North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[rmelrose@danvilleVT.net]

Sarah, how would you like to tell us all what you are managing to grow in
zone 3. Quince for example -- do you have Cydonia growing or Chaenomeles,
and if so what cultivars?

Richard
Zone 4a, VT.

> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun Mar 15 15:34:42 2009
> From: skkewing@yahoo.com
> Subject: [NAFEX] More on starting apple and pear seeds
> To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <846741.7332.qm@web46012.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> 
> 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
> 
>