Seedling Apples for cider

No question that is an interesting apple Jesse !

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People who like seedling apples and hard cider or regular cider might enjoy this story about Johnny Appleseed. I have another seedling that should fruit next year http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/real-johnny-appleseed-brought-applesand-booze-american-frontier-180953263/ . This is a thread discussing a few of the seedlings I’ve raised so far New Apple Seedling Varieties - #20 by clarkinks

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Fedco Trees has a number of seedling cider apples for sale this year available as scionwood, most from Maine or upstate NY.

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Michael Poulin’s “Botany of Desire” contains some very well written pages about Mr. Chapman. A quarter of the book is devoted to the unusual genetic traits of apples that make them so amendable to our “desires”. I highly recommend the book to all dedicated growers. The man is a brilliant essayist.

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Thanks Alan I will definitely look at that book https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-View-World/dp/1501245759.

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How’s everyone’s cider apples doing?

I’ve got a Dabinette tree that (knock on wood) will throw a bushel this year (2018). I think I will ferment it out single batch and blend if needed. The bulk of my true cider apples (Yarlymill, KingBlack, Harrison, Baldwin, AshKernel, GoldenRusset) taking the year off or too young. But my GoldRush, Sundance,Honeycrisp, Kidds OR and crabs (and others) are loaded up. Should make for some interesting Cider.

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Im seeing lots of apple threads and i was curious if anyone is getting fruit from my seedlings yet? Many requested scion wood
The crabapple should be getting ripe. See this thread also New Apple Seedling Varieties

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My latest seedling apple is flowering after 10 years. This is a random seedling. It’s not unusual to get blooms at the top like that when they first start producing. It is very exciting to see what they turn out to be.

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I’ve got a M111 that is 7 years old and had two tip clusters on the cultivar grafted to it this year.
Have 2 or 3 apples set.

I have a seedling about 7 years that has not yet bloomed. Both similar size. Both healthy.

Our ancestors from 300 years ago surely made use of any apples or any other food they had.
Animal food if not human food…and fermented cider generally the only alcoholic drink to be had.

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I have not seen any apples out of that new seedling but there were a bunch. I will check back in a month or so.

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I planted a Sundance last year. Sounded like a tasty apple with good disease resistance. Curious what your actual experience with it has been?

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I’m not your best guy for that lets see if @39thparallel can help you with Sundance. There are better apple people than me on here. Apples are a pet project for me i’m more of a pear guy actually.

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Perfect little red apple for cider. Crisp , sweet and enough sour to call them snappy! Love them!




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More so than just taking a bite out of an apple?

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Seedling apples for livestock (or deer), cider…and maybe you get a good one for eating.

Seedlings, that’s the method our ancestors got most of their apples…(although some did do grafting).

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Depending on where ones ancestors came from- certainly not the ancestors of my Ethiopian wife. Earlier Americans relied on seedlings when Europeans were already mostly growing grafted trees of select varieties, but even these early Americans who had no access to grafted trees tended to select varieties and graft within their own orchards. That was the cause of an explosion of new and exciting varieties in this country when Europe was comparatively static in developing new varieties.

A particular seedling would produce superior apples to others in a homestead orchard so the owner would graft other trees to that one. Neighbors would find out about it and get some wood to grow it in their own orchards… and so on and so on. Exceptional apple varieties would spread all over the country this way. This would include varieties best for cider, best for drying, best for butter, best for annual productivity and best for eating raw and storage.

Not much flavor this year but there are lots of them





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Wow, can’t complain about production on that!

One of my seedlings had its first fruit, it was a GoldRush seedling and it was a small, soft, and less flavorful version of GR. In short, firewood for this winter.

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@scottfsmith

Yes i never can guess what seedling will produce the most fruit. These seedlings produce some fruit typically which is something few other apples will do at my location.