Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Old 14-11-2006, 11:58 PM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 9
Default Apple Tree From Seed

As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.


  #2   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 01:35 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2006
Posts: 184
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Probably if your children live to a ripe old age?

--

BetsyB

"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.



  #3   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 02:24 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 107
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Plant them. They wont be the same kind of apple that they came out of, but
will revert to the kind of fruit that the rootstock came from. They will
still bear fruit, normally within 4 to 6 years. In any case they kids will
be proud of what they accomplished.

Dwayne

"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.



  #4   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 04:02 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 535
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Buck Turgidson wrote:
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.




The fruit will probably be awful, but it will be edible. (and it might
be good for jelly, or for pickles, or cider.)

Worst case, it takes 10 years for the trees to bloom, the fruit is
nasty, and you can graft a good variety onto the big branches and
convert it to a good tree. Best case, you discover a wonderful new
apple variety and you can name it.

Best regards,
Bob
  #5   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 06:55 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 349
Default Apple Tree From Seed

They can grow allright, but don't expect the resultant apples to taste anything
like
the apple the seeds came from. It's a genetic thing. The resultant apples are
some
combination of the original tree and whatever pollinated it. Almost always, the
resultant apples taste terrible. Instead, you should teach your kids how to
propagate
apple trees by grafting techniques. Check the web for more information.

Sherwin D.

Buck Turgidson wrote:

As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.




  #6   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 07:05 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 349
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Dwayne,

I generally agree with you about the bad results from planting an apple
seed. However, I disagree that it will have any relationship to the rootstock,
assuming the
original tree that grew the apple was grafted onto that rootstock. The
rootstock does not transfer it's genetic material to the resultant apple. What
spoils this apple
planted from seed is that it is affected by the pollinator and all the recessive
genes
built into that seed. I think what you are confused about is when a branch
grows out
of the rootstock below a graft and starts producing apples. In that case, the
resultant
apple would have the characteristics of the rootstock.

Sherwin D.

Dwayne wrote:

Plant them. They wont be the same kind of apple that they came out of, but
will revert to the kind of fruit that the rootstock came from. They will
still bear fruit, normally within 4 to 6 years. In any case they kids will
be proud of what they accomplished.

Dwayne

"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.


  #7   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 07:08 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 349
Default Apple Tree From Seed



zxcvbob wrote:

Buck Turgidson wrote:
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.



The fruit will probably be awful, but it will be edible. (and it might
be good for jelly, or for pickles, or cider.)

Worst case, it takes 10 years for the trees to bloom, the fruit is
nasty, and you can graft a good variety onto the big branches and
convert it to a good tree. Best case, you discover a wonderful new
apple variety and you can name it.


Don't get his hopes up. The chances for a good apple emerging from a
planted seed are very small. That being said, there are some very famous
apples like the Cox's Orange Pippen that originated from a seedling. The
very word pippen means seed. That was a very chance occurance, and most
orchardists don't waste their time trying to develop new apples from
seedlings.

Sherwin D.



Best regards,
Bob


  #8   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 11:42 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 481
Default Apple Tree From Seed

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:58:21 -0500, Buck Turgidson wrote:
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?


It may depend on the winter ahead of you. Plants in planters tend to
experience much colder winter temps than those in the ground. And planters
tend to be either over- or underwatered. Which is a long way of saying
look first for yourself next spring, if you think the kids will be badly
disappointed if they apple seedlings didn't make it.
  #9   Report Post  
Old 15-11-2006, 03:26 PM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Sure, the little saplings ought to grow into healthy young trees, which
will do fine in the DC area -- IF you can get them through this first
winter.

It's probably too late to "harden them off" sufficiently to leave
outdoors. Nonetheless, it would be a good idea, as long as the weather
remains above freezing, to put them in separate pots (with a generous
amount of space for young growing roots) and leave these outdoors
exposed to the elements. This will produce stronger and tougher
saplings than leaving them in an inside window.

