Welcome to the forum Tom. Those look amazing! I’ve put a graft of a Sieversii tree, it looksready to take off. I’d like to try some seed please.
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If none produce the fruit qualities you are wanting they can still be used as rootstock for grafting.
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That’s what I’ve been thinking! I just gotta find a nice producing tree to get twigs from. I might buy one if I can’t find a good, free source.
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Are those as good as they look? Those little yellow ones in photo B2 look like they might taste like candy.
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Those look incredible. I would love to plant some of these in my ongoing Seedling trials if you would he willing to share.
I currently have roughly 400-500 Skillcult crosses; Dolgo/Hewes crosses. Feral Alaskan apples. About 100 Grafted varieties on EMLA 111. About 1/3rd of Etter’s genetics on EMLA 111. About 1/4 the Lost Apples of Palouse. A growing diversity of crabapples.
It would be amazing to add these type of ancestral seedlings into the mix for crossing parentage. Their genetics are likely very ancestral.
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They are all very different across a wide range of characteristics - firmness, acid, sugars, tannins - 5 or 6 have the potential for a ‘dessert’ or ‘eating’ apple. There are some really amazing sweet crunchy ones, yes, and lots of interesting flavours. Only one or two are seriously unpleasant! But they still make quite a good hard cider for blending. From memory I think B2 has a sweet lemony/acid flavour.
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Absolutely, I’ll add you to the list for sharing seeds this autumn. Whereabouts are you growing?
I used to share lots of seeds with Steven at Skillcult - never grown any of his apples, I’d love some seeds from yours too, all of them sound very interesting.
I think breeding with these would be very cool. I haven’t got my head round it yet but there is a recent paper here which might be of interest: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982226003684#bib70
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I love the idea of crossed apples, but I’m not sure I have space for more trees. Any thoughts on growing some maiden whips in a nursery bed, then grafting those on to my existing trees? I’ve got five four year old trees that are producing for the first time this year. How long might it take to get a grafted limb to produce?
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Hi Tom, those Apples look pretty neat! I’d greatly appreciate some seeds from your gene pool. I love getting my hard cider to produce unique flavors via different varieties, so that would be well worth the effort!
If you see my post above on speeding up fruiti g, you can use the same technique, just get the tree to about 77 internodes (then it leaves the juvenile ohase and enters adult vegetative phase), then cut the top as scion and graft onto another tree.
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I am growing up NE Spokane County Washington on the Idaho border (Bonner County). I’m a bit in a minor liminal state tho as I’ve stopped planting my nursery stock and I’ve up potted and dug out much of my early seedling bank. I am looking to move my farming Operation/land base up Sandpoint Idaho way. It’s about 47 minutes NE of where I currently reside so it would put me at roughly 48.3 N Latitude. There are many reasons for doing this related to the severely limiting growing environment of my Valley (an insanely unpredictable hard frost cycle unlike any I’ve seen) but the primary motivation is family. My daughter’s Waldorf School is in Sandpoint. My parents are moving there. Our community is there. Because of this I am going to be restarting many of my trees on new rootstock and/or taking them with me depending upon who buys our current Farm. If you have any interest in the Lost Apples of Palouse seeds and/or the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project (Colorado) seeds (they’ve placed in Gnarly Pippins’ Taste Trials several times and their trees often represent fascinating Settler genetics) seeds I could likely get you those. All my trees here are in that 2-4 years old range.
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I’d love some.
I’d love some apple seeds.
I got my trees staked to make those fruiting spurs and get fruit sooner!
And those 27ish apple seeds put in pots are growing nicely.
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Did you count the internodes? If you have less than 120 internodes, you are unlikely to get fruiting spurs by training the whip downwards
I figure I won’t get any fruiting signs for at least a year, likely two, at this point, and I’m not sure we actually got enough cold hours last winter, it was a very mild winter. But I’m going work to get these bushed out! Then when we do get enough cold hours, I have a decent chance if getting some fruit!
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If the tree hasn’t grown about 120 internodes, then it is still in either juvenile phase or adult vegetative phase. Judging from the the plant physiology of apples, you won’t get any fruitings spurs before the tree leaves those phases and enters the adult generative phase, regardless of how it is trained and the winters.
Good to know. I’m keeping my expectations open and holding them with open hands. Maybe I’ll be able to count internodes today… We’ve got a crazy week ahead. And these little trees are only a few years old, so I’m happy to give them a few more years if needed.
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Hi Malte,
would you share dimensions of those trays? I am curious about their height.
Their heights are differring a bit depending on what I can find. I use old used transport trays from the supermarket distribution systems, e.g. that are used to transport milk cartons or bread and what not.
The smallest are 10-15 cm high and the best ones are 20 cm high.