Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#18
|
|||
|
|||
Apple Tree From Seed
Kay Lancaster wrote: On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:04:03 -0600, sherwindu wrote: Naturally, only the successful chance seedlings were passed down through the years. The thousands, or perhaps millions of them that were just awful are not around anymore. So are the thousands of older cultivars that didn't withstand shipping or long storage, or weren't "pretty enough" in someone's eyes, or just didn't get recognized by a commercial nursery. And they were good apples, some much better than the half dozen or so cultivars you get in most US grocery stores today. First of all, I grow a goodly number of these heritage apples, so you obviously missed my point. Exactly how did you grow this Kay pear? Was it a sport of some well known pear, a seedling of some known pear, or a complete chance seedling? A cross between an ornamental pear of unknown parentage and the Bosc in my grandparents' backyard. Grandpa helped me make it (I was all of 4 or 5 at the time), and then we grew out the seeds. And it wasn't a bad pear at all. Finally succumbed to fireblight many years later. And I've gotten some very good no-name apples out of local roadsides, probably planted by birds. Or, they came from a known variety tree that lost it's identity somewhere along it's lifetime. Doubt that... old roads, old fencelines, and most of them don't look anything like currently favored cultivars. Speaking of modern genetically produced apples, have you tasted some of the newer ones like Cameo, Honeycrisp, Rubinette, etc., etc. Sure. Have you tasted some of the "wild" apples being currently imported for germplasm use? Some really good stuff there. Not sure which ones you are suggesting. Where can I find out more about them? If you look in the Fruit, Nut, and Berry Inventory book of available varieties, you will find the chance seedlings there, but only a small percentage of the total offerings. Yes, because people who actually bother to name cultivars are likely to be working with a subset of plants that have something they're trying to improve upon. But chance seedlings play a part, too.... go back in the parentage and you'll find a lot of "unnamed seedling x cox's orange pippin" sorts of entries. No arguement there. However, I just want to point out that the number of successes of chance seedlings is not that great. The Cox's Orange Pippen (which I grew until it died last year) has been bred into many other varieties, of which I still have it as part of my Freyberg apple. I say, leave it up to the experts to do the experimenting, when there are so many good apples of known parentage out there. Encouraging a kid to put his energies into a losing venture is not a good introduction to gardening. And I'd argue, as an old educator, that learning that everything doesn't work the way you think it might is a much more important lesson (in gardening, in life, in science) than success at growing a "kit tree". OK. What is more rewarding? Sticking a seed into the ground, or grafting a tree? I think the seed planting sounds more like a 'kit'. Doesn't take that much effort to grow a seedling tree to bearing size, if they can make it through the winter in a planter (a relatively hostile environment.) That's the point. What attachment can you have to something that can be grown with about the same effort as a carrot. Back to the OP's question... insulate that planter, cuddle it up against the house, and make sure it doesn't dry out or have standing water in it this winter. In the real cold climates, I would bury the pot for added protection. Sherwin D. Then enjoy what you get with your kids. Me? I'm a retired botanist. My grandfather, who originally got me interested in gardening, used to take me on day trips for such things as hunting for the stump of the first 'Delicious' apple tree, or over to look at the crab apple test orchard a friend ran. Learning to look and examine and ask questions and perservere are good life lessons you can learn from a little amateur plant breeding, imo. Kay |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Apple Tree From Seed in Mid-Atlantic | Gardening | |||
Pollinating apple espalier apple | United Kingdom | |||
Apple tree from seed? | Gardening | |||
Baby apple tree from a seed... | Gardening |