Which of the 2023 seedlings has had the cleanest leaves so far?
Not to many seedlings to judge and most are potted so poor growing conditions probably factor in.
That being said my Appaloosa x Wickson are cleaner when compared to the Jan Rus x Whitwick. The latter gets hit by rusts pretty hard. I have a scion of Jan Rus going on a dwarf winesap and that doesn’t seem to suffer but it gets treated along with the rest of my non-seedling trees so its not an even comparison.
I wish i had more deer safe space to plant as a non treated group to give a better idea of what each seedly can handle if neglected.
3 Likes
While im at it heres another from 2023. I have it labeled as Summer Open but i have another that has similar characteristics labeled Winter Open so i guess time will tell.
It used to have dark red veining on the leaves but that trait is much milder now. The new growth comes in a nice bronze though so still pretty. Its on a second story patio up wind of most of the cedar in my area so the pressure on it isn’t as high. No sign of rust even without spray.
4 Likes
That’s a nice looking tree! How fun that it could be just about anything!
1 Like
Unless I hear otherwise, I think I’ll keep my new seedlings in pots and plant them outnext spring.
Here are some earlier planted Skillcult seedlings in my outdoor bed:
3 Likes
Coming along. Rabbits are a bit of a concern for me with the small one in the ground.
Well I called it. Went on vacation with an unprotected seedling in the ground and came back to a leafless stick. Now I need to decide if I am going to protect the stick and see if it pushes new growth or if it is truly done for.
If it is a cross you are really excited about, I’d give it a chance. I’ve had seedlings and grafts bounce back. But, if the space could be better used for something else, or there are other seedlings that excite you more, that might be a sign.
Im going to let it go for the rest of the summer at least. It’s doing me no harm to let it sit in a small pot. But now I’m even more annoyed because I set the rest of the 4" potted ones out to repot them but was pulled away by a more imperative task. In the 5 to 10 minutes i was gone my goats escaped, made a beeline to them, and chewed/depotted three. One is a loss which is sad but I’m more annoyed that i cant tell which of the three pots go to which seedling so they are now mystery/best guess seedlings. I just fed them some trimmings from my open pollenated tree, those greedy f#cks.
Ugh. Thanks for confirming I should not add goats to my acreage. I’ll stick with my ducks, who were supposed to forage for bugs under my mature trees, but instead mostly forage the scraps I throw in my compost pile.
4 Likes
The damage isn’t to bad. By the time it matters you shouldn’t be able to tell that they ever had a run in with the buggers.
I’m pretty sure the labeling has been resolved. My grandfather had a hobby farm when i was a kid and the goat was our favorite. Ill suffer the occasional mishap to give the my/neighborhood kids the same.
2 Likes
GrumpyPantsPlants, I would plant them now & kerp them inside/ controlled temperatures. My limited experience is germinated seeds I’ve kept in the fridge too long turn brown & die off once brought out to
transplant.
Much success to you.
Ah, yes. I should clarify they are currently planted in pots., as I didn’t want them to wither or rot in the fridge. I’ve decided to keep them in pots and not plant outside in my apple bed until next spring.
2 Likes
I’ve started to move some of my in ground stuff back to pots. When i put them in i amended the soil with compost and turned it in to what is mostly sand. So between the shade, soil, and poor airflow these are all pretty runted.
In my opinion the Pink Par Open looks the best of these 3. But it wasn’t dealing with the crap location for as long.
I find that its harder to be excited about open pollenated seeds if the plant doesn’t have some distinguish characteristics. I enjoy my unknowns with a bit of direction vs being completely rudderless apparently.
1 Like
I have a few more from 23 to pot so ill add those later. For now an update on my “office plant”
One day it will frolic in a field. For now solitary confinement.
3 Likes
Northwest Iowa spring bench grafting update:
All below Skillcult varieties happily took to B9 and/or anonovka rootstock. All have at least moderate vigor.
Black Strawberry: moderately vigorous. Mild scab and sawfly damage
Cherry Crush: was the first graft to leaf out, within 4 days of grafting. Vigorous growth, now covered in scab (yet not as much as cherry cox. Cherry cox are my very worst trees for scab this year, even more so than cox’s orange pippin, which is impressive, given how it seems to attract everything).
Musketeer: moderate vigor, minimal scab/rust. Seems less interesting to aphids for some reason (could just be luck?)
Pinker lady: Higher vigor even than cherry crush, the tallest of my grafts this year (out of 20 varieties), plus larger diameter growth. Some scab, but less than cherry crush. I’m hopeful the cripps pink genes in this variety will allow it take to my climate and not need to be moved into a greenhouse.
Vanilla pink: moderately vigorous. Wants to keep growing side branches despite repeated pruning. Some rust (slightly more than pinker lady).
6 Likes
Got a few Cherry Crush for the first time, and it is a winner for sure. It is a very nice balanced apple. This is how red the flesh gets at peak ripeness. The fruit was very clean, no scab or bitter pit which are the main problems I have had. The leaves get some sort of fungal disease, but it is so vigorous it doesn’t seem to bother the tree or fruit.
15 Likes
My office seedling, Pink Parfait Open 24-1, that I’ve been calling “Pink Ribbon” for now. If it ends up being any good I think the name fits since me and it both survived cancer. I’m debating cutting a scion off of it to put on an established tree but since it is in a climate controlled area it doesn’t go dormant. Any suggestions? I’d like to see how the new growth colors up out in the real world.
12 Likes
That’s a magnificent photograph!
1 Like
Thank you. No skill. Just pretty coloration on what will hopefully be an interesting fruit.
1 Like