I was discussing on the above thread some new mostly chance idea I was trying this spring to speed up apple seedlings. Rather than getting that thread too much off-topic I thought I would start a new one on ways to speed up seedling to fruit time.
The idea is to chip bud some of the lower buds of a seedling onto a mature tree after 2-3 months of growth on the seedling. In particular this year I started the seedlings in Feb inside and I grafted them in April. Then I forced the grafts 2-3 weeks later. Of the 8 or so chips I did only two grew well, and one of the two got the same disease I was having in my greenhouse where the leaves brown and shrivel. So only one made it. But I think I know the mistakes I made so I can do better next time.
Anyway here is a recent pic of the one that made it:
(Even this one has a bit of that leaf browning on it. Anyone know what that is? It killed most of my seedlings this year, I think I had 16 at the start and only 4 are alive now.)
Back on the topic of the propagation method, I learned a couple things in retrospect. You need to graft to small diameter upright shoots like the one in the picture. You need to make sure the chip you take off is thick enough – on the living ones I didn’t want to break off the plant so I took a really thin chip but none of those worked. The thick chips did the best and all of those I took from dying plants. Next time I may try making a splint over the chip with a toothpick and some parafilm so I don’t have to worry about the seedling breaking off where I removed the chip. For selecting buds, look above the leaf at the base and make sure there is a small dormant bud there, and it is not starting to move at all. I was surprised that after only a couple months there were dormant buds already on the lower leaves.
Anyway overall I am getting excited about this, it could shave a year off of the seedling to fruit time. This year I also grafted some 2-years growth seedling dormant wood to other trees, those are doing better but I bet this one will not be too far behind and it is 3 years younger.
Looks like a good plan to me Scott. Hope to see your updates later on. I have tried a couple of control pollinated pear seedlings and they grew well from the grafts but I should have put them on one of my already bearing trees. I think you have a better plan.
I think this is an excellent way to start testing seedlings sooner with less space and inputs!
I would spray it real good with beneficial bacteria and a very light kelp and fish mixture or maybe a compost tea mixture? The way its dying looks to be bacteria or fungal attack to me
How long typically for seedling apple to fruit? Don’t know apples but citrus seedlings take around 5-6 years but can be 2 years or 17+years! Citrus however come true to seed for the most part and apples never true to seed! I have speed up citrus seedling fruiting by grafting seedling bud wood to a vigorous root stock. For citrus it is mostly a matter of a minimum large size tree to fruit.
I found some references to using gibberellic acid to promote top growth. I have read about GA 4+7 sprayed on new growth, and GA3/lanolin solution applied weekly to the terminal bud. Supposedly it is possible to flower as early as the second leaf with a cold frame and hormones.
I have found a video of someone using GA4+7 (Promalin) on their apple orchard. You can jump forward to 7:30 to skip to the spray. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sh0MlQmB9Y&t=836s
I am still gathering information in my spare time, but it looks interesting.
That video is interesting. I see they use m26 and mark rootstocks. They also use a multi-leader training system. I wonder why they used those rootstocks and went with a multi-leader system. Do they have a website or explain their choices in another video?
Cost is a likely reason. It would be cheaper to plant half as many trees, and grow them multi-leader. It could also be a proven combination of scion and rootstock, and they don’t want to risk the farm on something new.
Unfortunately the seedlings themselves got mostly wiped out, I had really bad luck. I still had some in the nursery but I did not have the gate set right once and the deer got in and munched everything to stubs.
So did this tree end up making it? Any plans to start more seedlings this year? I plan on starting my seedlings in the next few weeks (mostly for rootstock), but when I get some intentional crosses in the future I may play with this idea as well. Super cool!
@scottfsmith, I’m curious about the “disease” you have on that shoot. Brown tips, yellowing, puckering could be leafhoppers (probably potato leafhopper where I’ve grown fruit trees) which love really lush new apple shoots in my experience. If you aren’t familiar with them they are very tiny and love to fly away when you get close to inspect the plants. But usually you see a few, or their old “skins” left behind. Another possibility for brown leaf tips is hot dry windy weather when those tender leaves are developing. Anyway, you may already have experience with those issues, but thought I’d point out what I’ve had that resembles the symptoms.
I am pretty sure that inside there were no leafhoppers, I got this problem before I moved them to my greenhouse, they were just in the back of my basement under a growlight in sterile potting media. Also obviously no drying winds there either. Well, leafhoppers still could have snuck in somehow… will keep my eyes peeled for them next time this happens!
