I bought some Opal apples from Costco a few weeks ago. I was going to save the seed to germinate them but as I began opening the apples I saw that most of the seeds were already beginning to sprout. Some had twisted roots almost 3/8" long. I have 19 under lights now but ran out of peat pots.
Opals that I tasted last year were fabulous but this May batch tasted really bland. I suspect they have been in cold storage since last season if such a thing is possible.
Most likely, trees would be full size standard trees. Somewhat like yellow delicious, I found Opal to be acceptable for food, but wouldn’t ever win any taste tests. I understand just one orchard company in Washington State has rights to grow this apple in the USA. (They probably paid many dollars for that exclusive). The seeds are sprouting because of months in cold storage, now out at room temps they are ready to grow.
Greetings, muchtolearn,
I am willing to participate in trades. The time of the year isn’t really suitable for sending actively growing baby trees currently. But we can talk and keep in touch. Email me at sourwoodfarms@gmx.com
Thanks
Havent tried apples but I had good luck last winter with Juneberries just soaking the seeds in water in my fridge until they sprouted, then planting them. I had some over 2ft tall by the time the weather was warm enough to move them outside this month…
I now transplanted the Goldrush seedlings (SEE INITIAL PHOTOS IN INITIAL POST OF THIS THREAD) into one (1) gallon root pouch grow pots. Right now they are under the deck overhang acclimating to life outdoors.
I wound up with 37 seedlings. I don’t have room or the strength to plant 34 new trees so my plan is to grow them out for the year and then snip and graft onto an existing apple tree and see how the fruits turn out.
From watching @SkillCult 's videos, I am hopeful of getting some interesting and decent eating varieties. Maybe not the “Apple of the Century” but maybe something good enough to call my own unique “MIKE’S DREAM APPLE”.
So cool! Mine are overgrown in a flat,looking at me wistfully everytime I walkin the greenhouse. I used a lot of goldrush pollen this year and pollinated a few goldrush blossoms. Mikes Magnificent.
I recently cut open some Pink Lady apples and found sprouting seeds inside. I decided to cut a plastic jar in half and put some soil in and plant the seeds. So far I have 10 little seedlings popping up. Now I am wondering if I am going to be able to separate them into their own separate pots without killing them. Slso not sure how long I should let them grow together before I try to separate them.
This seems like the best description I can find so far about intentionally sprouting apple seeds. I’ve been searching quite a bit. The reason for me is, I wanted to cross red-flesh apples with some of the larger and sweeter columnar apples. This year I was surprised that the first-leaf Redlove Calypso bloomed, so I pollinated with pollen from either NorthPole or Golden Sentinel. I covered with organza fruit bag and was again surprised that an apple developed. It ripened. I saved the five seeds in a ziplock, in moist paper towel, in fridge However, I have never germinated apple seeds.
From what I can see, a fair number of apples from the grocery store must have germinating seeds, although I’ve never noticed that on my purchases. I haven’t looked very hard either. My guess is those are apples in controlled atmosphere, chilled storage.
So what I’m reading here is, keep the apple seeds in moist, cold storage for a few months, then plant the seeds?
I don’t have high hopes for these five, but maybe next year they will bloom better, I can let more apples set from those flowers, and I can try in a more purposeful way.
What I’m aiming for is columnar, red leaf / red flower / red apple less sour / more sweet than the Calypso. I think I can select for the red leaf fairly easily, and possibly the columnar habit will show in the first year or two. I don’t know the genetics, but I’m guessing the red leaf color might be co-dominant with green leaves, and be connected to red fruit, while columnar is dominant so the NorthPole is at least 50% columnar habit and 1/2 of the seedlings might be too. But first, I have to get the seeds to germinate.
I had trouble with my first intentional crossbreeding sprouting in the refrigerator and ruining before I noticed it. Freezer may be way to go unless you have a heated greenhouse.?
I was cleaning out the fridge and found that many of my apple seeds have radicles and are ready for some soil. My intent is to grow these for a year so I have roots next year to graft my cut-off rootstock tops.Then grow out until rootstock has root- a long process but cheap way to get more.
Should I just treat these like I do veggie plants? I see here larger pots than I plan, or have enough soil for. I usually put seeds into small starter flats (38 to a flat) then up in stages. (cups or 4" pots, out to garden or gallon pot). I haven’t decided whether they get a separate finished pot for the year or mass nursery bed to be dug next winter.
I can also just shove outside- it has been wintry snowy, but given that these germinated in the fridge at 36F-ish, is it fine to just shove into a nursery bed?
I use an 18-count or a 21-count tray, but 38 probably would work out ok.
Then carefully move them to a bigger cell in the summer, or when dormant next winter…they probably won’t grow enough the first year to reach suitable grafting size for most people.
