My new growing media

So last 5 days I was able to mimick that, I grinded a dead trees back layer, all softwood I see, dried leaves under mango and cashew trees, with dried shrubs and small trees of last season that are dead, i ground everything together in a mortal, i soaked medium sized and powdered charcoal with urine for two weeks already, to charge the charcoal its called Biocar, its very rich in nutrient for the plant ready available with N:K.
So i mix everything together with my soil i got from the forest... My growing medium is as light as feather... When I pour water on it, it run down straight and all water is drained thoroughly, except the ones the charcoal will hold for several days and will release as moisture.

See how coarse the media is.. Alot of debris like chopped wood, broken clay pot, shriveled dried Leaves and all other stuffs mix with soil

FarmTech:

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That would be worse oo. Indoor is better.

I think i have a better medium for apple to thrive well without it dieing of damping off or rootrot due to excessive water holding in the soil.. The soil we are using is too heavy for a good drainage to be available, i search the web and see alot of different growing media for apple seedling... Its a very light media, some use perlite with vermiculight and cocopeat, we can't get that here at all, except cocopeat... So i have some pictures here we can mimick their growing media

Though am planting the remaining apple seed in the freezer on Saturday about 20 seeds, i will try different method to sow them and see the one the survive most

FarmTech:

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But the rain is still too much now.

Their was even heavy Rainfall two days ago here and actually much rain enter through the window because it's an heavy Rainfall, all my apples are soaked with water, one died yesterday and the other two are striving.... I pray they should survive, they just die with slightest excess water.
I think if it's planted in ground, the ground can absorb as much water as possible than a container... The water will Drain well in the soil.

FarmTech:

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Thanks. I lost one. 2 remains now. Will follow ur advice.

I also loose two in the previous week.. Remain 3.
I think you should move the only survivor into the ground. And make a protection guard for it from bird, animals or stop been stamp upon. And make sure its not in a water logged area... That will stop it from having died of root rot or damping off.
I have about 20 more seeds in the freezer I havnt planted out, I will plant them out this week and I have 40 more varieties of apples, 5 pear seeds, Peach and nectarine seeds, about 15 of them.
They will go through stratification in the freezer till December or January, will plant them out by January and give you update.

FarmTech:

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But my own were already germinating in the fruit.

You had lucky and the only apple that is easily germinated or readily germinated inside the apple is pink lady Aka crips pink, because it can store up to like 6 months in the fridge before starting to get spoil, so from the farm or industry it's been produced, they may have stored it for like 3 months in the freezer before distributing it out, so it's already stratified, most of all my pink lady apple has broken endocarp of the seed, so when I stratified them in the freezer some don't spend up to a month before they started germinating.

Keep us updated about your progress.
But be cautious of this if you don't want to loose the other two that remain.
1) never add water more than once in two weeks, its better they had dry soil. Media rather Tha wet or soggy media, that kills them immediately.
2) when u want to water, only use your one hand palm to fetch water from a bowl and pour the water on the seedling, two hand full is okay, that will keep them hydrated for next 14 days.
3) hard wood shaving on the topmost of the soil so as to serve as mulching, to decrease the rate of transportation.

You can keep us updated on your apple progression, so as to compare with mine here @Farmtech

FarmTech:
My own apple plants.

How many months old is that, i guess one month. And how many did you started from seed and what are the numbers that survived to this stage

Emempaul:
Good day boss, please can you share with us in details how u managed to sprout your seeds. cos I tried sprouting mine by sowing it directly into the soil but it hasn't sprout and this is 20 days and counting. Please help and enthusiast out

Hello Emempaul, sowing apple directly in the soil after taking the fruit, the seed will rot. Apple are temperate fruits, they require some months of stratification to break the dormancy in them, after you getting the seed from the apple, clean well, find a wet napkin towel or tissue paper, wet it and place the seed in a wet napkin and placed inside a disposable plastic and out it inside fridge or freezer, but make sure you don't have out it in the area where things freezes...
Take note, the frigde must be constantly cold for about 6-4 months, then you will see some apple seed germinating themelves, you can go ahead and plant them in a treated soil media, then, but make sure the rest of the seed spend 4 month in the fridge, if they don't sprout yet, you can put all of them on the soil like that, within 2 weeks, they will start germinating.

