North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Naomi Counides" <naomi@oznayim.us>]

Sarah, you delight me.  I love the way you are using ordinary things that
are usually thrown away, and other around the house materials to get the job
done. 
Naomi

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of skkewing@yahoo.com
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 12:17 PM
To: NAFEX
Subject: [NAFEX] More on starting apple and pear seeds


I have grown hundreds of apples and pears from seed. I take a 500ml/1pint
yogurt or sour cream container and punch some drainage holes in the bottom.
I fill it half full of moist dirt, layer my seeds in thickly and then cover
them with 1/2 inch of moist dirt.  Then I place the container in a plastic
bag and put the whole works in the back of the bottom shelf of my fridge for
6 weeks.  After the cold stratification is done, I pull them out and place
them on a shelf over a heat vent and watch them grow! When the seedlings are
about an inch or two high, I tip over the container removing and gently
breaking up the root clump before transplanting them individually into 1
liter/1 quart milk cartons with drainage hole punched in the bottom.  I like
to place the cartons in those shallow 40 liter underbed bins so I can move
them in and out of the house to harden off without destroying the cartons.


I prefer to start my seeds in January as I seem to get two seasons of growth
that way: they put on 12-18 inches in the house and then repeat that once
they are planted out (sad growth for one year I know, but it's a cool and
short summer up here!).  If you collect seeds from grocery store apples in
Jan/Feb, you can even skip the cold stratification step as apparently cold
storage since harvest has already done that for you.

I just transplanted my quince, peaches (Tzim Pee Tao, Chui Lum Tao, and
Bailey) and Klapperton Red pears yesterday (the Ranetka and local apples as
well as Siberian Pears, apricots and plums are outside this year!).

Sarah
zone 3
Edmonton, AB


      

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