I read that somewhere too, so it was probably somewhere on this forum? I have no idea where, though. I seem to recall the person said it was something like 140. In which case, my three-year-old apple seedlings are nowhere near ready, because they probably only have about 20-30 nodes each. They have lots of mulch, but they aren’t getting much water, so they’re probably growing more slowly than they could be if I pampered them.
But of course, half the reason I want direct-sown seedling apple trees is so that they will have that super extra deep taproot and be really drought tolerant! So I’m not gonna pamper them, which probably means I will need to be patient and wait something more along the lines of 10 years (rather than 5) to get the first fruits from them.
Actually, there’s an interesting question, and maybe you’ll know the answer. Is it the number of nodes on the tree or the number of nodes the tree has grown? I didn’t intend to prune any of my seedling apple trees at all, but an unwanted visitor came to my garden last year (I named him Mr. Jerkofadeer Eatsmytrees) and ate the tops off of all of them, so they lost half the nodes they had grown in one fell swoop. I so did not appreciate that.
Since apple trees can be pollarded or copiced and still bear fruit, I would assume it’s the number of nodes it has produced. I suspect that side nodes count as well, but have no information.
Very interesting. I read the article, and I didn’t notice it saying anything about whether or not pruning affects that – did he say something like that, and I missed it? It kind of sounded like, from what he was saying, it’s the number of nodes on the main stem that matters (because he said encouraging apical dominance helps), which would imply that pruning it would slow things down. Unless you were pruning off all side branches in order to encourage it to turn into a giant stick, I suppose (but nobody’s gonna do that!).
He did note that cutting off a bit and grafting it onto a mature tree will get it to flower and fruit sooner, and yeah, I knew that from following Skillcult.
I also read about having enough fruiting spurs for an apple to flower. We have a very long growing season, but I fear we often won’t get enough cold hours. But I’m going for it bc if nothing else, apple wood makes for nice smoked meat.
From my first two batches of sprouted apple seeds, I have one tree growing that has survived more than one summer. In my efforts for more fruiting spurs, I have the two main branches bent down to either side. So, now I’ve got small branches growing upwards from the base and all along one branch, the one I bent first. So, we’ll see! This tree is only 2 yrs old, but maybe next spring? If we get enough cold?
And the button to upload pictures is gone from the app on my phone! I did find it when I looked at the forum on my desktop, so I might have to work via browser.
I’m finding sprouting apple seeds very easy, and germination rates are quite wonderful even from grocery store apples. But getting them through our summer is hard. Same for every other tree I sprouted from seed.
If you get one that fruits under your conditions, you have a real winner! Even if it never produces a single edible fruit, you have an amazing rootstock you can use to graft other varieties.
Does anyone know if the chill hours are attached to the rootstock or the scion? I would think the scion…
Apple seeds really are easy to germinate! I get volunteers all over my yard wherever I bury apple cores, which are mostly from grocery store apples. Which means they’re sometimes coming up successfully even from underneath a foot of wood chip mulch. It’s certainly not all the seeds those cores contained – maybe a 5% germination rate from underneath a foot of wood chips? – but that’s still way better than most species would do. With seeds that I plant on purpose near the surface of the soil, my germination rate is usually 80-90%. Now, the survival rate is lower than that, because I usually don’t water them . . . But seriously, if I can plant 100 seeds from selected mothers and get a 1% survival rate of very strong, drought tolerant trees, that’s completely acceptable. Once a seedling goes through the gauntlet of being tiny and unirrigated for the first two months of its life, it’s usually going to survive just fine from that point on.
Unless somebody steps on it, of course . . . (thanks, four-year-old! ).
I have no idea where, though. I seem to recall the person said it was something like 140. In which case, my three-year-old apple seedlings are nowhere near ready, because they probably only have about 20-30 nodes each. They have lots of mulch, but they aren’t getting much water, so they’re probably growing more slowly than they could be if I pampered them.
So I’m not gonna pamper them, which probably means I will need to be patient and wait something more along the lines of 10 years (rather than 5) to get the first fruits from them.
