Fruit trees from seed

[Gross144]

All, had a question about fruit trees I planted from seed.

About 5 years ago my kids and I gathered some small crab apples, Fuji apples and galas, as well as some type of pear that was growing wild at my sons school. We did the whole stratifying thing and the trees have been planted in grow tubes since probably spring of 2011. The crabs we planted were indian summer.

I am fully aware of the issues with fruit trees and not producing true from seed but it doesn't matter as I did this for a fun project for myself and the kids. All trees are planted around edge of food plots upstate New York. They are solely going to be for wild life, deer, birds, etc.

The question is when do they produce apples. I know it has only been a few years but the question is more about what happens with the tree before it produces apples? Will they all eventually flower and then eventually produce fruit or is it when they start producing flowers that's when they produce fruit???

The pears are about 7 to 8 feet tall with the apples right around the 5 foot mark. I kno I got a long way to go but still exciting to see how tall some are already.

 

[Powder]

Do you have them protected from browsing? Possibly in tree tubes or cages? I'm far from an expert but unless I'm mistaken there are guys on her that have 5 feet of growth in one year. It seems like something is keeping them from reaching their full potential.

 

[Native Hunter]

When an apple tree first starts flowering, you may or may not get fruit that first year. Sometimes on a young tree you may get one or two apples - or none at all. Then as the tree matures, your fruit set should get heavier and heavier over the next few years. Of course, freezing temps at bloom time and other factors affect that on any tree, whether young or old.

Grafted trees are going to start bearing much faster than trees grown from seed. We've set seedling apples before and not seen flowering for 10 years.

Case in point - My FIL dug up a root sprout from a full sized apple tree (Horse cultivar) over 10 years ago and set it in his yard. That tree was 15 feet tall last year and had its first apples - about 15 big nice ones.

I believe in setting both full sized and semi dwarf trees. The semi dwarfs so you don't go crazy waiting and the full sized for the long haul.

 

[Gross144]

Thanks for the response. When I planted them they were maybe 12 inches tall. The soil is heavy clay. When I planted them I tried to get as much top soil etc in the hole so they weren't in pure clay. Also they are not getting 100% sunlight as they are in wooded plots. The place was logged last year so that should help add some sunlight.

 

[Native Hunter]

Sunlight is something you can't cheat on with apples. To me, that explains the lack of growth.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Our apples and crabs are in 85% sunlight minimum - some all day 100%. 3 ft. of growth in a year is common for us. As Native said ^^^^ - sun makes a big difference.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks for the response. When I planted them they were maybe 12 inches tall. The soil is heavy clay. When I planted them I tried to get as much top soil etc in the hole so they weren't in pure clay. Also they are not getting 100% sunlight as they are in wooded plots. The place was logged last year so that should help add some sunlight.

Amending the hole in heavy clay can be a problem. In general, water infiltrates amended soil much faster than clay. So, during rainy time, you can actually create a pond around the root ball. During dry times water will evaporate much faster from the amended soil than the native clay so you starve them of water. If they are more than a year old, the roots have probably penetrated the clay and you are likely passed the danger point, but I just wanted to make you aware for the future. Generally with native clay you either don't amend the hole or use a strategy like mounding or whatever to ensure this problem doesn't occur.

Thanks,

jack

 

[Gravensteiner]

i found a website from a private applebreeder from Wales. This could be helpfull to your question.
https://www.yvapplebreeders.com/information/seedling-height-nodes/

Greetings from Germany
G/H