Curious how many other people out there are experimenting with seedlings? My primary goal is growing apples , peaches, plums, and pears so don't misunderstand me these are not my main crop these seedlings are a hobby. Most experts advise growing known varieties for good reason which is because you can predict what you will wind up with. If your patient, have extra room, and you enjoy experimenting you might consider trying a few seedlings.

I have seedling citrus growing, but no stone or pome seedlings. My son-in-law brought me some pawpaw and crabapple fruit from a recent trip to North Carolina and I would like to plant the crab seeds. How long did it take your crab to fruit? I would like to grow for cider/wine. I currently have a few apple trees and one crab. Noticed the critters were after my apples every night, but did not touch the crab.

Clark share some more info on your above crabapple (especially if you are willing to share scions ... Hint , hint). Disease resistance, bloom time and duration, maturity date, etcc. Always fun to experiment, I would venture to guess that most antique varieties were simply started by planting seeds.

Kingwood my crab fruited in 5 years I think. My larger yellow apple fruited in 6 years. You might plant a mulberry or another fruit around the place. Since I planted wild cherry, blackberries, and mulberries as target fruit my raccoons, birds, and possums wont touch my cherries, pears, apples, apricots etc. My biggest pests currently are Japanese beetles. I have a dozen or more apples from that batch of seeds that have not fruited yet and they will all likely be different. TurCre it appears to be as disease resistant as my other apples and maybe more so. Bloom time in Kansas this year was after all the pears, apricots and plums which is consistent with my other apples but a month later this year than last year so its variable. Maturity date is typically late in October. The apples would hang on the tree all winter if you didn't pick them. Its always cold here when I pick them which is great for me because there is no other fruit that time of year. I'm always glad to trade scions if there is no laws preventing me from sending them. It's not a problem to send scions most places but there are a few exception such as California and some of the apple growing states. Hit me up in the spring and I will have plenty from pruning.

I have two peach trees from PF-line fruit seed. Not fruiting yet, but my father in law has over the years produced many peach trees from seed with excellent results. They really have an 80%+ chance of success.

Nice looking apples Clark. I planted a bunch of apple seedlings for the same reason as you more or less. None have fruited so far. I have some seedling pears as well. I did have some seedling peaches fruit but the fruit was pretty bad.

Scott

I have a seedling here I grew from a northern spy I think about 4 or 5 years ago, it hasn't fruited yet. I've started grafting it over, but will let one branch go just out of curiousity. It has strange wirey branches with an almost weeping habit with oddly different sized leaves. Not a nice growth habit at all.
I started another this year around late June...it's about 24-30" tall. I'll probably just leave it in the pot and graft it over in the spring then plant it out later.
Neither are much to look at, but maybe I'll post a photo tomorrow.
Clark...those crabs are really nice. What is in the lower left corner of the crab photo...a trap?
I wish more folks would experiment like this and post photos...I really dig this stuff.

I have a few....some are maybe 4 years old now...igraft them over, but do leave a few branches. I have 2 that seem to not get ny leaf issues.

I planted some seeds this spring in pots. I've now got 6-8 apple seedlings, which are about 2' tall.

I planted 3 different types:
- open pollinated Golden Russet (from a orchard)
- open pollinated Goldrush (from my tree)
- hand pollinated Goldrush x Hudson's Golden Gem

I also hand pollinated Goldrush x Pitmaston Pineapple, but tossed the seeds when I found that the PP wasn't actually a PP (red fruit in late Aug...). I planted the replacement PP this spring, so maybe I'll get another shot at its pollen next year.

This spring, I hand pollinated Goldrush pollen into Ashmead's Kernel and Court Pendu Plat. I didn't have great set overall, but I currently have 1 hand-pollinated apple from each of the trees (I pollinated 3-5 clusters on each). I marked the clusters with twisters, so I've been able to keep track.

