find any customer reviews for the company to see how they're rated which seems a bit odd? I wasn't looking for long though. Trying a new breed would be nice but if it ever says it's self pollinating don't believe it

[Mrs Bee]

I am obviously too trusting. LOL

[WalterWhite]

Lubera,probably for a fee, rename developed varieties to give the impression they are unique. I know a variety of berry that is grown wild in Scandinavia and a cross-bred cultivar produced by a company in Finland who sell wholesale to the likes of Lubera. Lubera gave it a unique name and sell it as a new variety/novelty cultivar. Do they think gardeners are that gullible?

[Hillwalker]

I've bought quite a few fruit plants from Lubera over the years and have been highly impressed with the size and health of their plants. I've only had a couple of issues, which were quickly and courteously resolved.

I find them a very honest company, who, if anything undersell themselves.

As to them selling lesser/unknown varieties under their own chosen name, that's very common, not only in gardening, but in commerce generally. Having said that, I am not aware of Lubera doing this. Perhaps WalterWhite can provide more details....? Lubera either sell: their own bred plants; others that have been sourced elsewhere (which they clearly state) and are exclusively sold by them; plants of good reputation, that are also sold elsewhere.

Virtually all their apple trees are grown on M9 rootstocks. I appreciate the reasons they chose to do so, one being to have easily manageable sized trees, which suits me as I'm able to grow more varieties. I currently have 6 of their trees, along with three traditional ones (which I regularly have to prune to contain their size).

The only criticism I have is that, sometimes I wish there was more information regarding their plants on their English website. Their German one is better for this and for plant reviews - with the aid of Google Translate. I find their YouTube videos informative and entertaining, and am very pleased that they've started a weekly live broadcast on Facebook. If anyone's interested, the next one is on tonight at 6pm.