Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Bur - Did you ever pick out any of the strongest seedlings from the cider pulp and plant them ?? If so - how did they turn out ??
Growing Apples From Seed
- Thread starter S.T.Fanatic
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
I did not notice any sprouts last year.
Slim chance that if I see a red seedling I may try and save it. Lots of poison ivy close to where the waste is dumped.
I once dug some balsam for that I didn’t know were growing in poison ivy.
Poison ivy roots create a terrible burn!
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I stay clear of poison ivy too. I don't blame you for avoiding that area.
Years ago, our camp got cider pulp from local orchards. There were seeds that sprouted in those piles, but none of us knew anything about trying to plant them and raise them. I wonder now how many good trees we COULD have had. Even if they turned out to be crab trees, they would have been a plus. That was back 25 years ago.
Years ago, our camp got cider pulp from local orchards. There were seeds that sprouted in those piles, but none of us knew anything about trying to plant them and raise them. I wonder now how many good trees we COULD have had. Even if they turned out to be crab trees, they would have been a plus. That was back 25 years ago.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Bur - What's the significance of a red one ?? Red leaves or stem color ??
sandbur
5 year old buck +
My red fleshed apples and red splendor flowering crab tend to have red or bronze leaves.
Some dark red apples also might have that tendency.
I guess I am just hoping for a hardy, great tasting red flesh as they are so different.
If we don’t get another frost, I should have three red fleshed apples blooming and bearing this year.
Somewhere there is a link that indicates red fleshed apples tend to be higher in antioxidants.
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I didn't know about the antioxidants in red-fleshed apples. I think the real reason you like red-fleshed apples and crabs is for the color in your cider. You aren't kidding us !!! 
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
I didn't know about the antioxidants in red-fleshed apples. I think the real reason you like red-fleshed apples and crabs is for the color in your cider. You aren't kidding us !!!
You are smarter than I figgered!
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
Dolgo applesauce. There is one package left in the freezer.
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I'm always looking for a less expensive alternative, often due to necessity more so than choice, so seedlings are right up my alley. This spring, rather than shelling out $4 for rootstocks, I ordered 125 seedling apples from the Columbia County conservation sale, at $1 a piece. While waiting for the order I spent the entire time sweating about what size caliper they would be. And they were indeed small, most smaller than my scions from Grin. So I chose the largest of them, and grafted about 95, while planting the remaining 30 in my nursery for possible rootstock use in the future.
It's now 3 weeks after grafting and they're looking ready to plant.
About 1/4 of the seedlings in the nursery are sporting red leaves.
It's now 3 weeks after grafting and they're looking ready to plant.
About 1/4 of the seedlings in the nursery are sporting red leaves.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
How many varieties did you graft? You have been busy.
I grafted about ten new (to me) varieties this spring.
It would be interesting to let a few of those red leafed varieties fruit. If they are only flowering crabs, they still might be good pollinators.
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After spending six hours walking orchards today, checking for problems and recording blossom progress, I can definitively say that the trees that I checked that were grown from Dolgo crabapple seeds each have their own flowering time. I saw some of those trees at first pink, others at full pink, others at first bloom, others at full bloom, and some others that were loaded last year that may be simply resting up this year.
I grafted 35 different varieties this year. Assuming they all take I believe that will give me a total of 62 varieties, making a total of 85 apple trees in the orchard area. I definitely plan to let some of those seedlings go for awhile. I'll probably have more space opening up as it doesn't look like I'm going to win the battle to keep Chestnut trees alive longterm.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
Your set up sounds similar to mine. This spring I counted 92 trees that I mow around and about 50 varieties. I think that was before I added 14 bench grafts and a Franklin.
There are some seedlings and some rootstocks growing out there as well as named varieties.
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Bur - I didn't realize you had so many fruit trees !! I thought our camp's 75 or so was bad. At 92 trees, you have us beat, and we don't have 50 varieties either. We only have 35.
I don't think I've ever seen the picture angles of your place that show all the older, mature trees like the first pic above. Nice orchard.
I don't think I've ever seen the picture angles of your place that show all the older, mature trees like the first pic above. Nice orchard.
I have quite a few volunteers coming up this spring in one grove of apple trees. They are mostly under trees that held onto some apples into February. In early February, I limbed pines around the margin of the grove and stacked the limbs about 6-12" high under all the apple trees, to help hold the moisture in the ground beneath the trees during summertime. I think the apples fell down into the brush piles and never got eaten by the deer.
Germination conditions:
- Soil type: coarse sand (all topsoil eroded away long ago)
- Natural pH throughout the exposed subsoil layer: 5.8
- Organic matter percent: 0.8
- Phosphorous & potassium: broadcasted on the surface when the frost went out per soil test recommendation for apple trees (about the same as for clover establishment, including 30 pounds per acre of nitrogen)
- Mostly lichen or sparse big bluestem are the existing vegetation where the volunteers are coming up
- No rabbits in that vicinity
- Voles present, but rare in that vicinity
Germination conditions:
- Soil type: coarse sand (all topsoil eroded away long ago)
- Natural pH throughout the exposed subsoil layer: 5.8
- Organic matter percent: 0.8
- Phosphorous & potassium: broadcasted on the surface when the frost went out per soil test recommendation for apple trees (about the same as for clover establishment, including 30 pounds per acre of nitrogen)
- Mostly lichen or sparse big bluestem are the existing vegetation where the volunteers are coming up
- No rabbits in that vicinity
- Voles present, but rare in that vicinity
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
sandbur
5 year old buck +
These are the trees I mow around and take somewhat better care of. I have three other areas of apples on the farm , one of which is a single to triple row of trees almost 1/4 mile long.
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