I'm thinking about grafting each of my seedings onto a more mature tree, as I haven't had the best luck raising fruit in pots (I occasionally remember to water...). I can probably fit them all onto one tree, then prune off the losers...

Even further into the "just for fun" category are my Lychee and Longan seedlings. These are real longshots, as I can't plant them in-ground, since they can't take temperatures below about 30 degrees.

I planted some seeds this spring in pots. I've now got 6-8 apple seedlings, which are about 2' tall..

May I ask how you got 2' tall saplings from seed in a single growing season??

I have been planting seed from fruit trees for years and have yet to see a single one grow from a seed to be two feet high in a year.

I take apple, cherry, plum, peach, paw paws etc and plant many in wooden planter boxes in the fall and sometimes it is two years before they start to sprout. Once they reach 6 to 12" I take them out and plant them in the wild (along dirt roads, edges of old farm fields etc or in the woods). Three years ago I planted over 100 Paw Paw seeds and just this year was able to replant 73 10 to 12" saplings back into the wild.

Going tomorrow to pick up a bucket full of Cherries to plant in a planter. Hopefully in a year or two I will be able to plant a bunch of cherry saplings around the area.

Hippy I know you were asking Bob, but I too have grown a number of seedlings. I planted one here around mid to late June (it may have been a bit earlier the more I think about it), but it is at least 24" tall. This has been pretty much the norm in my experience. You do understand that although they are 2" tall they have a caliper smaller than a pencil? I also sometimes water with a bit of soluble fertilizer.

Glid if you get a chance to post some picks when they fruit out it would be great to see how they turn out. Thanks Scott I wish I could take credit but wild apples just need some tlc when they are small and soon don't take much work! The first crop or two I missed spraying because as a rule seedling apples fruit the 7th year. They likely fruited their 4th year a few apples and I never noticed. The 5th year the crop was 2 or 3 5 gallon buckets and it keeps getting better every year. For wild peach seeds you might consider hitting up Ericka Dana at ericka@catnipfarm.com if you are looking for nice wild peaches. I got some seed from her this spring. Appleseed70 yes you have a good eye they are apple maggot traps and I will post a link below to the type I use. I leave them up all year and greatly reduce or eliminate apple maggot damage. Franktank232 I bet an apple seed out there someone through in the trash is the dream apple we are all looking for with 100% leaf disease resistance. That would be great if yours have greater resistance and even if the fruit were not great you could cross them with a crab like the one I have or the yellow and the second generation would be 50/50 and you would likely pick up the best of both worlds. I wish we could plant all the seeds. Bob that sound like you know what you are doing I would love to see your results when you get your first fruits. Hippy I never let the seeds dry out and put them in the refrigerator wrapped in a damp towel in a glass jar is that what you do? When they sprout I plant them and get good success that way. Sounds like what your doing is a great way to promote wild fruit I love it! I do my part but in a different way by letting the birds eat their fill at my house of whatever they want and don't net the trees. They choose wild fruit over tame fruit every time which leads me to believe are advances in agriculture are not always advances at all and nature knows a little more about what its doing than we think. Unfortunately that thinking wont pay the bills which is why my experimental seedlings are a hobby and my crops are something else. One day I hope to make my hobby something that benefits other people with great new fruits grown by seed selection. Hippy to your point my pawpaws seldom get over 3-4 inches in a season but apples are another thing all together and get 1-3' sometimes in a season depending on seed vigor, moisture, fertility and all kinds of other factors. The rule I go by is that their are no rules with seedlings. I used to grow seeds from store bought apples but seldom got anything more than root stock that was poor quality so I learned wild apples contain a lot more genetic diversity for whatever reasons and I grow those now. Something about certain rootstocks seem to be dominant in the next generations seeds regardless of the other parents. This is also the case with wild apples where certain ones I grow impose their genetics on the second generation.

Here is a link that might be useful: apple maggot trap

Hippy, I measured them this morning when I went out to pick some peaches and there are actually 6, 5 of which are in the 1-1.5' range. Even so, as AppleSeed says, they are very tiny caliper.

