Germinating Apple Seeds To Add To The Homestead Garden
The other day as I was cutting up and slicing some Gala apples for a snack, I was just about to toss away the seeds when my hand stopped mid-air hovering over the trash can. Why was I throwing these seeds away?
Where I live in my state there are dozens and dozens of apple orchards and cider mills all within about a fifteen minute drive from my homestead and my husband LOVES apples. Some days he'll eat two. So what better way to add to the homestead garden(s) than to add an apple tree, or two.
Granted when I purchase fruits and vegetables from the local farmers, stores or roadside stands, I do wash (thoroughly) the food before we eat it. But with the recent spinach and romaine lettuce recalls for e-coli; I am on high alert and do not want to allow any of these foreign diseases into my home if I can prevent it.
Now I have NEVER grown apples trees; but when I lived further north and more rural we did have a pear tree and a peach tree. The pear tree was past its prime of producing from years before my living there when the land owner didn't tend to the tree. But the peach tree? Oh that sweet peach tree was still producing the sweetest and juiciest fruit
I started researching how to save the seeds from this organic apple (as it came directly from one of the nearby apple orchards that boasts ALL-Organic) and how to germinate them.
So far I have taken the seeds out of the apple, soaked them in cool water for an hour to remove any juice from the fruit and have them on a soaked paper towel and inside a container in the refrigerator; as they need to be stratified to germinate.
The seeds will stay here for about 30-45 days (natural dormancy) all the while I keep the paper towel they are stored on moist. You need to make sure the seeds don't ever dry out. I have written myself a reminder note about this as sometimes I get so involved with life that I may forget this new task.
According to Garden Know How, my gardening go-to website, stratification of a seed is as follows:
In nature, seeds require certain conditions in order to germinate. Seed stratification is the process whereby seed dormancy is broken in order to promote this germination. In order for the stratification of seeds to be successful, it is necessary to mimic the exact conditions that they require when breaking dormancy in nature.
Some seeds require a warm and moist treatment, while others require a cool and wet treatment. Even still, other seeds require a combination of both warm and cool treatments followed by a warm treatment, or a combination of warm and cool moist followed by a dry cycle and warm period to germinate. Therefore, knowing what seeds require to break dormancy is critical before beginning any seed stratification project
So right in between Christmas and New Year's, I will be getting some pots ready with soil and setting up an area in the kicthen's south-facing windows to accommodate these new plants/trees. I am hoping by the end of next summer I will be able to plant them outdoors at the back edge of our property; near the creek bed where they will (hopefully) grow to their fullest potential and offer us some fruit in the years to come.
I am following the germinating guidelines and suggestions from Home Guide SF Gate.
Also posted in Whaleshares
I used to think that you just planted the seeds and then the next day, poof you had a tree... I was disapointed.
|/,,
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Just know that they will not grow true to kind. Of 100 trees from seeds, one might be exceptional, 20 % good eating, 20 % animal food only and the rest good for cooking or juicing. It takes 8 to 10 years to fruit. ( and now, we can talk grafting 👍)
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Oh boy!!! This is going to be exciting. I'm doing this as an experiment to see how it goes. I haven't drifted into the grafting aspect yet. But we'll see
I think it all depends what your goal is. If you want good fruit and eat it soon, I think your better option is to buy a disease-resistant rootstock with the properties you want. Now is the time to order them and they are quite cheap. One year, I ordered 50 and they were maybe $1.50 each. Then, I grafted them all and gave a bunch away to friends and such.
Make some friends with gardeners who have heirloom varieties and ask them for scion wood. Basically sticks with some grow buds on them. You can store them in the veggie part of your fridge in a plastic bag with a moist paper towel in it to keep them from drying out. A grafted tree will give you apples in a couple of years.
The seed method is great if you have lots of land and time :) You only know if you got a decent apple once they start fruiting.
Watching this venture with interest @goldendawne! Wow I'm excited for you about growing your own apple trees, from seed. That's really taking homesteading to the next level! I often wonder, when the seeds in the compost heap germinate, if we shouldn't replant them and encourage the trees or plants they could grow into
Good luck growing your new trees. I know it's a long process but in the end well worth it, especially for apples! Nothing like making your own cider and apple butter and a hundred other good things that can come from this fruit :D
Good thing that you stopped your hand, these little seeds will be mighty trees one day
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Hello i hope you will have a beautiful apple tree with thise seeds. Once i will have a house im going to plant a cherry tree thats my favorite fruit dince in a child.
That's really cool! Hopefully the germination goes well and then the trees take to the soil. If you're an apple enthusiast, there's not much better than eating a crisp apple fresh from the tree. :)
We'll see.. this is sort of n experiment to see how it goes. And yes!!! LOVE that crunch from a crisp apple!
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