Bernard J. Thome Orchards

Key Personnel:

Bernard J. Thome owns the farm and operates it with his son Brian.

Location:

1660 8 Mile Rd.
Comstock Park, MI

Farm History:

Bernard operates this part of the Thome homestead that was begun in this part of
Michigan in 1846. The Thome family has a long tradition of growing quality apples
and Brian is the sixth generation of the Thome family to continue their reputation
for growing excellent fruit.

Varieties Grown:

Gala, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Red Delicious, Fuji, Jonagold, Jonathan, Golden
Delicious, Empire, Cortland, Rome and Ida Red.

Items of Interest:

Bernard has a sharp eye for what is going on in his orchard, which helped him discover a new strain of the traditional favorite, McIntosh. Bernard noticed that one of his “Mac” trees developed a much higher red color in the top half of the tree. He watched this tree for several years and started to have new trees grown from buds taken from the red part of this tree. He planted more of these trees and worked with several nurseries to increase production of this new strain of McIntosh. He named his new McIntosh Ruby Mac. It is now one of the most widely planted McIntosh strains in the United States.