When we bought our new land there were 2 apple trees in poor shape that previous owner told us didn’t produce, so we cut them down. Recently I learned from the previous owner that the trees were not grafted trees, but wild trees they transplanted from the land behind the creek. One of the stumps seems dead, another constantly shooting up new grows. It is coming up from the root laying on the surface. If I let couple of the shoots grow to reasonable height, will I be able to use air-layering technique to produce roots along the stem and eventually transplant them to a different spot? And a second question, land behind the creek (where I want them to transplant) receives about 4 hours of sun - it could be morning sun or afternoon sun, but literally, it is just 4, may be 4.5 hours of sun. will it be worth the effort to try those reincarnated trees there, or no apple will grow in that amount of sun?
Yes, you can layer apples.
As to the shade - is the location shaded by other trees (what species?) or is it shaded by a buildning/rock etc.?
The location is like a field in the woods - it is probably 130’ long on 130’ wide but not round, more like a cross, surrounded with tall trees: pine, maple and aspen. The parts where sun comes earliest(8 AM) is not really suitable for fruit trees, as it is too close to the woods. But the west portion of the middle of the land can get sun since 10 AM to 2 PM and east portion get it from 12 PM to 4 PM. The shade only look dappled last 30 min before full sun, the rest of the time it is pretty solid.
I have fruiting apples and have seen plenty of fruiting trees in forest locations (abandoned settlements). Unless there is no undergrowth (herbaceous layer), it is not solidly shaded. You won’t get the best out of the tree and the fruit may not be as sweet as it would be in a sunnier location, but if you have no other option, give it a try. Make sure to monitor for fungal issues - they may be more common due to moisture and lack of sun/wind to dry leaves, but you’ll just have to see how they will do, since you don’t know what variety or even parentage you are dealing with.
If you are going through the effort to grow an apple tree, why not start with one that is at least purported to make fruit and perhaps be suited to the environment.
It sounds like that one was already a dud in that location. Didn’t fruit, wasn’t deemed worth salvaging, and is a seedling - so even in ideal conditions fruit quality is a crap shoot.
For real. Why would you go through all that trouble to propagate a useless seedling apple tree? Why not just go buy one? Am I missing something?
Um-mmm, since we bought the place I spent somewhat closer to quarter of my yearly salary on “For the garden” things. What I try to do now is to stop myself from doubling this number, but in the same time to satisfy my grow bug, so it doesn’t eat me alive 
. I am trying to avoid spending money on the trees, especially the trees that may not grow at all, be eaten by deer, or never produce because of the shady location. This is why I try to understand the general possibility of what I want to do first, so I do not spend all these efforts if it is known to fail… For not-producing trees… The previous owners had a very specific way of gardening - let’s stick it in and let the nature do its thing. So I mostly removed it because they were rotten in the trunks, too close together and to a large shade tree, that we removed.
All the reasons are stated above, plus a chill of adventure - may be I got a gem?
If its fun, I don’t want to dissuade you.
But I’d as soon dig up a root sucker from an actual rootstock if you want to start a tree for free, or plant some seeds from a good apple. Maybe one of them will surprise and be well adapted to the conditions.
This one was a crapshoot to start with, and has already failed to thrive. I’m not trying to talk you out of doing what you want to do, I just don’t understand the objective. I feel better equipped to offer useful advice if I understand what you’re trying to accomplish.
On its face the answer to the question “will it be worth the effort” is a resounding no. Unless I don’t understand the value you hope to attain. Surely not getting good fresh eating apples with reasonable effort.
But if its something like proving to yourself that an old tree can be salvaged by just effort, and eventually complete the circle of life by making fruit with viable seed, perhaps.
In any case, if they did well behind the creek before, you may have rootstock that seems to tolerate the location. You can always graft it over with something else later, if it has no/crappy fruit or does not even bloom. (btw, do you have that info?)
Give the tree a chance at least. I find no tree does exactly the same in different places. Trees that do great all across the south can go to California and not do much. Like Gordon and Pettengil do great out west and tend to be a pain to grow here.
Why didn’t the previous owners leave it behind the creek?
I think they just thought it is nice to have two little flowering apples on a side of their lawn. And who cares, that there was a sassafras tree 10-15 ft away. And that the location they selected got 2-3 hours of afternoon sun by the time we bought the house and trees were growing about 60 degrees to the ground to reach the sun. They never even remove the grass around the trunks, so the mowing damaged the trunks and they started to rot in the shade. For the apples, I kind of not sure what is true there. When we discussed the sale, they said they do not know what the apples are and never saw it fruiting. 2 years latter (the previous owner and my next door neighbors are relatives, so we meet from time to time ) she said they found the trees behind the creek and that apples were small and yellow. When I asked if they even flowered, she said she doesn’t remember 
.
Also, at some point they had a one hole golf course behind the creek, before they neglected the land and let the ivy to take over it. May be the trees were on the way.
Grafting and myself - we, unfortunately, do not mix. Even before precise hand work was not my thing, but now I have nephropathy in my hands, anything smaller than shovel handle doesn’t cooperate as it should
Give them some fertilizer and let them grow. See what happens. I would give them two to three years once you start fertilizing them with a fruit tree fertilizer. Just my 2 cents worth.
Let me back up a little bit. Are you sure these are apple trees? How big are they? Can you share some pictures?
Sorry to hear that. Could you ask someone else to do it?
But, you can always cross that bridge, when you get there… I’d say, try and see how they do.
For years, I’d been passing this gangly apple tree by a road in a forest quite often before realizing that it was an apple. There’s a beech growing right next to it’s trunk and the tree gets maybe 2 yours of straight light in summer and there are lots of deer around. Anyway, one year I noticed it actually had apples and managed to taste an unripe fallen one. Wasn’t too bad, so I grafted it into my repo-tree and last year it had really nice yellow apples the size of golden delicious, but lighter and more flowery taste. And they keep. So, I’ve grafted it onto it’s own rootstock this spring. What’s funny is, that few people know that there is an apple tree next to that road which serves as a hiking trail. May or may not be the case of your apple, but people’s accounts are not always gold. Also there are people who don’t care about fruit trees and wouldn’t pick fruit that doesn’t look supermarket-worthy and polished still on the tree…
Trees are gone now, just a bit of green grows of the stump. But yes, I am sure they are apples, and here is the link for another thread about them.
After reviewing it myself I remembered that they were also bitten by fireblight. And this is a show stopper. I have to find another way to entertain myself. Thanks for making me to look for the old thread!
So these are the same trees as that other thread? Seems like you could have asked your question there. Maybe you’d forgotten that thread.
yep, I forgot I have it. When you askes about pictures I started to think if i have any… it is not fun to be oldy-moldy)