FarmTech:

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Those 2 fungicides have the same content, mancozeb, which is not effective in rainy days because it is a contact fungicide. U shud have bought redforce or others that contains copper and metalaxyl. u can then use it in rotation with saaf. Anyway, u can still manage these ones for now.

I dont really know about fungicide because am not used to farming. Am jus an animal scientist.
But I love Foreign fruits

And uhmm, they only need this fungicide for the first 3 months or so.. And they are raised inside placed near south west window for uptimum light and shaded sunlight, rain couldn't wash the fungicide away

rufai1440:
don't be deceived I ve tried it years back they can't survive for six months.

Maybe you mismanaged them or you planted only one or two.. Growing apple from seed, 30% of them will only make it to teenage and maturity because most will have the problem of rootrot or damping off, and have done extensive research before embarking on this journey, Philippines and Nigeria has the same tropical climate, a guy has succesfuky germinate apples from seed, not one not two. Just search Benzone Kennedy on YouTube.

Am optimistic this apple seedling will make it to maturity, have loosed about 50% already to damping off, but some are still thriving well.
And it's when they reach 6 month to 8 month i can plant them outside with shading cloth for another 6 months, with that, they will be acclimated to our weather condition and continue to grow succesfully.
Once they reach a year old, they can't die anymore, even when they reach 6 months, they are not prone to rootrot and damping off again.
The only logistical problem is to make them fruit after 3-4 years of age.
But let's wait till then and see how we will go about faking the climatic condition for the apple to fruit

About the progression of the apples from seed, the apple seedling clock 1 month old yesterday on 20th of September, they are a little bit grown from last update, i think they have a quick growth as from 2 months old upward, no mortalities recorded since last update and I have about 20 more that is just pipping up in the growing medium.

Yeah, am now able to get my hand on Saaf and zebshifungicide, so as to interchange the two so that those fungi dnt develop resistance to one if only one is used

FarmTech:

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Saaf is about N1200 for 250g my area. I have not used rodomil gold but another one with the same content. N300 or so for 50g.
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Both are gud. But it is not good to use only one. U rotate them in turns so that those microbes will not get use to them.

Owk thanks, have searched for the two fungicide here, no store seems to have it

FarmTech:

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Why not drench the soil with a fungicide like Saaf or rodomil gold?

How much could I get those fungicide, Saaf and rodomil gold.. Which one works best

FarmTech:

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Why not drench the soil with a fungicide like Saaf or rodomil gold?

I already heat up the growing medium to sterilize it..
No matter how pure a growing medium is. Apple seedling is susceptible to damping off.

18 days old... The only problem growing apple seed from seed is the problem of rootrot in young seedling, i started with 9 seedlings, am down to 5 seedlings, losing one every couple of day. But am learning with time, not to over water it at all even d slightest addition of small extra water will kill the seedling, if am able to go a week or two without losing any again.. Have conquered the root rot or damping off problem.. Added 5 more seedling that is ready for germination today.. They should peep out in the nxt 5 days.
Still have about 30 more in the freezer for stratification.

majorgr:


I like that you're really thinking like a breeder. I'd be interested to see the outcome.
One example that comes to mind is that southern sheeps have been bred with Northern sheeps to ensure their survival in both locations usually they don't survive when you interchange their origin due cause to the high level of heat experienced in the North and the milder weather in the south. The principles of breeding have been applied to animals and is working in plants too.
It'd be a great idea to do what you have in mind.

Thanks major, I hope for your support.

Am not on based on growing apple. I want to try growing peaches, nectarine, plum and apricot from seeds as well.
Am sure the fruit am using will be low chilled since all those fruits are being imported from South Africa, and South Africa doesn't grow any high chilled Fruits in their region since their chill hours doesn't exceed 500 chill hours.

