Planting apple seeds

During my work in the forest I came across an old homestead that had several apple trees. One has a very nice tasting apple and has so far this year survived 3 freezes and remains firm. It must be a good Upper Peninsula grower as it has survived; and has several new similar trees that have evidently come from seed (one apple the deer didn’t find). I picked up a couple of the better ones and am going to harvest the seeds (MayJune 2011). After drying should I ‘temper’ the seeds in the freezer as I expect our winters do, or will drying be sufficient to try growing? I have also thought about freezing the whole apple as they might during the winter, and then thaw them in the Spring and plant.

Olaf in the UP

Sorry, Olaf, but this got lost in my e-mails! It does happen once in a while, unfortunately. I have had the best luck by planting seeds on the edge of my garden in the fall — in a tire filled with good soil. I cover the tire with wire to keep rodents from digging up the seeds, then let them over-winter to sprout in the spring. We also start seeds from pre-chilled cold storage apples or chilled in damp sphagnum moss, in a bag in the fridge, for several months. We plant them in containers in our greenhouse. Don’t dry them too much or the seeds might become dehydrated and the seed germ die. Freezing a whole apple may work; it has for us on occasion. But planting out in the fall has worked much better for us. We love to experiment with seedling apples, but do remember that apples from seed are not always dependable copies of the parent tree. Sometimes you’ll get a happy duplicate; sometimes you’ll get a bitter “wild” apple seedling for your trouble. But if you do, all is not lost as you can always graft onto the branches of that tree with some scion wood from a better variety. — Jackie

Seed request

I forgot to ask you about the Hopi Grey seeds…I can’t find them anywhere, along with your Goliath, Revolution, and Parks giant bell peppers. I was hoping you would sell me a few of each. I am starting my own small hoop house this fall.

Lana
Oakland City, Indiana

You can buy Hopi Pale Grey squash seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I got our Sweet Goliath pepper seeds from Totally Tomatoes, Revolution from Fedco Seeds, and Parks Whopper from Parks Seeds. I’d be happy to give you seeds, but I don’t have a lot left over, myself, other than our old Hopi Pale Greys. — Jackie