Raising seedlings

[Mahindra3016]

I have around 30 apple seedlings growing from seed, My plan is to move them to raised beds in the spring into rootmaker knit fabric bags for the season. I have been reading up as much as i can but still need some advice. Would you take them from the raised bed in the fall and plant them, or would you let them in the raised bed and plant them the following spring? I just wonder if the freezing and thawing of the raised bed though out the winter would be hard on the seedlings, i know the ground where i will plant them will do the same, but I would think that would be more natural to the trees. Are the knit fabric bags reusable or do they generally need cut off to remove them? I am thinking they will be worth the money for the time they will save removing the trees from the garden. Most of the seed is from wild apples, i understand that they wont be true from seed, but i am fine with that, as i plan on trying some grafting in the future.
This is the first time I have sprouted any trees from seed, so i am open to any advice and pointers
Thanks in advance.

 

[sandbur]

I transplanted the seedlings to rootmaker bags,

Over winter, I buried them in the garden to soil depth and fenced them for deer and mice/rabbits. Plant them out the next spring.


For several years, I tried to save every seedling. My recommendation for now would be to select the 2/3 that grow the fastest and discard the rest. Some seedlings are just slow growers.

I walked about 1/2 of my trees today and those still holding apples the best are from one year's seedling collection.

 

[NorthPotter]

FWIW, I have a raised bed with Virbunums and Amalanchier in it. If you have one face of the bed facing west, the soil seems to get a lot more sun than just flat ground. In the summer, the raised bed creates a warm soil that becomes very DRY. I had to water my Viburnums and Serviceberry ALOT. The virburnums thrived in the warm, dry soil. The Amalanchiers failed after 3 years. Their roots are naturally shallow and they just could not go deep enough for water and cool temps.
I know you will only have them in for a year, just consider watering well and soil temps especially in July/August. Crabs I grow seem to LOVE moist, cold soil..
I personally have more success with fall plantings. No idea how they can make it through -10 to -20 degress each year (before windchill) when I just planted them in October and sometimes November,... but somehow they do.
My $0.02.

 

[chickenlittle]

What exactly do you mean by raised beds? Will the bags be up on a table or rack, sitting on the ground, or buried? If buried, you could overwinter more safely. I would plant the seedlings out in the fall. You could plant out earlier if you can provide some water. You'll have to cut the bags to get the trees out but they can be stapled back together for re-use.

If you have apple trees you know you want to graft onto these, consider t bud grafting in august if the seedlings have gotten big enough. The t bud would be ready to grow in the spring. There were some threads on tbudding last summer and youtube videos explain how to do it.

 

[sandbur]

We are plagued by dry Augusts and warm winds during most years. I kept my roottrappers on the northeast side of my house and gradually creep them into more sunlight.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I use potting soil in my rootrappers for my grafts but usually plant them a few months after grafting and growing in the root trappers so I don't have to cut mine I just loosen the soil by banging on the sides of the bags and keep the bag on the ground near the who,e I dig to plant the tree then just gently slid pe the tree holding the roots into its final resting place then fill the hole back in. So far so good !!!!! Some of my 2014 grafted trees should be putting out a little fruit this year based on what I can see at this time of year !!!!!

 

[sandbur]

I cut the threads on the rootrappers when removing trees. Staple the bag shut for the next use.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I cut the threads on the rootrappers when removing trees. Staple the bag shut for the next use.

You have more patience than I do or you have the skills of a surgeon LOL

 

[Mahindra3016]

Thank you for all the replies, besides releasing wild apple and pear trees i am new to growing fruit trees. By raised beds i mean 2x12 garden beds partially put into the ground and filled with dirt.

 

[Mahindra3016]

Has anyone ever tried cowpots with growing fruit trees from seed? I just picked up a 12 pack for 5 dollors and some change, it seems to me it would be like an air prune container only you can plant the whole thing with out removing the plant first.
http://www.cowpots.com/wp-content/uploads/3round-1b.jpg

 

[wiscwhip]

Those are interesting, I wonder if they would work for starting acorns as well?