I'm not sure I can graft them in their current state (too thin). I'm thinking about bringing a few of them inside in a few weeks when it starts getting colder to extend the growing season even more. They started early, right around New Years (I checked my records) and I re-potted them in June, moving them outside.

When they were inside, I took relatively good care of them (regular waterings, WS fertilizer, etc), but once they were outside, I kind of forgot about them. When I first put them outside, I had them in morning sun only. I meant to move them into full sun after a week or so of adjustment to the higher light levels. Almost 3 months later, I finally moved them yesterday, just before seeing this thread.

Good post Clark...enjoyed reading it.

I used to grow seeds from store bought apples but seldom got anything more than root stock that was poor quality so I learned wild apples contain a lot more genetic diversity for whatever reasons and I grow those now.

I never thought about this before. I've always grown seedlings in the past from store bought or orchard market bought apples. I can see where a wild apples genetic diversity would be more expansive. I am wondering however whether a selected cultivar that was open to wild apple pollination may be better yet. Think about those old trees you see growing that were once part of a homestead that is long since gone. Now they stand in what is basically wilderness. The selected cultivar would already have a good genetic background because that's why it was selected in the first place. Being without others of it's kind and being exposed to open pollination by wild apples would allow it's seed's genetic background to expand. Possibly introducing beneficial DNA such as (as you mentioned) disease resistance.
If someone was to find a 100% disease resistant apple they would be sitting on a winning lottery ticket...or at least half of one. It would be kinda like knowing half of the winning powerball numbers every week.

Clark, I had some older red Christmas bulbs in the attic, they had started flaking a bit. I got one of those and then purchased a pack of those fly strips. I wrapped the fly paper on the bulb, then pulled it off...repeated this several times until the bulb was sticky as could be. Messy, messy job. I hung it up in the tree and the only thing I caught were gnats and house flies. I seem to remember reading that apple maggots were attracted to yellow, but maybe I'm getting that confused with something else.

Hippy in my previous post I mentioned the seedling was planted in June. Upon speaking with my wife, I was wrong. It was planted in May in a small cup and moved to it's present pot in mid to late June. Here's a photo of it and it seems I underestimated it's growth. It's actually about 3' 3".

I don't really find this unusual at all. I suppose this grew a bit better than most, but a larger pot would have resulted in better growth still.

seedling

In case you were asking me to post pictures, I have eaten numerous peaches from my father in law. The peaches range from ugly to very ugly, some were misshapen and completely green when ripe, other peaches very pale yellow. But they taste good.

Glib the small white peaches seem to be very dominant among wild peaches so that is why I was wondering what they were. I think that yellow or green ones would be great. Appleseed those are some great looking seedlings. If the sticky bulb does not fool them by itself try the lure. It could always be possible that you don't have apple maggot flies. They also make a coddling moth lure http://www.amazon.com/Agralan-Pheromone-Codling-Moth-Refill/dp/B0039NJ5NS/ref=sr_1_4?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-4&keywords=codling+moth+lure if they are a bigger problem in your area. Those two pests damage more fruit than anything else around here if you let them. I spray as well when needed. Apple maggot flies hit twice a year. This is an interesting article related to wasps as a control http://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm?tagname=biodiversity
This article discusses codling moth control
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7412.html
I realize the topic is drifting but thanks for the great posts! Glad to here so many people are growing seedlings

Here is a link that might be useful: lure

Clark,
I'm always on the lookout for another good edible crab - yours looks very impressive.
Any chance of getting scionwood from it this coming winter?

PM me off-list to discuss particulars, if you're willing.
Thanks.

I'd also be interested, Clark. I'm always looking for good cider apples. Click on my name to get my email. You don't have messaging enabled so we can't message you directly.

