Apple varieties from the past get new life through grafting

Carlos Fette advertised Ben Davis apples in the Hannibal Evening Courier-Post, Oct. 21, 1911. The orchard was located next to the “new” Riverview Park on Palmyra Road. Today, Adam Hudson, descendant of Carlos Fette, is once again producing time-honored Fette Orchard varieties.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Adam Hudson, 49,  remembers, as a young man, hanging out with his grandfather, John Fette (1928-2014), and discussing the various varieties of apples grown on the family’s orchard, historically located on Palmyra Road.

There were regular Red Delicious, an old apple variety, and the Golden Delicious. There were Grimes Golden, another really old apple, and Jonathan, Jonalicious and Jonagold.

There was one variety in particular that John Fette wanted preserved: the “Willow tag.”

“That is one apple tree Grandpa made sure I got a cutting of. I wasn’t sure why, because it is a horrible apple. But my mom (Sue Fette Russell) makes the absolute best apple pie” out of those apples. “They hold their shape.”

After John Fette’s death, developers stepped in to subdivide the acreage - some lots featuring a river view. Preserved were a few acres fronting Palmyra Road, containing the family’s historic house, barn and salesroom. The small acreage was purchased and restored by Scott and Jean Meyer, who have transformed this property into their home as well as an event venue. (Scott Meyer died 2025.)

“Having them buy the home place was the best thing that could have happened,” Hudson said. “They have done such a beautiful job with that place. It’s just incredible.”

During the re-development process, Hudson foresaw the fate of the trees that had been so capably cared for by his grandfather, and he feared the worst: That those apple varieties would die off.

Hudson wanted to preserve those varieties, but didn’t know how. So he reached out to Stark Bro’s Nursery in Louisiana, where he learned the fine art of tree grafting.

What he discovered was that, “I enjoy grafting, seeing two different trees heal together and become one.”

Grafting begins by joining together a limb from an existing tree splice and joining it with a young rootstock.

“Basically you are taking a limb from that tree and a different root and splice them together. It will grow the limb you want it to.”

The process is efficient, yet time consuming.

When starting trees from cuttings, it takes about 10 years for the trees to start producing fruit, Hudson said, “basically you are starting with tiny tree saplings.”

More than a dozen years ago, Hudson and his wife, Donna, purchased 61 acres south of New London, where they make their home. About four acres are now in orchard.

He has 250 trees. “I kinda got carried away,” he said.

Last year was his first bumper crop of apples.

As a newcomer to apple production, he didn’t realize that he should have picked off about half of the early apples, in order to prevent the trees from stressing.

“This year, the trees are taking the year off and recuperating. Next year will be a very heavy year, but I will do a better job of thinning them out,” he said.

He had so many apples last year that he sold them at the local farmer’s markets.

“I’m not a huge crowd person,” Hudson said. “I like being out here in the middle of nowhere. But we had so much produce last year, we went to the farmer’s markets. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The word got around that (we were selling) Fette apples. People would say ‘we used to love go to the sales room, get cider,’ and they would tell me how much it meant to them.”

“I met some of the Sims family. (Sims Orchard.) Skipper Sims had the green house on Route O; his dad was a full farmer. We lived up on Route O when I was a kid. A lady I met was a Sims. I thought she was going to break down crying. She said she loved to go in where apples were stored, they give off a smell; the old Fette sales room still has that smell.”

In addition to selling apples, Nikki Barr and Trevor Schultz of Langhorne Meats and Provisions used the Fette apples to make sausage.

“I didn’t plan on having an orchard or selling produce,” Hudson said. He merely wanted to preserve his family’s legacy. He described the apple varieties as “family friends. They had been in the family forever.

“I was afraid the trees would all be dozed off into a ditch. So I started taking cuttings.”

“I’ve considered selling some of these trees and they will continue on long after I’m gone,” he said.

The Fette House, photo taken in the early 1900s. At the back of the house is a two-story servants’ quarters, with the kitchen on the first floor. During the restoration of this house, Scott and Jean Meyer re-established the kitchen in this el. Photo shared by Jean Meyer.