Next apple project

[yoderjac]

Most of my effort at this time of year is planting trees, but it is time to start thinking about preparing for the next growing season. So far, I have Allegheny Chinquapin nuts I collected and have in cold storage. I still have some seguin nuts but they have had such mold issues I don't expect any to germinate. I will have a few chestnuts from my AU Buck III and IV when the drop but I don't think I'll buy more Dunsan nuts this year. So, I've been pondering apples...

I had an email conversation with one of the folks at Vintage Virginia Apples. They prize their crabapples for the cider they produce and don't generally sell the apples. They were kind enough to sell me a few for seed. I got some Wickson crab. The other thing I'm going to try starting from seed is some of the triploid apple seeds. I'm hoping because they are triploid I'll see more disease resistance. I got some Arkansas Black, Winesap, and SunCrisp.

My plan is to start these from seed over the winter under lights in rootmaker containers. I'll grow them through the summer on my deck like last time. I plant them next fall. The following spring I'll graft some of them and let others grow out to see what I get.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Native Hunter]

Sounds exciting Jack. How did the bud grafting experiment go this year?

 

[Neahawg]

Jack if your looking for crabs to graft you can get dolgo, Wickson, golden hornet, Kerr, and centennial from the USDA for free.

 

[yoderjac]

Sounds exciting Jack. How did the bud grafting experiment go this year?

It failed from what I can tell. The buds all turned black. I'm wondering if we tried it too early. I'm not sure if the leaf buds were fully formed. I guess it is possible something will happen with them next spring, but I'm not counting on it.

Jack if your looking for crabs to graft you can get dolgo, Wickson, golden hornet, Kerr, and centennial from the USDA for free.

Thanks for the heads up! Are these scions through GRIN or something else? Have a link?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Neahawg]

Yeah they can all be obtained through grin website I'd order to do on not sure of the exact date. If you look around they also have lots of apples that they rate for fireblight resistance. Not sure about other common diseases such as cedar apple rust etc. I think liberty and pricilla are both on there for example. I got early banta this year which is a sport of summer champion but with the best rating for fireblight resistance for example.

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/search.aspx

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks! I just put in an order.

 

[Neahawg]

Just noticed it will let you order pears again this evening as well. Not sure your looking for any but thought I would mention it just in case.

 

[yoderjac]

Yes I am. I'm doing a number of things. I started some crabapples from seed last year. I tried grafting some Black Twig and Arkansas Black varieties to some of them this spring. Only one took. It was probably due to my timidity. The trees had just been planted last fall. They were well leafed out by the time I grafted them and I was afraid to remove vegetation in case the graft didn't take. I don't think most had enough energy to both service the vegetation and push the graft. The one that took did very well this year. By next year, I'll have much more confidence in those trees. So, I plan to graft some of them.

I also took a grafting class last spring and bought some extra M111 rootstocks. They let us take the left over scions. So, I have a few apples growing in 3 gal rootbuilder II containers on M111 on my deck. I hope to plant those this fall as well. I plan to repeat the class next spring.

So, I plan to let some of the crabs I grow from seed grow out to see what I get. I plan to use some of them as rootstock. I also plan to have some grown on M111.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

My wife made apple crisp tonight. My job was cutting apples and extracting seeds. I got a good number of Wickson Crab seeds. I also got some Arkansas Black, Winesap, and Suncrisp seeds (all triploid). They are all now in cold stratification. I still have some Winesap and Suncrisp apples left, so I'll be collecting more of those seeds.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[TreeDaddy]

Jack,

Do you put them in moist media or dry in zip lock bags?

bill

 

[yoderjac]

I'm just getting started with apples last year. Since not many folks grow apples from seed, I found little information and some was conflicting. Some said dry the seed first then keep it cold. Some studies showed that drying the seed hurt germination. My hands on experience last year is this: I did not collect the seed; I bought it from a commercial source so I don't know how it was handled prior to my receipt. I know chestnuts need some kind of moist medium, so I tried to cold stratify the seeds I received like chestnuts. I got some mold. Germination rates were poor. I now think that some hydration is needed but less than for chestnuts. Again, mold requires exposure to mold spores and not knowing collection and storage procedures at the source could have been the issue.

As you can see from the posts above, I'm collecting the seed directly from apples this year. I don't know if it is the best way, but here is what I'm doing this time:

1) Removing the seed from the apple.
2) Wash it off in running water to make sure all of the sugar and such is removed from the outside.
3) Float testing and removing floaters. (Note: I'm not sure all floaters are bad with apple seed but since I'll have plenty of seed I culled them).
4) Placed the seed in a ziplok bag.
5) Took a small amount of long-fiber sphagnum, soaked it, and squeezed every drop of water out that I could then added it to the bag.
6) Labeled the bags and placed them in my crisper.

When I bought commercial seed for pome, I saw different cold stratification durations depending on the seed. I plan to shoot for about 60 days. I plan to start planted the seed in mesh flats in mid-December.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

I planted them tonight.