Scott

Clark, I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I too wouldn't mind having a scion from the crab in the second photo. I could trade you 5 gals. worth of Imidan 70 WP so you could try it out if you like. I could spoon some out into a tight closing bottle or something and ship it to you. You'd have to be careful though so it wouldn't get mistaken for coffee creamer or something.

No problem I will have plenty of scions from pruning in late winter / early spring

This is an interesting thread, thanks! I have no experience with seedling apple, at least in terms of taste, yet... I have a couple 2nd year trees from seeds of a favorite red-fleshed crabapple. I'm not expecting fruit for another couple years of course.

Apricots I have found to be quite "true from seed". Or to put it another way, seedling apricots produce delicious fruit just as often as named cultivars. Size and appearance seem to be the main differences between the two, but I really believe that getting tasty apricots has mostly to do with growing conditions.

Peach trees are supposed to be similar to apricots in this way, but probably much less so, given some of your comments above. I know one of the peaches I'm trying to graft onto has horrible fruit, and is probably a rootstock propagated from seed.

Red fleshed crabapple sounds fascinating to grow. I've always been curious about the red fleshed varieties of peaches such as Indian blood. What I know about fruit would suggest the red fleshed varieties of all fruits may be healthier for us to eat. Purple fruits typically have a high orac content which is called anthocyanins. Cherries and plums are some of the healthiest fruits according to experts and flesh color implies they would be healthy. Specifically what I'm saying is your red apples are high in lycopene or anthocyanins. Orange colored fruits are typically high in carotenoids. Green fruits are colored by chlorophyll. Without getting way off topic growing seedlings is not strictly about taste it's also about health and those red crabapples sound like winners to me. The apricots / peaches are likely high in carotenoids.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anthocyanins info

Unfortunately nobody has come up with a good or even decently marketable apple with red flesh yet. I read a ton about apple breeding and I know nearly everyone is interested in red fleshed varieties. The novelty alone (if bred into a good apple) would be a huge selling point. I know Cornell has mentioned interest in their literature many times.
Maybe you'll hit the jackpot Clark if you experiment enough with it. That would be cool.

For those of you growing from seed what do you do with the seedlings over winter? For example, if you stratify seeds in the fridge from an apple you ate this week they may sprout in 3-6 weeks. Then what do you do with them? Place them in small cups or containers and leave them on your window sill all winter? Plant them in the spring?

That's pretty much what I would do speedster1. I don't get in a hurry about planting them because they will develop a good amount of roots in the refrigerator. Sometimes plant them straight in a pot with the seed still damp and sprout them using soil mixed with ash. Both methods work but if you use a grow light place It just over the apples so they don't get spindly trying to reach for the light and keep a fan on them part of the day to simulate wind which makes them stocky and hardens them off. The top leaves should rest almost on the fluorescent bulb and as they grow raise the bulb slightly.In Kansas it's very windy so they won't survive if you don't do use a fan. If you have a Seedling you like on its own root you can cut off some new growth and dip the cutting in clonex rooting gel stick it in a pot of sand and place a jar over it to control humidity and clone your cuttings in that way. If you want seedlings or clones to grow faster place them on a heat mat. You get the idea. Cloning is faster with some plants. What no one tells you is that seedlings roots are always better than layered cuttings of rootstock because they have a tap root vs side roots only. Tap roots head straight down but side roots are more shallow. There are more ways to do this stuff than what I mentioned but that's a few tricks.

i too am growing trees from seed. i live in the Caribbean,tropical climate temperatures rarely drop bellow 22 Celsius. nave a few tress going 12, 4 in their third year, 2 in their 2nd an six only 6 months old. the pic is one of the third year i kept potted its a little over 5feet

growing apples from seed · More Info

growing apples from seed · More Info

6 months a little under 3 feet and has about 6-8 branches there are 3 that are well over 4feet

Great looking apples Elifius. After seeing this thread I realized I did not send everyone scion wood that asked for it. Thanks for sharing the pictures.