Apple seedlings grown from seed are turning purple?

[montavonm]

Hi everyone, I have been experimenting with growing some trees from seed. Over the past 4-5 months I have grown about 120 apple trees from seed in cups inside my apartment. I recently planted them outside and they looked fantastic when I was finished. I watered them, and the first 2-3 days it was overcast and cool. It's been 9 or 10 days now and almost all my trees have turned purple! I am new to the fruit tree game (besides planting a few peach trees last year) and have no idea what the cause of this is, or if I've done something wrong. The trees don't look dead - the leaves aren't wilted or falling off, they are literally just turning purple. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? Thanks in advance

 

[montavonm]

The photo is over my 4 biggest/best looking trees. Several of them do not look as well (if you could even call it well) as the ones in the picture.

 

[chickenlittle]

Lots of crabs have reddish or purplish leaves. They may just be responding to the new conditions and turning their natural color.

 

[John-W-WI]

I wouldn't worry about it either. They look healthy, just an interesting color.

They will be fine!

-John

 

[montavonm]

Thanks for the input guys! I will keep an eye on them and post updates on here as to how they are doing.

 

[buckvelvet]

Looks like blue tongue disease. :)

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Could be an adjustment to the sun and wind. I had a bunch of my leaves discolor similar to yours and then the leaves died but I still have green growth at top thank god
Also some of my other grafts with mostly sick or failed trees

 

[montavonm]

Interesting pics, glad to hear yours are sprouting new leaves! They look just like mine, but mine are a much more deep purple. Unfortunately I am out of town (school) and can't check up on them frequently... I have some family that will water them but I would love to know how they are doing. I am planning on grafting them if they make it until next spring. If they liven up, I have several pics documented I will post, we can only hope for the best for now!

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I think yours will make it. Maybe just a little sun and wind burn in my opinion but with the bad luck I had post grafting this year I was sure mine were doomed

 

[montavonm]

I'm not sure whether to say they look better, worse, or the same. The bigger ones still look like they aren't dead, but none of them whatsoever have any new sprouts or growth. They've been outside about 3 weeks now. Not really sure what to expect as of now.

 

[montavonm]

Here is a comparison of my biggest tree today and 2 weeks ago. It looks like it might be greening up a little bit... Hopefully all of them do this over a few more weeks

 

[montavonm]

It looks like some of the trees are starting to recover. I'd say the majority of them have leaves that look much better, and the purple color has been replaced by bright new green. A few are starting to sprout new leaves!

 

[montavonm]

Not sure if the pics are showing up as an attachment click on image for everyone, if if it looks like it's actually embedded.

 

[huntall]

I had some oak seedlings start out rough looking kinda like that. Turns out that that I probably didn't harden them off good enough and wind and sun burn stressed them but they eventually had a new flush of leaves and did fine.

 

[montavonm]

I had some oak seedlings start out rough looking kinda like that. Turns out that that I probably didn't harden them off good enough and wind and sun burn stressed them but they eventually had a new flush of leaves and did fine.

I think the exact same thing happened. I basically had them inside for a 2-3 months and then they went straight outside... I'm glad they seem to be starting to recover, I'm hoping at least around half of them sprout new leaves and really take off.