try keeping them drier than you would at first assume (more plants die from over-watering than under-watering). A quick spray of water will effectively control aphids on small plants without damaging (or using poisons in the house) at this stage.

once they're in the ground, watch for dogs, kids, lawn equipment and understand they will take years to grow to bearing size (and start looking into grafting methods, as within three or so years when you realize how long this is taking and the prospect of getting inferior fruit a solution starts to look appealing).

~Chills

My Kid was three and started an apple from a grocery store Ida Red apple. At about 15 years it started to bear..sweet, crisp, non browning, red/purple apples. They are yummy. It's a heavy cropper too. Figure one in ten or so will be good, and a few less than that will be extra good. This one is scab resistant too. I have started Spartan seedlings, and Royal Galas too, will get back to you when they bear. Russets seem to make pretty good seedlings too, and any of the Pippins. Your little seedlings might be about ready to pot in a bigger pot now, in good compost, if you have any. Some years they will be 8 inches by the time to put them out, other years, almost 3 feet. If they are tiny, perhaps you could winter them in an unheated porch the first year, then pot them into much bigger pots in Feb or so and they will be plenty big to plant in the ground by spring. You can put a spiral tree wrap on them too, when you do plant them outside, as it gives them a little more visibility (white), and protects them from mice and whippersnippers.

Ben's question was how to care for apple seedlings. Most any spray sold for houseplants will keep them insect free. I'd transplant into larger pots once they get 5-6" tall, at least before the roots grow into the peat pots. Use good quality potting soil that has fertilizer in it. Water regularly, but don't let them stay soggy or completly dry out. Transplant outside after freezing weather is over.

Everyone interested in hybridizing fruit should read Luther Burbank's "Partner of Nature" (1939), republished a few years ago by University Press of the Pacific. He grew over 200,000 apple seedling to produce "perhaps half a dozen" he considered to be "valuable new apples."

Nothing wrong with being Johnny Appleseed, but you likely will get 30-40' tall trees.

I guess I should mention that out of Luther Burbank's 200,000 apple seedlings, he only selected six, none of which are around today. I'm choosing to spend my efforts sorting through the 1,500 or so known varieties available by scionwood to see which are well-adapted to our climate and growing conditions.

On the other hand, winning Super-Lotto is millions-to-one odds, but somebody wins it all the time. Your odds of finding a good apple are about the same, but many good apples were found not by fruit breeders growing hundreds of thousands of seedlings, but by some gardener who stuck a few seeds in a pot (as in Bramley Seedling).

Applenut

You could also start a lot of seedlings and graft them on one or 2 trees to increase your odds and vastly accelerate the evaluation process. You could even use dwarfing rootstock and wait only a year once the tree's rootsystem is established (2 or 3 years).

I know this is not what the thread was initially about, but I think that question has been pretty well answered.

"You could also start a lot of seedlings and graft them on one or 2 trees to increase your odds and vastly accelerate the evaluation process."

That's exactly how Burbank operated- controlled crosses, whipgraft onto bearing trees, ruthless culling. I got to work around U of Illinois apple hybridizing (in the 1970's), where they grew many thousands of apple crosses to fruiting in windrows, then bulldozed them all. Not a pretty sight.

Burbank also wrote "apples will come nearer to breeding true to type than any other fruit...what future breeders of apples will produce are hardier trees, capable of withstanding very cold winters or very hot summers. Also, resistance to disease and the inroads of pests will always be a mark to shoot at."

If the fruit turns out to be not so great, you will be able to cut armloads of apple blossoms each spring without fear of harming the harvest!

Thank you all for responding so quickly, I was looking at them today and some of them are shooting roots through the bottom of the peat pellets. And the last apple seed in the tray sprouted. I guess one day ill have alot of apples.

I am upgrading the lights too, right now they are under a 4 foot florescent that has 2 bulbs that flicker, In a hour they will have a 4 foot florescent with 3 light bulbs that don't flicker.

Also to my surprise one of the lady bugs came back. So I'm still going natural with the insect control.

Aphids do drown easily. The previous poster who suggested a smart stream of water to wash them off was right. You could even take them to the sink and spray them with water, so the little blighters will wash down the drain and be gone. After that, they will be pretty wet, so don't water them till they dry a bit. That's all I do here, and it works.

I have over 200 apple seedlings in my kitchen right now. Some are 6 inches tall at this point. I have some from last spring out in the garage and they are a couple feet tall. Watch Cedar Apple Rust, that was something that hit my seedlings last spring, other then that its fun and a CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP way to grow your own trees. I've spent way too much on catalog ordered fruit trees, so i'm moving to growing my own rootstock and grafting. You can get scion from others or even order it, and/or go to an orchard and start grabbing and drive away really fast. I also have apricot, sour cherry, peach, plum seedlings, not to mention i'm rooting hardwood cuttings off some other trees.

Jocelynpei, would you be willing to share some scionwood from your lovely seedling? It sounds yummy and interesting.

The story about having to grow thousands of seedlings to get one good selection is completely bogus. Seedlings are amazingly good. In fact, most heirloom apples are chance seedlngs. One of our local apple growers found an old abandonned orchard where the seedling rootstocks had taken over. In it he managed to find quite a few good ones, including one that really has a lovely pronounced banana flavor.

Does anyone know how long it takes for seedling wood to bear fruit when grafted to anestablished mature varietal tree?

>Everyone interested in hybridizing fruit should read Luther Burbank's "Partner >of Nature" (1939), republished a few years ago by University Press of the
>Pacific. He grew over 200,000 apple seedling to produce "perhaps half a
>dozen" he considered to be "valuable new apples."

Were those half a dozen the only ones that were of sufficient quality, or the only ones that were of sufficient quality *and* appreciably different from the starting stock? I'd guess that he got a lot more that were fine apples, but essentially the same as the parents.

Alex

dadhaslonglegs,

Sounds like you're having fun growing seedlings. I've cut out that step and went directly to my local cider mill. There are tons of seedlings coming up where the owner spreads the leftover squeezins. All I have to do is bring my shovel and I've got rootstocks galore. Good tip for those who don't want to wait to sprout their own.

-Little John

Now there is a aphid problem, but i found where all the ladybugs flew to, the basement window. i gathered up about 10 and they all started going to work right as i put them on the leaves.

Also, nearly all of the stems have turned red, i was wondering if anyone knows what thats from?

thanks
Ben

Ben:

It's not uncommon for seedlings to have a red tint to them. Bud. 9 rootstock has reddish leaves, red wood, red blossoms, and red apples. These seedlings give us some of our most spectacular fall color, something rare here in Southern California.

Applenut