Looks good! What variety is their flavor similar to?
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They are better than anything that Iāve eaten. The closest is a really good honey crisp. They are a very late apple that I usually pick while itās snowing.
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I left all my seedlings (just 6) in pots last winter and the rabbits pruned them the same way. But they grew fine afterwards. I also took scion cuttings and grafted them onto mature trees, so hopefully I can get a taste in a year or two.
Iām not sure if it was due to growing in pots, but I did notice powdery mildew on one of the seedlings. Iāll be watching to see if it is further afflicted by it in a more ānormalā growing situation.
Do you keep track of the parentage of your apples? Unless you make controlled crosses (some of mine are) you wonāt know both parents, but the mother should be easier to track.
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Bob I do keep track of the mother which is always a wild seedling 2nd generation. The father could be any apple within miles. The wild stock appears highly dominant. The original seeds came from apples in a remote place where only wild apples grow on their own which we selected for size of apple and vigor. The parent wild apples had never been sprayed or pruned. Since the parents were grown without assistance of man many of the seedlings have the same characteristics which is what Iām looking for. I have a dozen or so mature seedling apples.
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You may want to try some Kazakhstan apples. They seem a lot like the wild ones, in terms of disease and insect resistance. I had several varieties this spring which had almost no insect bites, in contrast with the rest of my apples, which had plenty of bites, even with a coat of surround. Iām not sure about the flavor- this will be my first year to sample them (other than the 1 which grew from the graft last spring).
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Bob,
Let us know how they turn out. They sound like a fantastic variety!
Bob, what was your technique for controlling your crosses? Iāve watched a few videos online, but Iād rather hear how you did it than figure out I made a mistake seven years later.
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Those are some darn nice looking apples. Do you ever sell any scion wood?
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Thatās awesome Clarkinks, I like the idea of new varieties.
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I am not always looking for the biggest prettiest fruit, one with good flavor and resistance to bugs sounds good to me.
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I Chop off 4-5 flowers which look like they are about to open, then save them in a glass for a couple days to dry. After that, I chop them up with scissors, at which point you should be able to see some some yellow pollen.
On the female side, I find flowers which look close to opening and remove all their petals, either pulling them off or with very small scissors (sometimes pull on them all, then trim the remains). I then use the paintbrush or a bit of frayed rope to pollinate. I try to repeat twice a day for a few days.
It is also important to remove all the other flowers which are close by, otherwise it would be easy to lose track. I use a colored twister (the kind used to close bags of bread) to mark which apples have been pollinated.
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Bob
After hand pollinate, donāt you cover that flower up with a paper bag for a few days so that no other pollens can get in by wind or insect?
Tony
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Tony,
Thatās not a bad idea, but from what Iāve read, removing the flower makes bees lose interest. Wind wasnāt considered a significant pollinator either.
But, I just did a quick search on wind pollination and found this which says ārapid decreases in fruit set with increase in distance from pollinizer varietiesā. Given that most of my trees are pretty close together, I should probably protect against the wind.
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What were the original apple trees you started with?
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Tony,
You had mentioned a location with rare fruits etc in KC last year. Are they doing that this year? Do you remember the name of it? Many of us local growers know each other and exchange scions etcā¦ Iām wanting to meet the people that run/ attend that. Thanks
I think it is call Powell Botanical Garden about 30 miles from Kansas city.
Tony
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Thanks Tony
Another one of my wild apple seedlings is getting ready to come in production this year. Its exciting as I think it will be another good one. When I produced these seedlings I wound up with several excellent apples.
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This is a great thread. Thanks for sharing it. Iām looking for trees for a wildlife application. One reason Iāve avoided domestic apples is the maintenance issues involved. The trees you show look perfect for my application.
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