The best thing for the coming months would probably be a cool
greenhouse, or perhaps a sunny window in an unheated basement. Failing
that, you'll have to try with an ordinary sunny window, preferably not
in a spot near a heat outlet or radiator. Unnatural heat, coupled with
dim indoor light, is a bad combination that encourages weak, lanky
growth.

In that regard also, you should avoid giving them too much fertilizer,
and especially fertilizer with a high nitrogen (N) content -- the first
number in a fertilizer formula like 15-10-10.

If you've got a LOT of seedlings, you might do well to select a small
number to pamper through the winter. In cases like this, I used to let
each kid pick ONE plant as his or her own. They could decorate the
pot, and they were nominally responsible for caring for the plant
(though in practice I mostly took care of this, for the plants' sake).

Next spring, if all goes well, you can reverse the process -- when the
weather begins to warm, gradually begin introducing the plants to the
wild, until they acclimate to the stronger sunlight and harsher weather
conditions. Remember when you finally plant them to allow plenty of
room to grow. It will be great fun for the kids as the years go by --
IF we can pull through the few months ahead.



On 2006-11-14 17:58:21 -0500, "Buck Turgidson" said:

As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from
some apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to
have sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.



--

Wundern kann es mich night, das unser Herr Christus mit Dernen
Gern und mit Sündern gelebt, geht's mir doch eben auch so.

I can't be surprised that our Lord, Jesus Christ, liked to hang out
With sinners and harlots.* That's how it is with me, too.
* -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

  #10   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2006, 07:38 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 349
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Why put all this effort into an apple tree that will produce lousy tasting
apples. I mean, isn't growing
an apple tree for the apples the main objective of all this? Put a
little extra effort into doing a graft in the spring of a known variety.
Grafting is really
not that difficult. Various clubs and institutions teach it or you can learn
how to do it
from books, or the web. If you just want to see if you can get apples from
seeds, you probably have to
wait at least 7 years to see one. By then, the kids will have gone on to other
endeavors. If they graft an
apple tree to a dwarf rootstock, they might see some apples in a much shorter
time. I have had apples
appear only two or three years after grafting them onto dwarf rootstock.
Standard trees, like those
grown from seeds, take much longer to bear fruit.

As in life, with apple trees there are few good shortcuts or quick fixes.

Sherwin D.


kaspian wrote:

Sure, the little saplings ought to grow into healthy young trees, which
will do fine in the DC area -- IF you can get them through this first
winter.

It's probably too late to "harden them off" sufficiently to leave
outdoors. Nonetheless, it would be a good idea, as long as the weather
remains above freezing, to put them in separate pots (with a generous
amount of space for young growing roots) and leave these outdoors
exposed to the elements. This will produce stronger and tougher
saplings than leaving them in an inside window.


I bury my pots in the garden to keep the soil inside them from freezing.



The best thing for the coming months would probably be a cool
greenhouse, or perhaps a sunny window in an unheated basement. Failing
that, you'll have to try with an ordinary sunny window, preferably not
in a spot near a heat outlet or radiator. Unnatural heat, coupled with
dim indoor light, is a bad combination that encourages weak, lanky
growth.


They really don't need sunlight, as they go dormant in the winter months.



In that regard also, you should avoid giving them too much fertilizer,
and especially fertilizer with a high nitrogen (N) content -- the first
number in a fertilizer formula like 15-10-10.

If you've got a LOT of seedlings, you might do well to select a small
number to pamper through the winter. In cases like this, I used to let
each kid pick ONE plant as his or her own. They could decorate the
pot, and they were nominally responsible for caring for the plant
(though in practice I mostly took care of this, for the plants' sake).

Next spring, if all goes well, you can reverse the process -- when the
weather begins to warm, gradually begin introducing the plants to the
wild, until they acclimate to the stronger sunlight and harsher weather
conditions. Remember when you finally plant them to allow plenty of
room to grow.


Especially if they are planted from seeds. They will produce full size apple

trees, over 20 feet, which are a pain to maintain and harvest. Another
reason
to make the trees on dwarfing rootstock that can be as small as 6 feet high.

It will be great fun for the kids as the years go by --
IF we can pull through the few months ahead.

