Have you had success growing apple trees with seeds from other varieties?
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Yes, from Fuji.
And am planting seeds from things like Odysso, Geneva Crab, Red Delicious this coming spring.
I’ve yet to figure to perfection how to get a high percentage of my home grown apples (and intentional crosses) to germinate outdoors in pots. (Apples from the store that have been in cold storage, the seeds can be planted immediately with fair to good results.)
I’m going through a learning curve as to dampness during seed storage, length of stratification that’s best,
how much drying the seeds reduces germination, etc.
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I can answer a couple of those questions. Apple and pear have the same germination requirements. NO seed drying at all. Cool moist conditions for 6 weeks at about 45 degrees, do NOT freeze!. Room temperature to germinate.
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Some germinate in 90 days or so in fridge…room temps not required. Some don’t.
But thanks for your insights.
Any apples from your trees yet? I am going to check out your newer posts and see what’s up. Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
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I don’t know of a souce-the USDA collection doesn’t always have names on many of their scions nor do they list ornamental qualities. I am getting a “Luscious” myself which in some photos does have brilliant fall foliage.
On a couple of my oriental pears I saw subdued spring and fall coloration. More of a burgundy color. But even my blueberries and Oxydendron do not have coloration like the photo I saw of Luscious. However-I have been amending soil here for 30 years trying to offset (1)creeps took off all topsoil leaving me with clayey and micronutrient poor subsoil (2) BANDED glacial till alternating layers very acidic meant I have to re apply mico slop with lime so MY colors may not reflect what more neutral soils with organic layer intact might yield.
My family has 2 rental properties that I want to try and re establish orchards-and the NEUTRAL Detroit Loam one has black walnut and wetness issues now that didn’t exist prior to the 1970’s. The other is a homestead property opposite problem-extreme lime in Wakeney loam in drought y soils EXCEPT in primary floodplain where the removal of some 200 odd junk trees (about 1/3 of total along a 2 mile stretch of Wild Horse Creek) has brought the water table back up to 1880 level. In time I want to try and re plant what my mother told me was an orchard near what had been the house/barn/icehouse area lining the creek.
As few orchard supply companies note ornamental qualities in the past the home growers of teh trees need to write back to their suppliers(I have to both Raintree and Trees of Antiquity) with spring/fall photos to try and encourage inclusion in their descriptions.
Naila Caruso
Blacklick Ohio
(Grosse Ile, downriver Detroit, Michigan and Utica, Trego County, Kansas)
I noticed SOMEBODY has actual nice fushia foliage on
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I have read that can happen with excessive application of GA3 in combination with a different hormone.
Sorry don’t remember the other synergistic hormone.
It was a research article.
If I remember, will get back to you.
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Thanks. I was just curious, I have no designs on growing seedless apples.
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The article also stated that it reduced individual fruit size, caused fruit elongation, made fruit crisper, yet lower in brix, slight reduction in aromas, yet overall increased yields.
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To me Envy is my favorite apple. I have a crossed that is very close to the real thing.
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I agree Tony, today I bought more Envy apples because it’s on sale here. Not an apple person but I have been eating once a day.
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Old or not . . . I prefer to slice my apples into 8 pieces. Then I don’t have to be a T-Rex to bite into them!
AND . . . don’t have to walk around with apple bits stuck in between my front teeth! LOL 
I found that my GoldRush apples were great (but I like em sour, too) when I picked the first one to try . . . then they slowly got sweeter and more ‘complicated’ in taste as the weeks passed. I had a few in my refrigerator that we sliced and ate a couple months later . . . and they were mahhhhhvelous! Very very tasty - and not tart.
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I cut mine into slightly irregularly shaped, thin slices and eat the bits that remain around the core before discarding it.
As depicted in the Internet’s finest MS Paint engraving. (It’s supposed to be an overhead view of an apple, looking down at the stem.)
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I just opened a Gold Rush picked mid-October. 9 seeds, 16 Brix, still way harder than expected. Excellent. Looks like I can chew up the bags of Granny Smith locally picked over the next couple months knowing Gold Rush will be ready & waiting in April & May (June?)
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My Goldrush are very wrinkly because I didn’t bother protecting them from dehydration in the fridge. My early Pink Ladies are still smooth and beautiful with the same storage and the one I ate this morning was delicious. It has become my co-star to Goldrush in storage apples. Really very tasty and not nearly as prone to summer fungus. Beautiful too.
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Goldrush hides in the fridge in a plastic grocery bag tied, but not sealed. Seems to keep enough moisture to retain hardness/crispness. Learned this with bags of Winesap (little, old kind) years ago. Those kept in good shape until May.
Out here in the semi-arid, summer fungi are a rumor from far away. Funny, when I first started growing in far eastern WA I grumbled at the challenges. After wading through failures I’ve come to appreciate the advantages.
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That’s kind of how I cut apples that I know or suspect have codling moth in the core. Except I stick to the bigger pieces unless there are bits I want to remove.
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Here they tend to be smallish. Jonagold and Honeycrisp dwarf them. I have two strains of Jonagold on a tree that was originally scioned to be wolf river but I had no use for the foamy, big apple. I originally planted it for its reputation for pest resistance, but maybe pests just are as unimpressed with its eating qualities as I am. I used to give the Wolf River apples to a neighbor who enjoyed them baked, but to my palate nothing bakes better than a Jonagold.
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Envy takes the place that used to be held by Fuji for me growing up. It has great sweetness and texture and just enough flavor to be interesting. I haven’t been able to get Fuji like that for many years anymore though. Envy are almost always at least pretty good and often very good. They are one of the safest bets for an apple worth eating from the grocery store.
But when all at their best, there are several other club apples I like better.
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I was trying to grow Liberty next to a row of cedars organically, with the result that the leaves had heavy rust spots and the young tree was hardly growing. I then started spaying Immunox a few times in the spring, which completely prevented any rust. So, in my mind spraying with immunox for cedar rust is an easy fix and I don’t worry about susceptibility to that disease anymore.
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