How Heirloom Apple Hunters Are Saving Lost Varieties

Todd Little-Siebold leads field-based apple-hunting courses in Maine, combining agricultural history with genetic sampling to rescue rare heritage cultivars like the Drap d’Or de Bretagne from near-extinction.

Decoding the Orchard Genome Before It Vanishes

According to historical data from a 1905 U.S. Department of Agriculture catalog, approximately 14,000 distinct apple varieties flourished between 1804 and 1904. Most of these cultivars thrived in small-scale regional plots on land deemed too marginal for standard row crops.

This reality drives Todd Little-Siebold’s field expeditions across the rocky coastlines and historic townships of Maine. Describing his own methodology with characteristic candor, Little-Siebold notes, My problem is I have AADHD—Apple Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I’m like, ‘Apple! There’s an apple! Let’s go get the apple!’ It’s addictive. It’s like a treasure hunt every day.

Field Diagnostics Meet Molecular Genetics

During an October investigation in an 18th-century village along Maine’s Blue Hill Peninsula, Little-Siebold navigated dense backyards, livestock enclosures, and historical industrial ruins to inspect an unusually crooked specimen. Historical context often dictates the origin of these trees; sites that once operated as 19th-century brickyards and ports frequently transitioned into family farms by 1920.

When evaluating a candidate tree—such as the locally named “Bayview apple” found growing near a muddy beach in Penobscot—researchers look for specific structural markers. Scrambling beneath low-hanging branches, investigators search for the telltale graft scar indicating intentional arboriculture versus wild propagation from discarded fruit cores. Once a promising specimen is authenticated through physical inspection of the fruit’s texture, symmetry, and flavor profile, the team executes a precise extraction protocol. Little-Siebold clips leaf buds from both the northern and southern exposures of the canopy, sealing them in test tubes for transit to apple geneticists at Washington State University.

The 30-Second Verdict: Why Agricultural Biodiversity Matters

• The Scale of Loss: Roughly 14,000 distinct apple varieties documented a century ago have been largely displaced by uniform commercial cultivars like the Red Delicious.
• The Diagnostic Protocol: Field teams combine historical land-use analysis with physical fruit evaluation and DNA sampling to identify rare phenotypes.
• The Institutional Pipeline: Leaf samples are shipped directly to genetic laboratories at Washington State University to map and preserve surviving heirloom genotypes.

As these field methods are integrated into active curricula, student researchers learn to read landscape transformations through the lens of botany.

Photo: newengland.com