Has anyone grown Pink Lady apple seeds before?

Supercell · 22-12-2023 11:15am #1

My daughter thought it would be a great idea a few years ago and her being 4 at the time I played along.

Well, it's about 1.7 metres tall now and she wants me to plant it in a proper position (I bunged it in beside a hedge out of the way up until now).

Given its size i wouldn't be surprised it if blossoms this spring. She's very excited about it all and my fear is that if it does fruit at all, that the fruit will be horrible.

So, has anyone already tried this before and if so did your fruit and if so were they edible? I think she would be better forewarned now then later on and be hugely disappointed.

Interestingly it's the only fruit tree i have with the leaves still on which is odd though maybe its position beside the hedge is somehow causing this?

Jim_Hodge · 22-12-2023 11:26am

To quote from garden sites (I'd be surprised if you ever get edible fruit, to be honest. But you have a tree if nothing else)

"Pink Lady apple growing is not ideal for every climate. The trees take about 200 days to reach harvest time, and they grow best in hot weather. Because of this, they can be nearly impossible to grow in climates with late spring frosts and mild summers. They are most commonly grown in their native Australia.

Can grow to 18ft"

Supercell · 22-12-2023 11:44am

Thanks Jim, one thing we cannot do anything about is the Irish climate.

I'll move it when the leaves eventually go in January or February (they are yellowing now) and let her know it comes from Australia which is a hot country so not likely to have any edible fruit here if at all. She's old enough now i think to understand that reasoning.

monty_python · 22-12-2023 12:37pm

I think all apple trees need to be grafted onto suitable root stock to produce fruit.

Can anyone confirm that??

magicbastarder · 22-12-2023 12:47pm

yes - just to confirm - did you grow the tree from seeds from a pink lady apple?

unfortunately, if you did, you'll not get pink lady apples on the tree; you'll possibly just get crab apples. as mentioned above, to be guaranteed the apples were pink lady apples (should the climate allow them to grow), you'd need a pink lady grafted onto rootstock.

Supercell · 22-12-2023 5:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121525868#Comment_121525868

Oh yeah, she put a few seeds into a pot and one of them grew well so we planted that one beside a hedge when it got too big for the pot.

I'm absolutely under no doubt that we won't get pink lady apples, we were hoping it might be something edible. As Jim says though, this variety comes from Australia so maybe it's a good thing it won't ripen here. I'll give it one more summer and prep my daughter that it might not give a nice fruit but it's a fun experiment all the same.

macraignil · 22-12-2023 6:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526936#Comment_121526936

Since the seed is a hybrid between the Pink Lady variety and another tree it is a bit random what you will get. Did that apple seed growing with my neighbours when I was a child and planted it out their back acre where I could see a good crop of green apples on the tree years later. Even though it might not be an eating apple as such you can still use even the tart crab apples in cooking.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/10/crab-apple-recipes

monty_python · 22-12-2023 6:33pm

Crazy suggestion but you could dig it up and make a bonsai from it??

Boardnashea · 22-12-2023 6:33pm

Nearly all apple varieties are cross' between existing varieties. The good ones are then cloned by grafting onto root stock. All the good varieties have come from some cross so there is always a chance that you have the next Coxes Orange Pippin or Pink Lady or whatever. Most likely it will be a small sore fruit. And that will be a great resource for the wildlife in the area. The bees will love it in the spring and maybe you could make some apple jelly in the in the winter.

Best of luck. It is a lovely longterm adventure for your daughter.

Supercell · 23-12-2023 8:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121527143#Comment_121527143

Interesting idea, we have a small garden so if it doesn't produce it gets the boot. In fact the spot i'm going to put it has a an aprium that i've given far to long to do something and gets absolutely attacked by aphids every summer no matter what i try. If it's a no go we might just do something like that, great idea, thanks!

monty_python · 23-12-2023 6:21pm

Keep us updated if you do attempt it

scarepanda · 23-12-2023 7:48pm

Seeing as you have a small garden, this might not be workable, but would you consider getting your daughter an apple tree that you know will fruit? It might be good for her to see the whole process from seed to fruit.

It's bare root season at the moment and you can get trees on dwarf root stock and semi root stock that have a mature height of 1.8-2.4 m height. They should start fruiting within a couple of years. Some varieties are suitable able for pots as well as far as I know. Future forests have a decent selection available at the moment. Irish seed savers seem to only have vigorous root stocks this year, but they have some interesting varieties.

Supercell · 26-12-2023 12:27pm

Yeah we have three other apple trees,a damson, a pear, a pluot, two apriums (soon to be one) a peach and a greengage between front and back gardens, all kept trimmed small and reasonably tidy. I've another pear and apple bare root trees going in next month. Our kids love fruits and home made jams. If I had the space i'd plant a multi fruit orchard! Kids are like locusts stripping the fruit plants every summer and autumn!

deirdremf · 26-12-2023 1:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121526936#Comment_121526936

You won't know what you are getting until the it fruits and the apples ripen. If they're good, you've hit the jackpot!

If you want to keep the tree out of your daughter's interest in it, and if the fruit isn't up to much, you could try a graft (or two or three) from a tree that produces nice apples, and see how that goes.

But as the apple seed you planted would have come from a Pink Lady orchard and so was most likely pollinated by another Pink Lady, it's likely to be of a similar size to a Pink Lady tree - so long term it might need quite a bit of pruning to keep it from growing too big.

scarepanda · 26-12-2023 1:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121536838#Comment_121536838

Your sorted so! At least she can see the process and as others have said if you keep the tree and tried a graft then your daughter would be able to see and learn about the whole cycle of how apples get to the plate. Which is pretty cool!

cnocbui · 26-12-2023 1:58pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripps_Pink

I am from WA. If it grows well there I very much doubt it will grow well here. Perhaps some of the varieties listed near the bottom of that article might be better suited.

I had the same idea some years ago. Unfortunately my research indicated it wasn't a goer. Somewhere I think I recall reading that being a hybrid, the seeds from the fruit don't grow into the same thing that produced the fruit, so all pink lady trees that exist are the result of grafting PL wood onto a different variety.

I suppose that means that every one of the huge number of Cripps Pink trees in existence are essentially clones of the one original freak hybrid Mr Cripps managed to grow.

Has anyone grown Pink Lady apple seeds before?

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