Fruit and nut is undertaking trials of a number of apple cultivars and rootstocks in order to determine suitability for Irish conditions. The cultivars being trialled include varieties from Ireland, England, Scotland and France.

It should be noted that with the exception of crab apples, no apples varieties are indigenous to Western Europe, having been bred by growers from apples whose ancestors came from Central and/or Western Asia. Thus an Irish cultivar has no special genetic adaptability to Irish conditions, unless these characteristics were specifically selected by the grower/breeder. Many named Irish cultivars are random discoveries. Although of considerable heritage interest, a high proportion have limited potential from a culinary, commerical or food-security perspective.

Generally speaking our research is concentrating on cultivars with proven commericial viability in the past (before the era of modern agro-chemicals and fertilisers).

One particular area of interest is in the use of dwarfing and semi-dwarfing interstocks with the water-tolerant but vigorous rootstock M111. This combination enables small trees to be grown on ground otherwise too wet for this purpose.