Direct seeding apples experiment
- Thread starter sandbur
- Start date
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I also planted a few in the garden where I can better control weed competition. Twenty five plus years ago I started some in the garden without caging, and the mice cleaned up many of the seeds and then the seedlings. I did get a few trees from back then.
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Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Good luck with your little experiment. Never know what you are going to get when you plant a seed and you have ended up with some good ones.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
^^^^ I always wonder about how remote, out-of-the-way apple trees got there. Birds or animals as the source ......... or long ago homesteaders, or Native Americans possibly ??
Nice experiment, Art. You seem to have grown seedling winners before, so good luck on the new ones !!
Nice experiment, Art. You seem to have grown seedling winners before, so good luck on the new ones !!
That will work! I've buried Roottrapper (size 18) in the fall with seeds sown. Your protection looks great! Once germinated I picked them all except the strongest and put all the cups into the stand so as to air-prune. Eventually transplant into inground bags. Grow seedlings 1 season and graft variety the next year....works good.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Definitely something I'm going to try with the few dolgo's that produced this yr. Thanks for the thread Sandbur.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
My old way was to bury pots with seeds in the garden, fence and cover them. Then brings the pots in house and get an early start on growth in the northland transfer to rootrappers for one year. I am getting lazy and tried an easier method. I did have just a few survive from direct seeding in the garden .
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I did the same thing except instead of direct seeding, I started mine under lights last winter in rootmakers. I was able to successfully graft a few this summer. On some that did not take, I tried both chip budding and t-budding. We will see next spring if any of those take. I also have a bunch that I did nothing to. Those will get planted as is in the field. When they are large enough, I'll try grafting them again high while saving a few branches from the original tree. I'm trying to get the best of both worlds. Above the graft I hope to get a good known producing tree. Below the graft will be a surprise. If I get something good, it will produce scions for grafting other trees. If not, I'll just remove those limbs and still have a producing tree.
Good luck with the direct seeding approach! Looking forward to seeing the results.
Thanks,
jack
Good luck with the direct seeding approach! Looking forward to seeing the results.
Thanks,
jack
sandbur
5 year old buck +
This is one of a row of dolgo seedlings purchased from the SWCD. It is still holding fruit and the apple is very tasty. I need to find a way to shred these for cider.
By the way, grafted dolgo drops within a few days right around Labor Day in my climates.
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
^^^^^ From the looks of it, that's the fenced-in thicket you've been growing for a few years ?? Those are some great-looking apples/crabs, Art !! I see some birch or aspens and some spruce in the top pic of post #12. That looks like it would be a deer magnet with the crabs & apples, fence or not. Nice cover around there.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I have three of those fenced in thickets and that is one of them. I planted those spruce behind there (north side) probably too close to the thicket. Nearly every tree in those thickets have different apple sizes and even colors. In most cases, all of the seed came from the same collection.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Spruce on the north side ...... good windbreak for cold weather.
I hatched some seedlings a few years back and put them in pots to get a good start. I took them to camp and planted them the same way I plant all the other apples and crabs. They were about 3 ft. tall when planted. They never amounted to anything. They seemed to stunt and not grow at all. I yanked them out & planted other grafted trees in their place, which have thrived. I was anxious to see what I'd get from seedlings ( like Sandbur gets ) - and they just didn't pan out. They got the same exact treatment as all the other trees, but no cigar.
Any secrets, Art ???
I hatched some seedlings a few years back and put them in pots to get a good start. I took them to camp and planted them the same way I plant all the other apples and crabs. They were about 3 ft. tall when planted. They never amounted to anything. They seemed to stunt and not grow at all. I yanked them out & planted other grafted trees in their place, which have thrived. I was anxious to see what I'd get from seedlings ( like Sandbur gets ) - and they just didn't pan out. They got the same exact treatment as all the other trees, but no cigar.
Any secrets, Art ???
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
^^^^ They weren't root bound and all precautions were taken when planted. I guess they weren't genetically strong. They've been replaced with grafted trees and they're growing well.
I still think young ......... but my back says it isn't so, Art !! I think I have creaky-rusty-osis in my back. Maybe some WD-cider will fix it ??
I still think young ......... but my back says it isn't so, Art !! I think I have creaky-rusty-osis in my back. Maybe some WD-cider will fix it ??
Mahindra3016
5 year old buck +
I have had very good luck starting seedlings in late winter in cowpots, then planting the pot and all in the spring, i have some trees after two seasons that have reached 5 ft. If you are not familiar with cow pots, they are basically dried cow manure in the shape of a pot, that decompose very quickly in the ground. I would assume no loss of taproot with this method.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
This is one of a row of dolgo seedlings purchased from the SWCD. It is still holding fruit and the apple is very tasty. I need to find a way to shred these for cider.
By the way, grafted dolgo drops within a few days right around Labor Day in my climates.
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I picked what I could reach and put them in some cider.
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