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So I've been playing with fruit trees for a while now so I thought it was time to share pics. This time I am making a small orchard. My plans are to try my hand at dwarfing/grafting etc. Get a little more garden experience under my belt.

All trees were grown from seed. I know they wont be true to type or may have mediocre fruit. My goal is to get better at the hobby before I get serious with trees I now will be good.

The whole plot consists of 2 flats of 3" pots. 20 trees in all.
[img]https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r156/alf00amf/OrchardStarts1-25-113.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r156/alf00amf/OrchardStarts1-25-114.jpg[/img]

Close up side 1:
[img]https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r156/alf00amf/OrchardStarts1-25-112.jpg[/img]

Close up side 2:
[img]https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r156/alf00amf/OrchardStarts1-25-111.jpg[/img]

I'm sure you can read the markers but there are...
10 staymen winsap seed
2 suncrisp seed
1 bartlett Pear
1 Grapefruit
2 Lemon
2 Tangerine
2 Mango

Not planning to keep all these long term. I will be adding varieties and selling some when they get bigger. All have been under 2 twin bulb shop lights with natural light also during the day. Lights have been on 24 hrs from day one and are on a biweekly fertilizer schedule of 12-12-12 right now. Will be switching to a more organic method when they move outside.

Enjoy!

nice I started a lot of fruit tree seeds this winter.

peaches
apples
asian pears
goumi
autumn olive
hardy kiwi
gooseberry
currant
blueberry
quince
american persimmon
and a few more

Can you do blueberry from seed?? If so, whats the procedure? Do they have to be cold stratified??

As far as I know blueberries do have to be stratified. I tried once without doing it and got nothing. And I gave the seeds a good 5 months. If I remember what I read, they have to be chilled for about 3 or 4 months. Although I'm sure someone on here may have a more in-depth answer.

Nice group of little trees! Why don't they grow to be true to the adults or have mediocre fruit? I'm a rookie when it comes to fruit trees so I don't know much about it. Is it just a consequence of the GMO fruit from which the seeds came from? And where do you get decent seeds for fruit trees? It seems like it'd be fun to grow your own from seed, although I can be extremely impatient and have gotten mine as young trees already a few years into the game.

Oooh, what cute bunch of baby trees!
Keep up the good work. I have a couple of seed-grown apple trees that are spending their first winter outside. Hope they make it (they're still in containers). I have others that were volunteer sprouts from compost spread around the veg. garden.

I have no trouble sprouting avocados and citrus but it's been mostly a miss with mangos. I only have one tree-let so far. Tried two around Christmastime and they both shriveled up and died. Let us know how yours turn out. I need to work on my technique more, or else the store bought mangos are often picked too green or kept too cold....

Try pomegranates. And I haven't tried in a while because I almost never eat them, but Papaya seedlings look really interesting. They're pretty easy to germinate too.

Thanks guys!

GardenRN... Seedling grown from seed are not true to type because MOST apples are hybrids. From my understanding the ony true to type apples have pippin or a variation of pippin in their name. You can get viable apple seeds from any ripe apple. The only secret is they need to be cold stratified for 800-1000 hours.

here is a good chill hours chart for all types of fruit... [url]https://www.raintreenursery.com/chill_hours.cfm[/url]

Applestar... as far as mangos go I germinate them 2 ways.

-Get a good tupperware or other sealable plastic container and line the bottom with warm damp (not wet) paper towels. Place the mango seed on top, then place another layer of warm damp paper towels over the seed and close the lid. I like to keep the container on top of my fridge for warmth. You should get a root growing in about a week. I like to let that root grow for a while till its a nice healthy one, then place it humped side up into a good warm potting mix under lights.

-The other method is to poke 2 toothpics into the sides of the seed and balance it in a glass of warm water (just like you would root a potato). Place that glass under lights and change the water either every day or every other day. Again a root should start in a week or so.

The main key to both methods is warmth. Mango seeds like it balmy! [/url]