Sour (very) Green Apples

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by woodencloud, Jun 2, 2007.

  1. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    I am new here so not sure if I should be starting this thread or what. I have googled about sour green apples but have yet to find anything. When I was young (long time ago) we had an apple tree in our yard that had very sour apples. When you took a bite they turned brown in seconds and most people would never eat them again. Questions: Can I still get sour green apples, either the seeds or small plants to start some on my own. Right now I am eating apples from wild trees that grow along side the dirt roads in rural Michigan. These stay sour till they ripen and then they kinda taste bland, so it isn't exactly what I am looking for but is better than none at all. I have tried to start a plant from one of these wild trees from a cutting (small twig in water). The leaf has stayed green for about a week but I see no roots yet. Will this work, will it get roots at some point? I have looked around but can't find any info on this type of thing though I am sure it must be out there....Did Johnny Appleseed have better technology?

    any suggestions, advice will be appreciated.
     
  2. globalist1789

    globalist1789 Active Member

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    Get yourself a "Granny Smith" apple tree and pick them a little under ripe. You'll be in flavor country.
     
  3. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Does this cultivar grow and bear satisfactorily in Michigan?
     
  4. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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  5. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    thanks for the above responses. I'll try the Granny S idea of picking them before they are ripe. Should I just get one from my local "Big Box" store or is there a better source?

    I got this green apple tree twig from along the road side in Michigan in southern Barry county, the twig "stick" still has a green leaf but no roots are forming as you seemed to say would be the case.

    I''l check out the process described on

    http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/e.../airlayer.html

    the old 1950s sour Michigan apple was large, like Granny smith but it would be very bumpy and irregular in shape, light matte green with a slight red tinge on about 5-10 percent of the skin on 20 percent of the fruit in late fall, these were fairly wormy too so I though maybe that added to the irregularity in shape.
     
  6. kateherold

    kateherold Member

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    If you are having trouble grafting you should try a grafting cup, really it is called a rooter pot. You can go on www.LeeValley.com and find them there. I have a very large little green sour apple tree in my yard. I was planning to make sour apple jelly from them. They are about an inch to inch and half wide, smooth and green. The tree is very large. If there were a way to send a branch for grafting I would be happy to do so. SO try the rooter pot. You can get what is equivalent to a three year old tree in a few weeks.
     
  7. kateherold

    kateherold Member

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    http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&cat=2,47236&p=46938[/url]

    This link will take you to the website that will explain how to grow a cutting into a tree. You should plan on several weeks, but if you do this correctly you should have something equal to a three year old tree in the ground. I would try to do this soon, as it will need time to get established before fall.

    You might be able to find a rooter pot elsewhere but this comes with the growth hormone and five cups, so you might just do a few trees instead of just one.

    Lee Valley has excellent products, but they are not cheap. Good Luck. Kate

    P.S. I don't think the twig in water will work.
     
  8. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    kateherold,

    thanks for the help. I'll try the method you have shown a website for (haven't been there yet) I know I sound kinda dumb but I just retired and have never really done any tree growing. Also the books that explain how to grow, plant, prune, fruit trees don't make sense to me. After reading different material I still don't know how, when or even where to prune these plum trees I have just planted. They have the diagrams and the nomenclature all layed out but I still don't know for sure what they are saying.

    I realise now after having people make jokes that I cannot "root" a twig. I guess I heard somewhere that someone stuck a Willow twig in the ground and it grew. I am kinda gullable too.

    So are you saying with this "rooter pot" that I CAN put a twig into it and it will get roots at some point or am I misunderstanding again?

    Thanks for your help.
     
  9. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    People can do that with certain willows.
     
  10. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    Carol, Ok, I guess I just all trees are different. Which Willows I wonder? I planted several Willows from little plants I got at a mail order house 3 years ago. Now one of them is 10-12 feet tall and the others are all 3-4 feet. Not sure why since they get the same treatment and the soil is similar.

    Thanks again kateherold for the LeeValey website. I also am a woodcarver so I was interested in the tools they sell. I ordered the rooting pots and am hoping I have the sense, patience to "do it right". I have always been rather dense when it comes to other people's instructions about how to do something. I did best when I ran my own company rather than when I worked for others. I have to force myself to read directions, follow orders. Its not that I want to rebel. You can bet I had a hard time years ago in the Marine Corps where you get your ( ) kicked if you ( ) up.
     
  11. biggam

    biggam Active Member

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    I would like to know of any success rooting an apple cutting; it is usually unsuccessful. Maybe look for a root sucker to cut out and transplant.

    Granny Smith is not very suitable to Michigan, but Rhode Island Greening would be a good choice. St. Lawrence is a good nursery to order a few trees from; they have Leafland Greening and Northwestern Greening, surely other flavorful sour green varieties. You would be ordering for spring, planting dormant trees in April or May. Consider a variety with a precocious designation (bears young). I have an apple tree from them with 5 fruits on it I planted in 2005, and that is on standard rootstock!
     
  12. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    I ordered the "rooting pot" from LeeValley/com as kateherold said in her post. I will let you know on this thread if it works for me.

    Thanks biggam for the apple suggestions and for the St Lawrence site...lots of great stuff there.
     
  13. biggam

    biggam Active Member

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    I too ordered this product; nice that you can get the rooting hormone with it -- it is a small bottle of liquid-gel: 0.4% IBA with a fungicide. The product is based on the propagation technique of air layering. I just checked out an excellent book from the library The Grafter's Handbook, which says this technique is one of the most reliable. (Others I'd like to try include leaf-bud cuttings, root cuttings, and stooling). I plan on trying this product in spring on apple and/or tart cherry. I am guessing that I may be able to separate the rooted branch in about 10 weeks.
     
  14. woodencloud

    woodencloud Member

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    I got the kit a little too late in the year to use, but I have my eye on some "wild" by the roadside, sour green apples in rural Barry county Michigan for this spring. I will report back on how the whole thing works.


    .
     
  15. arcticshaun

    arcticshaun Active Member

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    I tried soft growth twigs in water (removed all but 2 leaves) and did not have any luck. I will being attempting to root young shoots on the tree this spring (June for me) using the rooting pots. I'm just trying to propigate hardy crabapples. Willows should root fairly easy and I think that some collect willow water (like making tea) to speed up rooting of cuttings from other plants.

    Shaun
     

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