24 Washington growers win lottery for new apple
YAKIMA, Wash. — Twenty-four Washington orchards have been selected to be the first to grow the new Cosmic Crisp apple developed at Washington State University.
They were named Tuesday after a drawing from among 445 orchards that wanted to try the new variety.
The Cosmic Crisp was bred to have juicy flavor of a Honeycrisp and the disease resistance of the Enterprise apple.
One of the growers will be Gary Cox, owner of Cox Canyon Vineyards in the Yakima River Canyon. He told the Yakima Herald-Republic he plans to make Cosmic Crisp Cider.
WSU-affiliated nurseries plan to have 300,000 trees available to growers in the spring of 2017. Consumers might see their first Cosmic Crisp apples in 2019.
