The Fall Fruit Show is a good place to find another variety you'd like just as well, if not better. With the thousands of apples that exist, there's bound to be a great one you just haven't tried.

I'm afraid you won't be able to buy a scion or a tree, no matter what you pay.

Do not confuse a patent with a license; a patent is good for 20 years, but the license is whatever the breeder and grower negotiate. The U of M has chosen one grower to license the variety to, who will control who gets trees and how many; distributing scions is strictly prohibited outside the grower group.

I can understand the reason for it; they want to protect the brand and keep customers from having a bad apple experience with SweeTango. Here in Southern California the first Honeycrisp apples to hit the shelves only about 5 years ago were sweet and good (and fetched a premium price); those were the last good ones I ever bought at the store. The following years they were picked way too green and sour and the price and popularity dropped dramatically. It's ironic that I now grow better Honeycrisp apples in my yard in our 109 degree heat than I can get from the supermarket.

They're trying not to repeat that with SweeTango; what usually happens is someone raids an orchard to get a cutting and they float around getting bootlegged, and then when the patent runs out there's nothing from keeping folks from propagating that. But do not expect to see them in the nursery for years.

Applenut

It is my understanding that, as a Minnesota resident, my tax dollars have been used to develop this variety which I now cannot obtain for my own use since its distribution is being restricted to growers willing to sign an onerous license agreement.

I understand their marketing goals but don't share them. Premium branding has been tried before and it doesn't work for the industry, it just creates winners and losers.