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Post by westbranch on Apr 18, 2017 8:35:19 GMT -6
Looking back through pictures and thought it would be good to add some of apple trees from seed I had done. These seeds were from fall of 2015. I picked a pile of dolgo crabapples from the 60+ year old tree at the farm for making jelly and cut out a bunch of the seeds. I rinsed them a few times to get the juice off to avoid molding. Then I dried them out for several weeks (possibly ended up being around 2 months). Then I put them in the back of the fridge with a damp paper towel in ziplock bags. I think it was in February 2016 that I checked them and some were barely starting to germinate. So I took out one of ziplock bags, put the seeds in a freshly soaked paper towel and set it by the kitchen window where I was thinking it would get a little bit of greenhouse affect. The seeds started to take off like crazy.  Moved them to rootmaker 18 trays and also styro trays saved from spring tree plantings. Bought some shelves, lights, and timers from menards for the growing setup.   |
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 18, 2017 8:38:40 GMT -6
That is very cool!
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Post by westbranch on Apr 18, 2017 8:39:29 GMT -6
Bought rootmaker bags from Stu last spring and also had a bunch of plastic pots from when I was messing around with hybrid poplar cuttings and also trying to grow some larger spruce trees.  Of course the ones in the rootmaker bags did the best. About a dozen finished the year at 15-20 inches of growth. The other 180+ were more like 6-12 inches.  |
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Post by westbranch on Apr 18, 2017 8:43:00 GMT -6
Spring 2017 picture, it looks like the vast majority made it with various stages of leaf growth. Also have a few ninebark and elderberry in bigger pots I was trying to get a jump start with.  Bonus picture of some of the spruce trees and cuttings I had going last summer. A few of those spruce trees put on 10+ inches of growth last summery. Have to be careful planting them this spring to make sure they aren't too rootbound.  |
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Post by westbranch on Apr 18, 2017 8:50:16 GMT -6
Close up from about one week ago. I ended up cutting up the styro trays to get them to fit in the water catching trays that I had. Also made it a little easier to handle the trays. 
Here is everything I need to plant in a couple weeks. Just under 200 apple trees, about 65 spruce trees, and 12 elderberry and ninebark. Going to be using a shovel for all of it.  |
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Post by smsmith on Apr 18, 2017 8:51:16 GMT -6
Gonna take all the empties out west with you?
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Post by biglakebass on Apr 18, 2017 8:56:30 GMT -6
Very nice.
I have chestnut crabs in a starter tray. Need to move them to bigger pots soon.
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Post by westbranch on Apr 18, 2017 9:34:52 GMT -6
Gonna take all the empties out west with you? I plan on bringing most of it. I'll either have to figure out how to get the things I grow back to MN to plant or try to sell it to cover some costs. I enjoy it too much to quit doing it. I did sell the shelves and lights this winter, so I will have to work on growing system a bit. |
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Post by nhmountains on Apr 18, 2017 10:26:14 GMT -6
WB,
Nice setup. That might rival Yoders setup.
When are you headed west?
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 18, 2017 11:58:07 GMT -6
It will be interesting to see what kind of apples those with red leaves turn into. I have some dolgo seedlings like that and tried top work one of them. Will try again this year.
It seems like Stu and I discussed this somewhere.
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Post by smsmith on Apr 18, 2017 12:26:22 GMT -6
Crabs/apples with red leaves and bark oftentimes have red fleshed fruit. I think the red coloration is an indication of having Siberian crab genetics somewhere in the background, but I don't know for sure.
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Post by biglakebass on Apr 18, 2017 14:49:32 GMT -6
Sandbur
The chestnuts I have growing now are the ones you mailed to me a year or two ago...... my wife stuffed them away in a drawer and I stumbled on them several weeks ago. I got em to sprout!!!
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 18, 2017 19:31:40 GMT -6
Crabs/apples with red leaves and bark oftentimes have red fleshed fruit. I think the red coloration is an indication of having Siberian crab genetics somewhere in the background, but I don't know for sure. I also wonder about some red splendor pollen getting involved in the melee. I tried crossing firecracker with chestnut last spring, but the flowers froze. I forget his name, but one of the guys who hand pollinates has a stick of red scion from that cross. I think he used to go by Turkey Song. |
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Post by smsmith on Apr 18, 2017 19:38:16 GMT -6
I figured Red Splendor had some Siberian crab genetics somewhere
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Post by westbranch on Apr 21, 2017 8:57:22 GMT -6
A handful have a red tint to the leaves/bark. There is one that is very red.
The dolgo tree the seeds came from is probably close to 60 years old. My dad is 74 and it has been there as long as he remembers. Almost every farm around here has one of the same trees. There is also a chestnut crab in the yard so that is the most likely pollinator.
There is one "wild" crabapple tree about 1/4 mile west of the farm along the fence line. The tree is large and old, and I would guess started before the chesnut crabapple was in the farm yard. The wild crabapple is similar in shape to the dolgo, but slightly larger overall and the "wild" fruit doesn't get as red as the old dolgo tree does. The flavor seemed good in late August, a bit tart, but by the end of September it seemed almost flavorless to me. I put a camera on the wild tree and it got pounded at night for the last week of September and first week of October. Most apples seemed to drop in a much shorter time period than the dolgo did. It is within sight of the road so all deer were at night. I will go back and find some of those deer pictures to add.
The other "wild" crab I have found has a more round and yellowish fruit. Randomly walked up on it when turkey hunting last spring. It is in low ground and was blocked off from sunlight by some large black ash trees I cut down the next day. Still ended up with some fruit on it last year, it will probably have a lot more this year. The tree appeared to be much younger, so possibly a mix of the dolgo and chesnut crab, and the fruit color and shape would almost go along with that. But I have no idea how the pollination works.
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