On 2006-11-14 17:58:21 -0500, "Buck Turgidson" said:

As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from
some apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to
have sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.


--

Wundern kann es mich night, das unser Herr Christus mit Dernen
Gern und mit Sündern gelebt, geht's mir doch eben auch so.

I can't be surprised that our Lord, Jesus Christ, liked to hang out
With sinners and harlots. That's how it is with me, too.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832




  #11   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2006, 05:20 PM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 38
Default Apple Tree From Seed

I really don't think the OP's goal here is to grow apples. As I read
it, the goal is to grow children's minds. For that purpose, planting
seeds from apples is an ideal activity.

Jo Ann

sherwindu wrote:
Why put all this effort into an apple tree that will produce lousy tasting
apples. I mean, isn't growing
an apple tree for the apples the main objective of all this? Put a
little extra effort into doing a graft in the spring of a known variety.
Grafting is really
not that difficult. Various clubs and institutions teach it or you can learn
how to do it
from books, or the web. If you just want to see if you can get apples from
seeds, you probably have to
wait at least 7 years to see one. By then, the kids will have gone on to other
endeavors. If they graft an
apple tree to a dwarf rootstock, they might see some apples in a much shorter
time. I have had apples
appear only two or three years after grafting them onto dwarf rootstock.
Standard trees, like those
grown from seeds, take much longer to bear fruit.

As in life, with apple trees there are few good shortcuts or quick fixes.

Sherwin D.


kaspian wrote:

Sure, the little saplings ought to grow into healthy young trees, which
will do fine in the DC area -- IF you can get them through this first
winter.

It's probably too late to "harden them off" sufficiently to leave
outdoors. Nonetheless, it would be a good idea, as long as the weather
remains above freezing, to put them in separate pots (with a generous
amount of space for young growing roots) and leave these outdoors
exposed to the elements. This will produce stronger and tougher
saplings than leaving them in an inside window.


I bury my pots in the garden to keep the soil inside them from freezing.



The best thing for the coming months would probably be a cool
greenhouse, or perhaps a sunny window in an unheated basement. Failing
that, you'll have to try with an ordinary sunny window, preferably not
in a spot near a heat outlet or radiator. Unnatural heat, coupled with
dim indoor light, is a bad combination that encourages weak, lanky
growth.


They really don't need sunlight, as they go dormant in the winter months.



In that regard also, you should avoid giving them too much fertilizer,
and especially fertilizer with a high nitrogen (N) content -- the first
number in a fertilizer formula like 15-10-10.

If you've got a LOT of seedlings, you might do well to select a small
number to pamper through the winter. In cases like this, I used to let
each kid pick ONE plant as his or her own. They could decorate the
pot, and they were nominally responsible for caring for the plant
(though in practice I mostly took care of this, for the plants' sake).

Next spring, if all goes well, you can reverse the process -- when the
weather begins to warm, gradually begin introducing the plants to the
wild, until they acclimate to the stronger sunlight and harsher weather
conditions. Remember when you finally plant them to allow plenty of
room to grow.


Especially if they are planted from seeds. They will produce full size apple

trees, over 20 feet, which are a pain to maintain and harvest. Another
reason
to make the trees on dwarfing rootstock that can be as small as 6 feet high.

It will be great fun for the kids as the years go by --
IF we can pull through the few months ahead.

On 2006-11-14 17:58:21 -0500, "Buck Turgidson" said:

As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from
some apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to
have sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?

Thanks.


--

Wundern kann es mich night, das unser Herr Christus mit Dernen
Gern und mit Sündern gelebt, geht's mir doch eben auch so.

I can't be surprised that our Lord, Jesus Christ, liked to hang out
With sinners and harlots. That's how it is with me, too.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832


  #12   Report Post  
Old 16-11-2006, 06:18 PM posted to rec.gardens
hob hob is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 30
Default Apple Tree From Seed


"Buck Turgidson" wrote in message
...
As a "teachable moment" with my little kids, I we put some seeds from some
apples we ate in a planter. Now, 6 weeks later, some appear to have
sprouted. Will these do well here in the DC area?


maybe -

1) The seed is a DNA combination of the top portion of the tree holding your
apple, and the DNA of another tree somewhere nearby - and if it is a
commercially grown apple, it was likely one of the nearby trees was in the
same orchard.

