I would like to grow some full sized apple trees and I need to keep costs down. Does anyone know if I can get good results buy starting root stock from seed and then grafting my desired variety onto it?
Since you are not looking for dwarfing characteristics seedlings of an apple tree that has been seen to do well under your conditions can probably be assumed to be suitable. It depends on the progeny all inheriting the parent tree's ability to thrive under the soil and climate conditions there. Apples do vary to an unusual degree from seed. Otherwise you could probably buy a bundle of clonal rootstock liners of known uniform characteristics fairly inexpensively. Another point: there ARE some apple viruses around that could be picked up via unfested budwood. I have noticed a few commercial suppliers promoting that their stock is clean. If I were trying your project I would give this some thought as well.
Another point : if you start from a pippin, prepare to expect about 10 years for your first crop knowing that dwarf rootstocks allows a crop within 1 to 3 years.
For anyone interested, grafting instructions with pictures may be found from a number of sources by searching, "grafting fruit trees" on Google. Yes, good results should be obtainable by growing seedlings, and a year later grafting onto it, or several years later grafting or budding onto it. This has been done for centuries. Start with seed from a variety that would be hardy in your area, 'Spartan' being one possibility. Dry seeds a couple days, then sow outside in late fall. Alternately (what I did last year,) in January you can sow the seeds in pots of moist media placed in zip-sealed plastic bags in your refrigerator. Check on them often after a month, as they may germinate, otherwise take out the pots after 10 weeks and they will germinate at room temperature. After cotyledons expand, carefully transplant each individual plant into its own pot, preferably one that is rather tall (but doesn't have to be very wide). Grow them in a sunny window until after the last spring frost, then place pots outdoors to grow over the summer. Plant in the fall (I planted the end of September,) mulch, and place a 2' tall x 2.5' circumference hardware cloth fence around the tree, burying the edge an inch or more. This should be easy to remove and replace when you do your grafting. I am certainly a fan of dwarf, or any size apple trees for that matter. There are some precocious apple cultivars that can bear fruit in less than 5 years on standard stock, 'Red Baron' for example (a good choice for hardiness zones 3-4).
