Anybody Else Planting Apple Seeds?

[sandbur]

No, it would be a rare occurrence to see a rabbit around here. I have some old concrete reinforcement wire around them.

I noticed something yesterday that has me scratching my head. I had a seed-grown Antonovka that was about 10 years old and still only five feet tall. I cut the top one foot off it and cleft grafted Golden Russet onto it this spring and got five feet of new growth from the scion -- actually, both buds grew five feet. I thought that was a lot for a tree that had been averaging only six inches its previous years.

I also had an about 12 year old whip grown from Red Delicious seed that was still only six feet tall. I similarly cut one foot off it and cleft grafted an Ide's of March scion on top and got three feet of new growth from both buds on that scion.

I'm wondering whether some seed-grown trees that appear not to thrive have growth habits that form a lot of root, but not a lot of top, and when a more vigorous variety is grafted on, there is plenty of root to push nutrients to the different top wood. I don't know. I'm still scratching my head over this. I've found a few more old dinky whips to try cleft grafting onto next spring to see if the results are repeatable.

I have seen the same thing with some different rootstocks. Does the cutting stimulate some hormone for growth?


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[The Fishman]

I decided this March to try and grow apples from seed. I go out of my way to collect seeds of many different tree species and I was throwing away apple seeds almost daily. I collected about 60 seeds and stuck them in the fridge between a folded over piece of damp paper towel. The apples were Fuji and Granny Smith. Almost every Granny Smith had at least one seed that had already germinated and had a small tap root while still inside the apple. I pulled the seeds out in early June and put them in a pot. To my surprise, I had almost immediate germination and top growth. The photo below is from this morning. The seedlings do not look that good because August was a very hard month on them. I have plans to collect seeds again this winter and plant the seeds in early March. I am hoping that the seedlings will be more established with a better root system to survive the summer heat. My long-term plan is to graft these over to an Anna apple that I have in my backyard, a Profusion crabapple for landscaping purposes, and possibly over to other crabapple varieties for wildlife. I am not expecting much, but I don't have a lot invested so it will not hurt to see what happens.

 

[sandbur]

The mailman brought me some more seeds. These are both wild apples from about 40 miles away.

What should I call a seedling from a seedling?

Double pippin?


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[BuckSnort]

Tell us about the local crab and why you selected it.


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Decent fruit size, very productive every other year, no disease issues that I’ve seen, and growing in the area so I know it’s cold hardy. I figure I can gamble like you and grow some out as well as use a few for free rootstock and graft to them.

 

[hunts_with_stick]

FYI. most of you probably already know, but if if you plant a honey crisp (or any other apple) seed you won't get a "honey crisp", but you will get some version of it. Think of it is as people, if you have a kid he/she isn't going to look/act/behave same as you. That's why they graft the trees. I think it's cool to try and grow from seed!

 

[westonwhitetail]

Are crab apples typically grafted or no? if you try planting seeds from a crab apple, will you get similar fruit?

 

[chickenlittle]

If you want a specific crab, then yes to grafting. That true for both fruit or flowers. But crab seedlings are common too and you’ll get variation in characteristics - fruit, flowers, drop time, etc. from seedlings.

For something like a Dolgo, a tree could be a seedling or might be grafted. If you wanted a named crab variety- Chestnut, Kerr, Whitney, etc. - needs to be grafted.

 

[westonwhitetail]

If you want a specific crab, then yes to grafting. That true for both fruit or flowers. But crab seedlings are common too and you’ll get variation in characteristics - fruit, flowers, drop time, etc. from seedlings.

For something like a Dolgo, a tree could be a seedling or might be grafted. If you wanted a named crab variety- Chestnut, Kerr, Whitney, etc. - needs to be grafted.

