Skillcult Seeds/Crosses

@busch83 Nice work! Ya’ll are inspiring me. All my seeds are still in the fridge except one container I got out this week to test if they will germinate in the warmth & under the lights. Hooray, they did! I’m going to bring them out but all these grafts I’ve got to do are making me wait.

What soil or soil mix does everyone use for these, mine are just starting to pop up, I used Burpees starter mix, that should work for a few weeks but what next? Does anyone plant them out at 6-8” or keep in pots for the first year?

Some of my grafts are showing off. Both are on Chestnut with unknown semi dwarf roots.


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Any chance there were water droplets on the leaves? I’ve had apple and pear seedlings develop similar damage when droplets acted like tiny lenses under grow lights and scorched the leaves. Not definitive at all, but it looks somewhat similar to what I’ve experienced.

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I use a seed starting mix from a local nursery, which has done much better than the ones I put in a generic potting soil (most of those turned yellow). I have mine in Tree Pots (so they have a lot of space for root development) and will plant them out after my zone’s average last frost date (mid-May).

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There’s a chance. I have so many sprouts this year that my watering is not necessarily the most targeted… I’ll see if being careful with that changes anything. I do have a fan going that should dry up droplets, but perhaps not quickly enough.

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@GrumpyPantsPlants I’m excited to follow your progress with these. My parents live in NW Iowa and I’ve thought about growing a few things at their place.

Glad to know others with connections to NW Iowa! :slight_smile:
Below are the current seedlings, to include the crosses I made with Skillcult pollen, Skillcult seeds from this year, and some seeds from the experimental farm network (also few are peach from EFN, as I’m hoping to find a seedling that will produce and not randomly die here).

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The base I used is outdoor raised bed mix. its pretty woody but in these pots I’m concerned with drying out more than being waterlogged. What you use needs to be adjusted for the use case.

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Is there an exhaust fan on the tent? Negative air pressure in the tent will do a world of good, even with a passive intake vent.

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Little kitchen station getting there. All of my second seed order from Steven have true leaves now.

Seeing some nice big leaves from MDV X cherub now.

Sugarwood x Jellybean cider showing very short nodal spacing. Hopefully both dwarven and stable :smiling_face_with_tear:

Managed to get a nice balance of varieties to survive thus far. Worried I’d overdone it back in Feb but these modest germination rates are about what I can cope with further down the line. Spent some time today remediating the plot where the seedling rows will land.

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Perhaps I need an exhaust fan rather than just a fan blowing air in. I do have vents open, but an additional fan might help a lot.

Nice! Which cross is showing some reddish leaves?

The germination and dampening off rates make me feel better about my purchases and crosses as well, haha. The best will survive (and hopefully be tasty/somewhat hardy/somewhat disease-resistant)! :slight_smile:

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Those red leaved ones are all trailman X hella kitty. They look lovely!

The tent air will be pretty stagnant without a constant exhaust from an inline duct fan. Worth getting an EC fan just to not have to listen to constant fan noise. Ac infinity ones are good value if I remember correctly. I know we’re not concerned with odour like canna growers but the environmental benefits are quite drastic.

A generic tent airflow blurb:

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Its fun to see the wide expression of genes within the same parental line.


Better cri in sunlight. All 4 of these are Pom x Cherub crosses.

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Wow, those are gorgeous! Doesn’t look like any of the seeds I ordered this spring have any red tint to them, so I am especially interested in seeing what others’ look like. I hope they keep that cool color!

Time will tell. The pom cherub set leans into the reds a lot. The ghostly paleness of the one is unique though. It should be interesting if it holds through the season. I’ll hopefully get a look at it in the sunlight today if the clouds don’t roll back in on me.


Summer Open showing off bright red new growth against its deep green leaves.

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What is a rough estimate of germination rates? I have had just a little over 50% but its’ only been a week at room temps so more may show up.

Last year my apple seed germination rate approached 90%. This year it’s closer to 70%… but I have sprouted more seeds and have probably paid much less attention to them this go around. :slight_smile:

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