Last year, I took some seeds from a store bought bag of apples. I think they were macintosh. Anyway, of say 20 seeds I managed to get one seed to grow. I stared it last oct, then transplanted the tree to outside in the spring. Its now as tall as my knee.
So this year I have been given some apples from trees around the area here. Good established trees, that are 15-20 years old. I am going to try again to grow some trees from these seeds.Now I have read that if you grow apple trees from seeds that the type of tree you get may not be like the parent tree....my question is, is there a rule of thumb as to the number that would be identical to the parent tree. A percentage, like for every 10 that are planted, one on average will be identical? and for the ones not identical, they are still apple trees, so what they produce will still be good apples wont they? who else has done this? how did they turn out?
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I understand that growing apples is a science in-itself. Each variety possesses different characteristics. Apples are genetically diverse, so if you plant a McIntosh seed (for example), there's a 99.9% chance that what grows will not be a McIntosh. I think Delicious replication is something like 1 in 10,000. Grafting the seed with Scion wood from the desired species will insure increase the chance of successful growth (as well as the species propagated), but I'm not an apple expert. 🙂
None you improvise, one (or more) is luxury.
From the course's I have taken ( I have not done this, I buy grafted apple stock tree stock) it is my understanding that while you can have some aspects of the parent apple in the offspring new seed tree, that its totally random in the results.
Its my understanding that there is no offspring that will be just like the parent tree.. Sorry, Wish I had better news on that one
Now that does not mean that you give it a whirl.. hey have fun an yes, you will get a apple tree.. just plan on trying the apples as soon as possible and needing to cut down all the ones that will not work for you in terms of size, taste and so forth.. unless you have unlimited land, there is no reason to keep a subpar tree going once you figure out if you like it or not..
On the flip side, you might get lucky and find one that you really like and in 10 plus years folks will ask for a branch to graft for themselves
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
That's what I have been reading, that grafting is the way to go, but I have the seed and am going to try, I cant find where anyone says the tree grown from seeds is bad, so they most likely may be ok...I will give it a wirl, Im not short on space
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
From wikipedia fwiw,
Many books and films have been based on the life of Johnny Appleseed.[35] One notable account is from the first chapter of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan.[36] Pollan states that since Johnny Appleseed was against grafting, his apples were not of an edible variety and could be used only for cider: "Really, what Johnny Appleseed was doing and the reason he was welcome in every cabin in Ohio and Indiana was he was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier. He was our American Dionysus."[37
As a side note my neighbour use to make hard cider from foraged windfall apples. He would take them to the local cider mill to be pressed. Once he had a 45 gal barrel full, the rest would be run into 1 litre milk style bags for juice. You had to freeze it until you wanted to drink it or it would start to ferment. Eventually he stopped the juice part over e-coli concerns. The hard cider was nice and kicky. Especially if he had a fresh whiskey barrel that year.
Edible variety?? really. Well I guess I will find out, even if not edible at least I will have the tree and I should then be able to graft onto it from a edible variety I think?? Only one way to find out.
You lost me at...... You had to freeze it until you wanted to drink it or it would start to ferment. Eventually he stopped the juice part over e-coli concerns. The hard cider was nice and kicky.
The point is to get it to ferment!! and if your doing it right, and have apples with a high sugar content, you should be able to get very strong cider out of it. Once you have your apple cider, just by using the freezing temps that are coming you can further refine the cider ( by freezing out the water) to get a very strong cider.....I like storing my apples in liquid form!!
No concern at all about E coli...alcohol kills it!
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I just re-read your post and it looks like I miss understood...he did make some alcohol cider, and seperately wanted some non alcohol cider so he froze it to stop fementation....Ok I get it,
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
What none acholol. Its all about having a good time. For kids sure. For adults bring out the good shit.
Then again if you don't drink i don't trust. Meaning you don't want to slip up or talk the truth. 90% talk the talk and 10% mean the talk. Reason always on guard. At least a animal is true on every thing. Easyer then a human.
Yep, the kids loved the juice. Defrosted and mixed 50/50 with water.