Skillcult Seeds/Crosses

Yeah, if they are successfully producing pollen, why not try using it? The worst that can happen is the seeds are apomictic or fruit doesn’t develop

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Glad your trailman came up. Sadly none of mine did. They were Trailman x William’s Pride. Seems like it would have been promising but this makes the second year of WP crosses that didn’t come through for me. Maybe serendipity trying to nudge me in a direction away from WP. My graft of it is coming along though.

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My most prolific cross last year was McIntosh with Cherry Crush pollen. This cross led to many more apples (and thus seeds) than any others.

All my Mac x Cherry Crush seedlings are a vibrant green except for one, which has a purplish hue. Perhaps it’s a stress reaction (we have gone from 90 to a frost to strong winds and hail all within a week timeframe), but it is growing well and the rest of the seedlings from the same crosses remain green. It will be interesting to see what happens with this one (McIntosh x Cherry Crush 26-7).

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Gold Rush x (Rubaiyat x pink parfiat) was the only seed that didn’t germinate.

WP x (GrenadinexGR), WP x Pink Parfait and pink parfait x WP all germinated and are doing well.

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It seems as if all of mine are exhibiting symptoms of Rust? Ignore the fact that my cat has nibbled on all of them.

Doesn’t look “rusty”. Maybe some other fungus? The leaf color in the first image looks like nitrogen deficiency. A well balanced soil would be best but you could cheat and use some fertilizer spikes around the planting location to bring in whatever is deficient and see how things improve.

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Looks like Apple scab, I have had it on a few of the skillcult crosses

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The tiniest bit of rust. For an apple to thrive in my area it can’t suffer heavily from rust. This one is cheating by being on a patio but im sure the spores are still present if not as plentiful up here.

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@busch83 That apple tree looks very hardy for 3 years grown from seed in a pot! :exploding_head: Very inspirational for our small lil babies germinated & growing this season. Thanks for sharing, I love all the updates of it.:deciduous_tree::red_apple:

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It’s pretty spoiled since it was among the first planted and it has interest foliage. Im glad that its hooding up so well but eventually its going to need to get into the earth.

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I’m planting out some seedlings from seeds I bought this year, mostly vanilla pink x williams pride and williams pride x jellybean cider. The weather has been a roller coaster this year, so time for these babies to sink or swim!

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Your summer open tree is looking great! Maybe it will fruit for you in a year or two. :slight_smile:

@GrumpyPantsPlants Oh golly, that is very brave of you! They look great!! Sending good growing vibes your way for this transition.:raising_hands:

All my seedlings are still indoor being coddled under timed lighting- yet up against some fungus gnats that despite treatment, nearly took out all 10 of the Red Fleshed OP. I’m hoping some will revive.:crossed_fingers:

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Pink parfait x cherub, excepting the last 5 on the right which are trailman X Hella kitty.

From the top… mdv x cherub x 5 or so, then a tomboy X jellybean and the rest are Hella kitty x pink parfait.

We’ve had a bit of a heatwave week (85-90f) in the UK but back to rain and cloud next week (65f). Nights around 53f.

Things I’ve learnt…

My potting mix is probably too rich.

The transition from indoors under light to outside was difficult, 12hrs on was my light schedule I think. We’re at 15hrs sunrise to sunset at the moment. Almost all apple seedlings got to about 4 true leaves and then stopped.

It’s taken perhaps a month for everything to start to put on new growth. That has probably been a bit of time wasted.

All are in 3L ‘deep rose’ pots.

There are still varying amounts mildew present in say 30-40/97 seedlings. I’ve done a spray today with KNF method homemade lactobacillus serum blended with a bit of aloe and KNF OHN. Nothing has been fatal yet but there’s been leaf curling. I have barely been watering also.

Joyfully I had a late entry volunteer pop up here at home from the rest of the Williams pride x Jellybean cider seeds that had been left out in a pot.

Also joyfully the green aphids seem to be almost totally leaving alone.

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I’m leaving for a week, so this is probably their best chance at living, haha. Bummer about the gnats and your red fleshed seeds. :frowning:

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A bit new around here and new to apples/fruit in general. What are Skillcult seeds/crosses?

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Welcome @JakeC.MN !

Skillcult is a guy in California who has a number of breeding projects, including red fleshed and high flavor apples. He encourages others to give apple breeding a try as well. Each year he sells seeds of his crosses as well as pollen, for people who want to make their own crosses. The seedlings on this post are either from his seeds or from his pollen.

Here’s a link to some of his work:

I’m in NW Iowa and am hoping that some of his crosses (especially some of his new red fleshed apples with chestnut crab) will thrive here. :slight_smile:

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Sometimes you just can’t leave stuff in the fridge….

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My current setup… plants every 18” with two rows of seedlings then a row of grafts (that will be removed next year to create a bit more space in between seedlings).

Although I have mostly kept pests out of my apple bed, a few have had a bit of mouse damage. Interestingly, they have chewed the top leaves on the most red seedlings and mostly left the greenest ones alone. Has anyone else experienced this, or am I losing it? :sweat_smile:

Last week I applied the poopy bedding from my duck enclosure in hopes of reducing weed pressure and fertilizing the area. Will see how it works.

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I’m currently moving my veggie garden. I removed the sod from what will be the beds and am sheet mulching the whole corner in hopes of minimizing the upkeep. I’m still not finished and we are well into June so I don’t know how much actual growing will happen this year. I’ll be doing similar for my seedlings but for now this is absorbing any free moments that I have. I was able to get an arborist to drop a full load of chips but cardboard has been a struggle. The bigger box places like home depot crush theirs so I’ve been raiding the local dollar general. Smaller boxes, tons of tape to remove but its working…slowly.

Aphids have started to hit some of the seedlings. I’m trying to take note if there are any common characteristics among which they seem to prefer.

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