Handful of apples and plums that got an early start. Germinated in November as a test batch. Getting set to do 4 or 5 trays (Rootmaker 18s) of apples and pears.
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Nice! What are your plans for them?
By grafting an NZL mature bud to an NZL seedling I can get fruit from a smaller tree and there will be no chance of graft union incompatibilities. The fruit may taste better tnan that of grafted trees.
Plan to grow them out in pouches this summer here at the house, and then plant at our family farm this fall or next spring to use as rootstock, or just let them go and see what they produce (more so as wildlife trees rather than to harvest for consumption).
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These are seedling Meiwa kumquat tree at 4 years 2 months old.
Temperatures dropping down to 20F so they had to come inside.
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Here are my apple tree seedlings so far. These are a cross from Redlove ™ Calypso ™ as seed parent, columnar Golden Sentinel as the pollen parent.
Calypso ™ is a red flesh apple developed by Lubera in Switzerland. My tree came from One Green World. I chose that as the seed parent because Calypso ™ is described by the breeder as the most fragrant of the Redlove ™ apples. I thought they were quite tart in their first year, and small but crisp and a bit cranapple flavored.
Golden Sentinel is a Canadian development, a cross of ‘Discovery’ X (cross of Wijcik Spur MacIntosh x Delicious). Discovery is an English cross of . Worcester Pearmain with, possibly, Beauty of Bath, reported to have a bit of a strawberry flavor and red coloration that sometimes bleeds into the flesh. So Golden Sentinel has some good flavor genetics. I like it although it seems to be biennial bearing.
My pipe dream is to create a columnar apple tree with reddish leaves, pink flowers, red flesh apples that are sweeter than Calypso but more fragrant than Golden Sentinel, which I think is a good apple as is. Since two of the seedlings have reddish leaves, I might be part way there. They have a 50% chance of columnar trait. According to the Canada Plant Inspection Agency, Golden Sentinel has shorter internodes compared to McIntosh Wicjik, so it’s possible that I might see that in seedlings although I don’t know if I would recognize it. I try to put these on a top shelf where they get more sun, because I don’t know if the wavelength of the LED lights is suitable for red-pigmented leaves.
I just up-potted these today. They have nice root systems. They are in a glass sunroom, so the red color might be less intense than if in unsheltered sun. The other two seedlings are a Jalapeno and a Serrano pepper.
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Very nice. The red fleshed seedling in the right front looks especially promising.
Like it will be vigorous. And probably bear nice sized fruit. Even the third one in back seems to have a wee bit of reddish pigment.
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Very cool, thanks for sharing. I can’t wait until my trees mature enough that I can start making some intentional crosses.
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Update: apple and pear looking good!
Didn’t get the germination rate I had last year, but I think I learned what mistakes I made.
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Got my apple and pear up potted today. I’ll put them out during the day and bring them in at night for the next month or so, then plant them in the nursery.
I even got my toddler to “help” (for 5 minutes before he found a mud puddle to run through…)
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Technically not a tree but it’s a seedling and hopefully will produce fruit, so here’s a Thomson’s edible (seeded, obviously) banana:
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This is a Geo Pride pluot seedling that was put in the ground last year…I had it growing in a pot for 2 years. Looking forward to tasting some fruit this year. Plan to graft over some other varieties to it later.
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It’s fun looking at others’ fruit seedlings. Who knows what will develop!
Here is the progress note on my Calypso ™ x Golden Sentinel seedlings.
I’ve been giving them 1/8 teaspoon regular Miracle Gro per 2 quarts water. That method gives good growth for me. I use it for a lot of seedlings. Early in the process, it’s growth that I want.
Now these seedlings have a daily commute, outdoors in full sun starting late morning, until early evening. The get LEDs and indoor warmth early am and late pm.
These are at about 15 leaves now. The green leaf seedling has about the same number of leaves, but longer internodes.
According to Ystwyth Valley Apple Breeders in Wales, the end of juvenile phase occurs at around 77 to 122 nodes on the main shoot. i imagine that will take three or four years if I give them the best conditions that I can.
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Looking good!
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Those are some healthy looking plants! Are you planning on fruiting them on their own roots or graft them on a dwarf root to try and speed things along?
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@Everett, I think I’ll keep them on their own roots until they reach about 100 node height, then graft onto Bud-9.
Bud-9 seems really precocious. I have some grafts blooming on Bud-9 at one year and two feet tall. if there is extra scion I could also graft onto a producing size tree.
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Good plan, I have 25 bud 9 and I think I will graft some of my seedlings from last year onto them. I also have 25 g.11 I will be trialing with various varieties as well.
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