Post by haecklers on Feb 21, 2014 9:44:36 GMT -5
I thought we could do a spin-off on the sustainability thread and talk about how to get masses of fruit for not so much money.
I've been planting apple seeds - mostly from Pink Lady because they're often sprouting in the apple so it's easy to just put them in a pot of dirt and then transplant them to a nursery bed when the weather is agreeable. They say the quality of seed-grown apples is variable, as is the size because they may have been pollinated by a crab apple. But people who have grown them or find apples in their fields say they are often pretty good, and free is awesome. Mine are for pasture shade for the pigs so I don't really care if they're duds, the pigs will eat them anyway.
On the side of a road in town, in a brushy area, are two identical crab apple trees that held their fruit all winter. The apples were about an inch across, not bad for crabapples. I collected a cup full and removed the seeds and put them in a damp paper towel in a baggie to germinate. One sprouted a few days ago and more are swelling and about to sprout. I've planted (bought) persimmons, chestnuts, and mulberries along the driveway for shade, but it will be years before they're big enough to fill the space, so I think I'll put these crabapples between them for wild bird food in the meantime. If they're as aromatic as the ones I took the seeds from they'll make really wonderful jelly too.
A customer asked if he could air-layer some branches on my asian pear. I looked it up and not only can you air-layer branches to get new trees, but cuttings will often root. The easiest way is to just poke them in the ground sometime in the winter and protect them until they grow - even if only 25% grow, that's still free pear trees, and that's pretty cool. I put mine in cups of water with willow cuttings. The willow gives off rooting hormones so anything in the water with rooting willows will root more easily.
I pruned back the hawthorn tree in the yard and decided to try rooting that in the willow water too. I've read hawthorns root pretty easily - one of the ways to establish a hawthorn hedge quickly is to poke the cut shoots in the soil in a line where you want the hedge. Hawthorns make great bird food, and if you can manage to get any of the fruit make a good jelly that is supposed to be wonderful for heart problems like high blood pressure.
I've read in a few places that stone fruit like plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots will grow pretty much like the fruit it came from. To grow them you crack the shell on the "nut" and remove the inner kernel. Some say to keep it moist and cold for a few months but others say to just put it in a damp paper towel and it should germinate in a few days or weeks. I tried it with an apricot pit and it looks like it's about to sprout after about 5 days. Apricots are the trickiest ones because if you don't have a good variety for your area it will bloom too early in the year and the fruit will all be killed by frosts.
I've read you can grow strawberries from the seeds in grocery store strawberries. I've yet to try that.
I've been planting apple seeds - mostly from Pink Lady because they're often sprouting in the apple so it's easy to just put them in a pot of dirt and then transplant them to a nursery bed when the weather is agreeable. They say the quality of seed-grown apples is variable, as is the size because they may have been pollinated by a crab apple. But people who have grown them or find apples in their fields say they are often pretty good, and free is awesome. Mine are for pasture shade for the pigs so I don't really care if they're duds, the pigs will eat them anyway.
On the side of a road in town, in a brushy area, are two identical crab apple trees that held their fruit all winter. The apples were about an inch across, not bad for crabapples. I collected a cup full and removed the seeds and put them in a damp paper towel in a baggie to germinate. One sprouted a few days ago and more are swelling and about to sprout. I've planted (bought) persimmons, chestnuts, and mulberries along the driveway for shade, but it will be years before they're big enough to fill the space, so I think I'll put these crabapples between them for wild bird food in the meantime. If they're as aromatic as the ones I took the seeds from they'll make really wonderful jelly too.
A customer asked if he could air-layer some branches on my asian pear. I looked it up and not only can you air-layer branches to get new trees, but cuttings will often root. The easiest way is to just poke them in the ground sometime in the winter and protect them until they grow - even if only 25% grow, that's still free pear trees, and that's pretty cool. I put mine in cups of water with willow cuttings. The willow gives off rooting hormones so anything in the water with rooting willows will root more easily.
I pruned back the hawthorn tree in the yard and decided to try rooting that in the willow water too. I've read hawthorns root pretty easily - one of the ways to establish a hawthorn hedge quickly is to poke the cut shoots in the soil in a line where you want the hedge. Hawthorns make great bird food, and if you can manage to get any of the fruit make a good jelly that is supposed to be wonderful for heart problems like high blood pressure.
I've read in a few places that stone fruit like plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots will grow pretty much like the fruit it came from. To grow them you crack the shell on the "nut" and remove the inner kernel. Some say to keep it moist and cold for a few months but others say to just put it in a damp paper towel and it should germinate in a few days or weeks. I tried it with an apricot pit and it looks like it's about to sprout after about 5 days. Apricots are the trickiest ones because if you don't have a good variety for your area it will bloom too early in the year and the fruit will all be killed by frosts.
I've read you can grow strawberries from the seeds in grocery store strawberries. I've yet to try that.