Thanks I wasn’t sure about crabs. I have a nice one at my land and would like to just plant a few seeds but wasn’t sure of the result

 

[b116757]

Growing up in Northern Wisconsin you couldn’t throw an apple core in the ditch and not expect an apple tree to grow there someday. The old home 80 had probably 20 or more wild apple trees growing from my family using apples for deer bait for the last 50 years. Also probably half agian as many wild trees on my uncles place. Out of all those wild apple trees maybe one had any possible commercial value although I have yet to send any scoin wood to universities for evaluation. But virtually all had wildlife value some better than others of corse. I believe planting apple seeds is a noble endeavor but for my uses I prefer grafted trees with known qualities.

 

[sandbur]

If you want a specific crab, then yes to grafting. That true for both fruit or flowers. But crab seedlings are common too and you’ll get variation in characteristics - fruit, flowers, drop time, etc. from seedlings.

For something like a Dolgo, a tree could be a seedling or might be grafted. If you wanted a named crab variety- Chestnut, Kerr, Whitney, etc. - needs to be grafted.

I feel there has been much confusion over the name dolgo and to a slight extent with Whitney and Chestnut.

This comes from people and some businesses not differentiating grafted strains from a reputable nursery as compared to seedlings.

Seedlings should be indicated as such. or. Dolgo seedling, or perhaps Dolgo pippin.

I suspect that a wildlife nursery in Michigan had some of these. If my memory is correct, and you read far down in the description, it would say seedling. The business has been sold.

I also see dolgos being sold at ridiculously low prices that have to be seedlings.

Dolgos being true to seed is all BS.


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[Bowsnbucks]

^ ^ ^ Was the proprietor of the sold nursery a certain CM ??

 

[gunfun13]

^ ^ ^ Was the proprietor of the sold nursery a certain CM ??

He certainly was a Con Man

**Edit**-He was actually very good to deal with. Friendly, accommodating, and more than willing to talk for as long as it took to answer any questions and then some. But, his product sucked IME.

 

[sandbur]

He certainly was a Con Man

**Edit**-He was actually very good to deal with. Friendly, accommodating, and more than willing to talk for as long as it took to answer any questions and then some. But, his product sucked IME.

Agree.


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[sandbur]

This years seeds are in the ground!


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[rocksnstumps]

I think Con Man allegedly preferred the handle of chasmo54 but that was awhile back.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

**Edit**-He was actually very good to deal with. Friendly, accommodating, and more than willing to talk for as long as it took to answer any questions and then some. But, his product sucked IME.

I got 2 really good trees from CM - a couple others - not so much. One is what he called the "Nova Scotia crab" which has done really well for us and produces a 1 1/2" dia. crab. The other is what he called "Morse Hybrid Pear" which has grown really well and puts on lots of pears. What those two trees actually are is anyone's guess. I'm not paying for a DNA test to find out either.

I agree he was very friendly and easy to talk to.

I purchased a couple trees from him one spring - but not since.

 

[Mozark]

These are Pristine, the tree sits in a row beside two Sweet Sixteen trees. Hopefully a few of them are a cross, the bloom time overlaps pretty well.

 

[chickenlittle]

I decided to go the easy route and have thrown everything in a protected section of my nursery to see what germinates next year. A mix of apple seeds, persimmon, and paw paw. hopefully I can get some more persimmon seeds.

 

[cavey]

Growing up in Northern Wisconsin you couldn’t throw an apple core in the ditch and not expect an apple tree to grow there someday. The old home 80 had probably 20 or more wild apple trees growing from my family using apples for deer bait for the last 50 years. Also probably half agian as many wild trees on my uncles place. Out of all those wild apple trees maybe one had any possible commercial value although I have yet to send any scoin wood to universities for evaluation. But virtually all had wildlife value some better than others of corse. I believe planting apple seeds is a noble endeavor but for my uses I prefer grafted trees with known qualities.

Same deal around here, old area commercial nurseries, every farm had an orchard and waste apples fed to cattle; The old pastures are full of wild apple and crab trees.

Sad part is with the loss of the family farms and fewer and fewer pastured cattle those old pasture trees are disappearing fast.

 

[sandbur]

This years seeds are in the ground!


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I added two more clusters of seeds. Addiction, I know.


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