I will soon open another thread for that before December.
It only takes peaches, nectarine, plum and apricot 2-3 years before they start fruiting.

majorgr:
There is one thing you people should know, while it is true that the saying was made that apples don't grow in Nigeria, the same was said years back! What you guys don't know is that since those times, plant breeders were researching and breeding a new variety that could grow in the tropics like Nigeria due to high demands for viable seeds. It wasn't possible then because of the long period it takes to breed a single crop, for example, it takes a shrub like plantain and banana 15 years to develop just a new variety how much more apple!. In other words, this is due cause to the efforts of plant breeders who have painstakingly bred another variety of apples that is hardy and could grow in Nigeria therefore, the notion that apples don't grow in Nigeria which is an aged notion is now outdated due cause to new improved varieties that were bred by plant breeders to satisfy seed demands of customers. Sadly, plant breeders don't get much recognition and also Nigerians hardly want to study such course because of how difficult it could be and the time it takes to develop an improved variety of Crop.

Since we are just an average citizen, we are not weathlthy to be ordering those Low chilled varieties from South Africa or Abroad.

Since wambugu apple variety is common here and require no chill hour for fruiting, i plan on crossing (hand pollinating) The Pink lady apple seed am growing with the wambugu that is already acclimated to Nigeria climate, the result might yield a low chill aplle better Than wambugu in taste and appearance and better than pink lady apple with low chill hour requirement.

benzion72:


Is hydrogen cynamide not poisonous? One natural source of hydrogen cynamide is grated and pressed water from cassava. why we ferment cassava is because of cynamide acid present

The one in cassava is Hydrogen cyanide.
Hydrogen Cyanamide is a chemical compound mostly used in lab.

Pink lady apple seed at 2 weeks

FarmTech:

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Can u give us the details?

By manual method of making the apple to fruit... Since in temperate region, when fruit trees undergo dormancy, shedding all of their leaves.. We can mimick it here by removing all the leaves of the apple tree when they are 3 year old at some certain month.. Dont apply any irrigation and make sure you do so in the dry season... After 4-6 weeks,the apple should start blooming and set fruit.. But it may not always work everytime, but one method that will 99% work for you is the application of Dormex chemical or essential oil on the tree to mimick Dormancy as well.. The leaves will all fall by itself and after 4-6 weeks it will start setting flower and fruit buds.
Thiourea can also be used if essential oil and dormex cant be found. But dormex( Hydrogen Cyanamide) works best and give you heavy production of fruit.

Does anyone know where to really get Hydrogen Cyanamide in Nigeria. Or anywhere under Oyo state

FarmTech:

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Can u give us the details?

In grafting, the upper part (scion) of one plant grows on the root system (rootstock) of another plant. The scion is from an already established tree that has begun bearing fruit and is budded unto a roostcok (cloned from either airlayering or grown from seed). This allows the plant to grow earlier Than plant planted from seed and leaving alone to mature by itself.

Our climate here is a tropical climate in the sense that we have high temperature throughout the entire year.. And apples don't usually grow in a tropical climate rather a temperate climate ( the have colder months that temperature is close to 0 degrees celcius, sunny and warmer months and frost days). For an apple to be able to fruit.. They need to undergo dormancy (the state of having normal physical functions suspended or slowed down for a period of time; deep sleep). The trees shed their leaves and go to sleep.. This usually happened in winter weather or months, the temperature will never be greater than 7°C.
Every apple or stone fruit needs some certain chill hours before they can flower and fruit
Chill hours means (The chilling requirement of a fruit is the minimum period of cold weather after which a fruit-bearing tree will blossom)
And minimum chill hour for an apple to bloom is 500 chill hours... But their are now varieties that have lower chill hours.. Even 100 hours of chill will fruit well here in Nigeria such as wambugu apple.

Fuji, Gala, Anna, Golden Dorset, winter banana, Granny smith and pink lady apple can grow in our climate successfully.

Am currently on pink lady and granny smith apple seedling.. I know I won't have apples that will grow and have the same size, shape and sweetness like pink lady apple.. So i planted about 20 seeds of each, am sure I will get some good ones that will be sweet as well.

Hello sallyopy, how much is a carton or pack of nectarine and peach

You can surely snap and share your experience with it here as well@farmtech

It takes 3-5 years to fruit if it's grown from seed and if it's grafted onto a rootstock, it might fruit earlier.. But to make it fruit require some work, ie.. Manual method or chemical method, to make the tree go into dormancy, since apple is from a temperate climate, almost all their trees there go into dormancy and after that, they produce flowers and fruit

Will surely give you observation and pictures for reference every week followed by every two weeks till they reach a year old

5 days old after planting in soil