Those sound like they have the potential be some flavorful combos!
Skillcult will likely send directions, but in general you will want to soak the seeds and then put them in the fridge with a damp medium like sand or peat moss. After a couple months, they should start to sprout.
Looks like you’ll get some great growth this year!
I received my last batch of Skillcult seeds & Ive started the soaking process for all of them
!

I decided to make these seeds, as well as seeds from other unique apples I find, my big trial & focus for the season.![]()
![]()
Am I the only one who doesn’t soak until I’m ready to sprout? I place mine in an almost dry mix of peat moss, sand, vermiculite, and perlite for stratification. I just want to prevent desiccation for the time being.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but this year I soaked mine right away because I want them to sprout as soon as possible. Last year I learned that my seeds that sprouted the earliest (and I planted out in treepots in my heated shop) survived transplanting outside better than the ones that sprouted later (and were much smaller at time of transplant).
Ahh, Buddy, the seed sowing instructions that came with the seeds recommended soaking.
I grew alot of flowers before getting into fruit trees so I’m in the habit of soaking all larger seeds for good germination & stratification.
I have not looked at any studies on apple stratification. You may grow in a humid environment that helps you germinate without soaking first.
They will get soaked. I will pull them out of their beds (bags) and put them into a soak for 24 hours before planting. Just don’t want them kicking off the party before I’m ready.
I’m wondering if pink or red stems on seedlings is a good indication that they may grow up to produce red or pink fleshed apples. (The internet seems to say maybe.)
I have five seedlings from the same apple (McIntosh x Pinker Lady) and most have stems that are all green or green with a small amount of pink. However, one has a very bright pink stem.
Pink stem above. Mostly green stem below.
Ha! Im in Maryland and bought:
October blend OP
Trailman x hella kitty
Sam young x golden russet
Also no idea what im doing, that comment resonated with me (lol)
I Got 36 Skillcult crosses w/ some open polination apple seeds in the new to me plant fridge for their “Winter.”
A couple Clarion, Appleoosa crosses, a handful of Gold Rush, Musketeer, Sugarwood, Vanilla Pink, William’s Pride crosses a few of this & that so I have many of his cultivars represented in seeds.
One big go of it to focus on growing them out this season. I don’t think I’ll germinate any other seeds this year so I don’t get distracted.
I have plenty of scions & rootstocks to graft on the horizon.
I send positive thoughts & tap on the fridge when I go by it, cheering them onward!
I have asked a similar question before. It was generally said to be an unreliable indicator of fruit character. I figure it cant hurt plus Im not culling yet.
I will mark it and see what happens then. ![]()
Can’t be a bad sign, I figure.
https://www.yvapplebreeders.com/information/seed-storage-germination/
There’s some good citations on apple stratification here.
I have had some seeds arrive which was lovely! The transatlantic voyage can be long winded sometimes. I think there’s probably some more in the post but the leek and collards seeds take up a bit more room in the envelope.
They’ve had a day soaked in a lil seed start solution. I tried a bit of L-glutamine powder, aloe powder, gaba rice cooking water and some blended sprouted alfalfa seeds.
Now the fridge becomes a hive of labelled tupperware ![]()
So far we have:
Mdv x cherub X10 soaked 21/01/26
Hella kitty x pink parfait X10 soaked 21/01/26
Sugarwood x jellybean x10 soaked 21/01/26
Cherub x 15/2 Rubaiyat pink parfait x5 soaked 21/01/26
Tomboy crab x jellybean cider X2 soaked 21/01/26
Hella x PinkPar should be interesting.
So far I have about 75 seeds sprouted from my crosses (along with a few Skillcult seeds from last year that didn’t previously sprout). This could be a problem as I ordered more seeds this year, so if I have a good germination rate, my whole grow tent might end up as apple seedlings.
Here are the biggest of each so far. This is making me excited for spring!
This sounds like a good problem to have
congratulations on such effective pollinating.
I for one am really interested to see jellybean in the mix as the potential for columnar growth and high density planting is really appealing to me in terms of trying to fit as much interest and excitement into confined suburban spaces. Plus obviously their flavours sound delightful.
I am starting to think the second half of my first order didn’t survive the transatlantic voyage which is a shame but still happy with what I have had chance to stratify early. It did have more dwarf columnar possibilities sadly including wickson x jellybean and Hella kitty x jellybean, and another red flesh columnar X Hella kitty.
Perhaps one day it will escape the postal purgatory void.
I had already put together a second and more low key order just in case this was the case which was a little less ambitious but perhaps a bit more manageable overall. Still got a 7x Williams pride x jellybean cider in that. ![]()
I am excited to see what jellybean cider does as a pollen parent, as it sounds like quite the tasty apple. I bought some williams pride x jellybean cider this year too and have high hopes for them. I hope your first order makes it to you soon!
Williams pride seems like a very high quality early, I have only got beauty of bath and Irish peach here already and it is likely they will both get grafted over by these seedlings to come.
Ain’t no party like a stratification fridge party ![]()
I’ve done some with plain damp j cloth, some in a moist char/oat hulls/sand/compost mix just to see if there’s a difference.
Most of the hydration has been a seed starting solution.
Another vote for Ramona’s houmous I see. It is the best!











