North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Sarah Kehler Ewing <skkewing@yahoo.com>]

Hi,

I have started grocery store and locally grown apple and pear seeds for 
several years in a row as fun projects with my kids and the local 
kindergarten classes.  We've grown Granny Smith, Royal Gala, Pink 
Lady/Cripp's Pink, Pacific Rose (some of those had red leaves and red 
vascular tissue, makes pruning more interesting!), Fuji, Norkent, Ruby 
Red/September Ruby, Ambrosia, Braeburn and Honeycrisp apples as well as Red 
Bartlett and Comice Pears.  I plant the seeds taken from apples eaten in 
Jan/Feb so they are already cold-stratified and ready to grow.  I simply put 
them in a thick layer on top of dirt in a pint/500mL sized sour cream 
container with drainage holes in the bottom, cover them with 1" of dirt, 
water and watch them grow.  Once the seedlings are about 2-4" tall I 
transplant them individually into 1 quart/litre milk carton with drainage 
holes in the bottom, set them in a Rubbermaid container and water 
occasionally until the risk of frost is over.
  I harden them off, dump them out of their container, plant them outside and 
watch them take off.  I have planted seeds outside in fall and that is much 
less work, but obviously no fun for the kids/me!  The upside to doing the 
whole inside process is that the trees put on two years worth of growth: they 
grow about 12-18" inside and then do the same thing outside (sometimes they 
sit for a bit first), whereas the fall planted seeds only grow the 12-18" 
outside.  I've found that Pink Lady/Cripp's Pink and Royal Gala sprout the 
most reliably and grow like crazy, but up here in zone 3b they tend to die 
back and likely wouldn't fruit in our short seasons anyway, but it makes a 
fun project for kids of all ages!  ;o)  

Sarah
Edm, AB

--- On Sat, 12/20/08, Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com> wrote:

> From: Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] apple trees from seed
> To: "nafex" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008, 7:28 PM
> Oh no, it's Murph, and he's gonna talk
> again.................
> 
> Last year, I saved a few apple seeds from various apples
> from my orchard, and from Fenton's. I stratified them
> for a few months, then planted them in pots. Some sprouted,
> some didn't. A couple months later, I was cleaning out
> the fridge, and I noticed that ALL the seeds I had left over
> from stratification had SPROUTED FINE !! Apparently, I
> jumped the gun in planting them. This year, I will wait
> until I see at least one or two sprouts before planting a
> each different variety.
>     Hopefully, the fact that these seeds come from two
> small orchards having dozens of varieties, will create a
> more complex collection of results than seed gathered from
> Supermarket apples which are usually grown in large blocks.
> Last year's winners were Cortland and Golden Delicious,
> as far as tree vigor, leaf size, branch habit, etc. The Wolf
> Rivers that grew, turned into little shrubs!
>     I'm also trying a few Surefire cherries from seed,
> just to see what happens. Does anybody have a
> 'favorite' apple variety for starting from seed?
> This is all just for fun; not a commercial venture.
> 
> Peace, Fruit Fans.
> 
> Murph
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