English Apples - Apple Breeding
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So... we got to here ....
Seedlings are starting to grow ...
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Laxton x Almata; and Ribston x Mott's Pink.
Germination:
Laxton's Fortune x Almata: 3/3
Ribston x Mott's Pink: 1/4
D'Arcy Spice x Mott's Pink: 7/16
Whitwick Pippin x George's Red 1/5
Croft Late x George's Red 0/5
-All sowed in Feb.
These are now growing under glass; at 1 May 2011 they were looking like this; the two red-tinted ones are at the front:
The Ribston seedling (Ribston is triploid) is smaller and weaker than the others.
UPDATE, 30 May
D'Arcy Spice x Mott's Pink, all looking healthy 30 May 2011.
Laxton x Almata (first three plants) and Ribston x Mott's Pink (on right), 30 May. The individual differences between the plants are becoming more apparent.
An interesting observation: the germination rates of the seeds seem to be related to the normal time of ripening (all seeds germinated in Feb-Mar after cellar storage until Feb and 2 weeks in fridge at 3C). It seems from this that perhaps I didn't leave the Croft Late pips for long enough.
TYPE.............................RIPENING TIME.................GERMINATION
Laxton's Fortune x Almata:..........Oct...............................3/3 (100%)
Ribston x Mott's Pink:.................Nov............................. 1/4 (25%)
D'Arcy Spice x Mott's Pink:.........Dec............................7/16 (45%)
Whitwick Pippin x George's Red..Jan.............................. 1/5 (20%)
Croft Late x George's Red...........Mar.. .......................... 0/5 (0%)
The Ribston cross is perhaps atypical because Ribston is triploid.
On re-potting, the red-tinted seedlings were found to have bright pink tips to the roots. The roots of the others were perfectly white. Click on the small picture to see this.
UPDATE 1 Jun 11
Another hand pollinated Croft Late x George's Red from last season found; apple beginning to show signs of rot. Seeds extracted and sowed immediately into fine soil, indoors, covered container.
Also have two open pollinated Hidden Rose seedlings just showing, and one open pollinated Burford Yellow seedling.
CLOSE-UPS:
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Showing leaf differences in two Laxton x Almata seedlings, the seeds taken from the same apple. Click on the pictures for the detail.
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Similar pictures for Whitwick Pippin x George's Red and a Darcy Spice x Mott's Pink. To some degree they all show hints of red-fleshed parentage.
Meanwhile a few more apples are resulting from crosses done this year:
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-these are Wyken Pippin x Bieinrode and Allens Everlasting x Bieinrode. Malus Bieinrode is a red fleshed apple with deeply pigmented flesh, slow growing, found near Bieinrode, West Germany, a few years ago.
UPDATE, 1 Apr 2012
NEWS ON SEEDLINGS
Hand Pollinated:
Croft Late x George's Red has produced two seedlings; green leaved; no sign of any pigmentation.
Open-pollinated redfleshed pips have given, so far:
WEIROUGE - mainly green leaved seedlings but one red leaved (pic below).
HIDDEN ROSE -nearly all are green leaved seedlings but one red leaved.
PINK PEARMAIN -all green leaved.
SCARLET SURPRISE - one seedling, green leaved.
LAXTON x ALMATA
Second year; first leaves on the three seedlings shown below. These should produce interesting fruit. Laxton's Fortune is one of the best flavoured English apples, and Almata is one of the most vividly coloured redfleshed varieties.
Green leaves with pink margins; darker, and much darker....
5 Apr 12
LAXTON x ALMATA
These have grown well during the year and may be big enough to graft in Feb 2013.
Many of the open pollinated seedlings suffered from wind burn but we have kept the biggest, best and most unusual half-dozen for growing on. We select out anything with red leaves, red pigmentation elsewhere, or particularly attractive / vigorous foliage.
5 Nov 12
LANGTON NONESUCH
We have a few seeds of Langton's Nonesuch x Huonville Crab. It will be interesting to see if they will grow. 2012 was a very poor year for hand pollinating, however; seed numbers are very low indeed.
20 Jan 13
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