I have fruited only twelve seedling trees so far of Skillcults crosses, so the law of small numbers would suggest that these percentages can still be corrected in the future, when more seedlings will fruit and a larger sample set becomes available. But I agree, so far it is still very encouraging!
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Several of Steven’s red fleshed varieties ripen too late for my location, so my focus has been on getting crosses between those and earlier varieties. Ive bought a decent number of seeds crossed with Williams Pride, Chestnut, Viking x Sweet 16, and Centennial for that reason. His seedlings Cherry Crush, Pinker Lady, and Pink Lemonade all sound like they should be able to ripen fruit here as well. I was lucky enough to get two seeds of BRFAE x Cherry Crush that I am super hyped up to grow out.
Ive had some issues with damping off in the past. I thought I had figured out a solution last year by pasteurizing my soil mix, but then lost a few again this year. They were kept outside, so wondering if thats how the pathogen found its way in. I also used a mycorhizzae innoculant, so wondering if maybe that wasnt clean. This year Im planning to pasteurize, then start indoors with temp control to keep out of the preferred range of damping off fungi to help ensure all seeds make it.
Ive also got some of my own crosses to grow out. Using scarlet surprise and redfield as my red fleshed parents. Redfield isnt great flavorwise but gets very red here and has good disease resistence. Thats crossed with WP in both directions. Scarlett Surprise also gets quite red here - in August and sometimes gets a flavor that is like a mix of strawberry and raspberry. Drawbacks are that is is not very sweet, rather small, and doesnt keep well. Only got a few seeds using that as pollen parent last year (xEnterprise, xBlue Pearmain), but this year should be better.
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Ive not fruited any yet but got a January Russet scion last scion sale & grafted it on G890. All of Skillcults scions produced healthy growth. For me, Hella Kitty was the most productive.
You got me curious to go back to the seed sale & dream more!
Thinking through the logistics, there will not be tomatoes or peppers grown from seed this year- only apple growing!
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For damping off, a strategy I learned from flower farming is sprinkling cinnamon on top if you see fuzz & also using fine grade vermiculite on top of the soil just after planting the seeds. It helps absorb excess moisture.
If germinating indoors, running a fan to keep extra moisture out of the area is excellent & makes the stems stronger.
I reccomend having a better controlled area indoors to help with good germination. I set up grow lights on a timer.
I up-pot seedlings into small solo cups w/ drainage holes to get them more mature. Then when its time, slowly introduce to the seedlings to the outside area until they get fully acclimated.
I get high temps sometimes as early as April in N TX so seedlings need to be a bit bigger even to go into shade. Good luck!
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Success with Skillcult pollen! My first seeds from this year’s crosses have already started sprouting in my fridge, so I planted a few of them.
I’m excited to see what these little sprouts will do. 
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Hooray!!
So happy for you! May they grow into strong seedlings!!
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Good luck.
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My seed order this year is mostly focused on small apples and early apples.
WILLIAMS’ PRIDE X BITE ME!
BRFAE X TRAILMAN
REBEL GIRL X PINK LEMONADE
TOMBOY CRAB X GOLDEN RUSSET
WILLIAMS’ PRIDE X BECCA’S CRAB
WILLIAMS’ PRIDE X CHESTNUT CRAB
CHERUB X TRAILMAN
CHERRY CRUSH X CHESTNUT CRAB
(SWEET 16 X RUBAIYAT 13/1) X CHESTNUT CRAB
HELLA KITTY X SAORIT
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Anyone interested n breeding an apple that yields walloping flavor like Karmijn de Sonnaville should take a look at another triploid which makes fat seeds: Claygate. I have grown Claygate for 8 years. It typically sets a decent crop and it makes more seed than Rambour Franc or Ashmead’s Kernel did while I kept them.
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I made some claygate crosses this year that are stratifying in the fridge. There is so much conflicting information on the viability of triploid apple seeds so I am testing it out myself.
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I find everyone’s thought process/ approach of the seed crosses so interesting. I wish you much success!
I got the email from Skillcult that his seeds were shipped. I will be spending my free time setting up containers, making labels for all the crosses & preparing my seed soil mix so I’m ready to go! (I heat treat my soil w/ boiling water for 1/2 hour to eliminate any insect eggs since they will initially grow indoors.)
Should we start a separate Skillcult seed growing thread for all of us to be encouraged & follow progress?
I’m so excited!!! Happy soaking, stratifying & then growing eveyone!
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That’s a good idea, so this thread can tocus more on his original varieties. I’ll can start a thread!
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Does anyone know if Steven has made the Grenadine x Goldrush 11-7 apple available? From watching his videos it seems like the one I’d want the most.
Time to find & sanitize my smallest pots and take stock of what air pruning pots for down the line. Maybe ill complete my chore and set up rows in the gound for previous years to free things up. Plenty of cold months ahead for the indoors portions though.
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I believe that Grenadine × Gold Rush cross has been named.
However, Im not certain if its Vanilla Pink or Pink Lemonade-(former working name was Flaxen.) I do remember him in a video trying to say 11/ 7 but then stopped, said something like- its been named now so that part doesnt matter any more.
He grew out so many of that seed cross in 2011.
Im pretty sure i have some seedlings crossed with the 11/7. I think @SkillCult said that its unreliable so he was unreliable so he wasn’t sure about releasing it.
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Last year I got 2 (grenadine x goldrush 11/7) x cherry crush seeds, so hes definitely used it for breeding, but hasnt released it yet.
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I stand corrected, thanks for sharing your better memory!
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I had some help from gmail 
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I have not and probably won’t. it is very unreliable and much better things are in the pipe basically. It has some very good qualities and when it is good, it is very good, but almost across the board that cross has the same issues. I’d rather move vanilla pink forward, which is already named, and it is a cut above 11/7. I just had one yesterday and it was pretty delicious. It is also inconsistent though, as a most of them are. The two Grenadine x goldrush I have named and released may be the last. I may still use some of the unnamed ones in breeding though. 11/9 is still of interest, but did perform as well this year. 11/4 looked very interesting last year but fell flat this year. Most people who taste 11/7 really like it. It does have good flavor and very pink flesh, but it still has the thick tannic skin and goes meally quite quickly, often by the time it is at it’s best flavor and ripeness-wise. I have yet another Rubaiyat x King David now that is almost certainly going to be released and and both “best red fleshed apple eva” and Black and Red are in important ways a cut above the Grenadine x G. rush crosses. The next gen up is going to leave these grenadine x gold rush crosses in the dirt. Not just the ones I’m growing, but the seeds I’ve sent out, which is a lot. I may still harvest some 11/7 pollen this spring for those who want to use it for breeding. I’m leaning much more on the king david/rubaiyat crosses though now.
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