2) many apple tops are grafted onto rootstocks, and your variety may have a
weak disease susceptible root, or the variety has a small root that doesn't
support a full tree of that type of apple without pinching.

3) I believe most apples are hardy in the DC area - so it should grow.

4) My father, a county agent, often said that you could never tell what kind
of apple you were going to get from an apple seed (Something about the fruit
not being the same from a seed as from a parent, even when the two parents
are of the same variety.)

so plant it, and see what happens.

If it survives the rabbits, the deer, the kids, poor soil and planting, and
the pollution, it will probably grow.

fwiw



Thanks.




  #13   Report Post  
Old 17-11-2006, 04:42 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 481
Default Apple Tree From Seed

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:38:12 -0600, sherwindu wrote:
Why put all this effort into an apple tree that will produce lousy tasting
apples. I mean, isn't growing


You're sure about that? cv Delicious was a chance seedling (and they're
very nice apples when they haven't been subjected to storage!) Likewise,
most of the heirloom apples are chance seedlings, and I'll take a Cox's
Orange Pippin or an Arkansas Black over a Fuji any day.

Kids enjoy having their own plants... or at least I sure did. Kay's
Pear, while it never produced world-class commercial fruits, produced
acceptable home fruit, and it was *mine*. And I've gotten some
very good no-name apples out of local roadsides, probably planted by birds.

Sometimes, especially when you're a kid, it's nice to go against the
flow of uniformity and find out what happens in an uncontrolled
experiment.

Kay


  #14   Report Post  
Old 17-11-2006, 05:41 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 179
Default Apple Tree From Seed

Kay Lancaster wrote:
On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:38:12 -0600, sherwindu wrote:

Why put all this effort into an apple tree that will produce lousy tasting
apples. I mean, isn't growing



You're sure about that? cv Delicious was a chance seedling (and they're
very nice apples when they haven't been subjected to storage!) Likewise,
most of the heirloom apples are chance seedlings, and I'll take a Cox's
Orange Pippin or an Arkansas Black over a Fuji any day.

Kids enjoy having their own plants... or at least I sure did. Kay's
Pear, while it never produced world-class commercial fruits, produced
acceptable home fruit, and it was *mine*. And I've gotten some
very good no-name apples out of local roadsides, probably planted by birds.

Sometimes, especially when you're a kid, it's nice to go against the
flow of uniformity and find out what happens in an uncontrolled
experiment.

Kay



Couldn't you just surreptitiously swap the seeds for known, 'quality'
cultivar seeds?

Carl


--
to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)
  #15   Report Post  
Old 17-11-2006, 08:00 AM posted to rec.gardens
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 735
Default Apple Tree From Seed

"sherwindu" wrote in message
Kay Lancaster wrote:
On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:38:12 -0600, sherwindu

wrote:
Why put all this effort into an apple tree that will produce

lousy tasting
apples.


You're sure about that? cv Delicious was a chance seedling (and

they're

Naturally, only the successful chance seedlings were passed down

through the
years.


I think that many chance seedlings produce fruit that is not only
edible but quite good.

Each year we visit a lot of chance seedling trees and eat and harvest
the fruit. If we can beat the birds to them, most are good to very
good and those that aren't are fine for cooking. These trees grow
along a very quiet country road and we are sure have grown from apple
cores thrown from passing cars. There must be at least 100 of these
trees and we watch and check with interest each year.


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Apple Tree From Seed in Mid-Atlantic Buck Turgidson Gardening 23 18-04-2010 04:51 PM
Pollinating apple espalier apple Peter James[_2_] United Kingdom 2 22-04-2007 06:44 PM
Apple tree from seed? K. Kly Gardening 49 26-09-2005 07:54 AM
Baby apple tree from a seed... Nathan Bragg Gardening 7 09-04-2003 09:32 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:13 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 GardenBanter.co.uk.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Gardening"

 

Copyright © 2017