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Gardenbug

| Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 - 12:53 am EST : |  
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I just came up from checking my basement 'garden' and I found that I have 2 seedlings from apple seeds that I planted in mid October! These are from a tree on our property that is not identified, but has absolutely delicious apples. Unfortunately, it is very old and is dying. I tried rooting shoots unsuccessfully, 2 years in a row. I wonder how many decades before these seedlings could possibly bear fruit!!!!
Gardenbug Ontario zone 4b/5b |
   
Heirloomgrower
My Weather
| Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 - 06:33 am EST : |  
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> > > > [Delete this line and type your message here] > > >
Heirloomgrower
- Mississippi,
Zone "8"
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Heirloomgrower
My Weather
| Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 - 06:41 am EST : |  
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> > > > The chances of getting a tree that bears good fruit from a seedling are > not very good. Your best bet of preserving your apples is to find some > rootstock and graft a few branches. I've never done this, and don't know the > specifics of how to go about it, but I do know this is the only way to ke ep > these specific apples going. > Elise > > > > >
Heirloomgrower
- Mississippi,
Zone "8"
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Euphorbphreak

My Weather
My Time
| Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 - 03:19 pm EST : |  
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Heirloomgrower is right...apples don't come true from seed, and the result is usually sometime quite different from the parent. There's a fascinating treatment of the history of man and apples in The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan (and potatoes too, among others). In fact, contrary to what we learned about Johnny Appleseed spreading apples among the western settlements in the 19th century, he actually was an early liquor distributor--because seed-grown apples are rarely edible, the frontier folk grew them for hard cider making, and his apple seeds were in high demand!
David, the other CA, 10/17 |
   
Gardenbug

| Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 - 04:34 pm EST : |  
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I have read Polan's apple story...:-) As I said, I have tried rooting shoots- in fact for 2 years and failed both times with a dozen stems each time. Sigh. It has been fun anyway.
Gardenbug Ontario zone 4b/5b |
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