As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This is an update on one of my favorite subjects in wee baby apples. It is the reality that anyone can do a television show or sell books and with a staff get results, but when you are as poor as I am, it is a different matter altogether.
I am featuring this to remind people about utilizing apple seeds from the best apples they buy at the grocery. I will not go through the previous post in how to germinate them, as this is a proof of the results in using a Tupperware celery crisper which was obtained for the too high price of 2.50 and in using old dirt I had that was like chaff until it got soaked up again, and the little flower containers which most people dispose of, but I keep as being poor you keep things.
If you remember the original photos of the seedlings, they were too long in the plastic bag in the roots were curled and some of the tips were singed off. It is a matter of unless you have things not perfect, you will never know how they turn out.
God sprouted like 8 out of 10 seeds, and most had the seed hull on the first two leaves yet, which being damp they were soft, and being CAREFUL, they were removed.
I had trouble in the past with this step on premies, but in this instance, the little plants took right off. One problem was I missed an inner hull that TL pointed out, and the little main stem was starting to grow out of the bottom.
I used a needle to pick at it to form a seam, and off it came.
If you look close, you can see that these trees are already starting to straighten from the curly root. One was like an O, so I laid the little main stem on a piece of stick in the potting soil and by the next day it was already off the soil.
For temperatures, I only had two partial days of sun in the past 4 days, sitting in the porch window, which averages around 60 degrees to a warm 85 degrees when the sun hits them. If it was sunny and scorching I would have them out of the crisper and sun, but this is slow cool warm growing, so I am going to let them build their microscopic roots, then acclimate the leaves to harden the plants off.
This week is supposed to be in the 40's outside, so you can have an idea what type of conditions these plants are growing in the porch.
I could not be more pleased with my Sugar Tit collection based upon Honeycrisp cross whatever apples. Yes they are not clones, but that is the point, in I am going for apple trees which will be better conditioned of both parents. This is 400 dollars worth of apples to purchase, and they were throw away free, or 3 dollars for the 2 apples as I got them on sale........those Honeycrisp shipped out of Michigan are like gold in price.
What I will do next after they harden off is to put each tree into their own little pot. I will do this by slicing through the soil with my Trapper Old Timer pocket knife and being careful not to disturb the roots, will then have the apples secure in the places they should be.
I hopefully am not going to have to put them into temporary nursery storage, but will be able to place them into the places they will be growing for the next 50 years which is best. That part will be the task of wire cages and protection so they are not eaten off or saddled by voles.
In five years I will probably have the first apples, as watering them in and taking care of them the first years, they do not require 10 years to produce, and will then continue on as long as the Lord wills.
If I had my time and way, I would cover entire states with my wee baby apples, so you would never be out of sight of an apple tree and each would be a discovery in different types.
I do not have that luxury in working for God and all I have are margined pieces of time to do a few moments of something I really enjoy, and pass it along in the hope that two people out of 10,000 will be moved to try this and go on a grand adventure.
If I think about it, I will take a photo of our two unique Red Delicious seedlings. I have been waiting on God for money and land now for 3 years since I planted them, and they will have to go into Mom's yard, but one looks like a Palm tree and the other looks like a classic Red Delicious bush in the making. I do not know if they will survive or not as that apple is an Iowa Zone 5 apple, and rooming with polar bears might really put a test to them, but that is part of the adventure. The gentleman from Minnesota who created the Wealthy which is the basic parent of most Minnesota apples, only had one tree survive out of the thousands of seeds he purchased from the east coat. It only takes one seed to make an entire new genus.
You can see though how fast they grow under good conditions, and these will be at least 12 inches by August and ready for planting for a less stressful heat of the autumn conditions so they can get rooted in. I will water thoroughly so nothing dries out, and cover them, and voila there will be more apple trees in the world.
It is hard to tell what these apples were probably crossed with but it was most likely some Pink Lady type or an Ambrosia Zone 5, which is fine, but I would have preferred Haralson. but again unless you know the orchard it might be all Honeycrisp too. I just will find out what God intended when they start producing apples.
For now, that is the reality of real time feedback on sprouting apples, and dealing with seedlings that looked like they suffered from Stephen Hawking MS. They will come out of it, and straighten up and behave, as things grow straight in a crooked world.
.......and no I do not have my tomatoe seedlings started yet in need to catch up to Richard and Stephanie.
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