I successfully debunk the saying that '' Apples can't be grown in Nigeria especially from seed''. With all day and night browsing and research, i successfully grown apple seed and it germinated, i will always post you about the progression till maturity, making it fruit in this climatic condition is the greatest task.. But i will surely overcome that in the next 4 years.. I hope the thread will still be alive till then.. Thanks for visiting. And I hope for your support.

You're late. People have been growing it for years do your research and look for them. In Ogun State here for that matter

Am not late, I know apple is now grown in Nigeria, and 95% of it is wambugu, but you can't compare the quality of Wambugu apple with a granny smith or pink lady apple... You can just follow the thread and see what it turned out to be.. The one am seeding has higher chill hours than wambugu apple.. I sow Granny smith, pink lady and Gala apple seed and they germinated. And wambugu is always grafted to a roostcok, mine started from seed

5 days old after planting in soil

Good one from you OP hope it will produce fruit

Great effort,Please follow it through . All the best.

Over following

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

I'm currently doing the same from an apple I ate. I just saw the seeds sprouting. How long does it take to fruit?

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

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

Nice one

Olalekan4646:
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

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Can u give us the details?

Olalekan4646:
You can surely snap and share your experience with it here as well@farmtech

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Ok.

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.

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

Pink lady apple seed at 2 weeks

Olalekan4646:


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

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

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

I think you are right I am confusing cynaide with cynamide

Olalekan4646:


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.

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Thanks. Work dey am oo.

benzion72:

I think you are right I am confusing cynaide with cynamide

. The one in cassava is hydrogen cyanide.

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.

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.

You Have spoken well and black people in general don't like to put in the work and time of researching on something that they don't understand or for an alternative that will benefit the nation on the long run.

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.

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.

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.

Olalekan4646:


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.

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.

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.

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.

Olalekan4646:
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.

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

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.