Wild Roadside apple Trees

Hi

For some reason this year i have really noticed the apple blossoms along the roadside. There are heaps and fairly easy to spot while they are in blossom, maybe for another week.

Most are in dangerous locations so i'm not recommending harvest however they would be an amazing genetic resource if a few nice ones where to be grafted onto trees in my orchard.

just wondering if anyone had similar thoughts and experience on the matter.



##### should have put this under apple tree topic can anyone tell me how the shift it

That's exactly why I want to learn how to graft

apples are very easy to graft for many years while teaching myself to graft i was getting about 50% success ......then i discovered parafilm tape.....now i get close too 100% even when i bend the rules.

its tricky to find most florists use it to tie the arrangements otherwise online is your best bet.

the trick to using it is to stretch it very thin and firmly but gently rap the WHOLE scion/graft. here is a link

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/131669874108?lpid=107&chn=ps


here is a good pic    https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjwj8Hq35fQAhWGnJQKHRvqAZ4QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthebellhouse.weebly.com%2Fhome%2Fgrafting-pomegranates&psig=AFQjCNEv68TDDEBfAlCJy2QMuAYPYc15ag&ust=1478645988851514

I have decided to play the apple tree lottery.  I'm saving seeds from my Cox Orange Pippin to be planted next spring (northern hemisphere here).  Then I plan to graft the shoots onto my existing trees.  If one day you see a cultivar named plantedforbill you'll know where it came from.  Also I sometimes plant my extras along the local bike trails and right of ways.

By the way that parafilm is great stuff.

I happen to have a such tree on my street!
The apples are decent sized with few blemishes,and the tree(more like a 15 foot bush!) receives NO care.

They are tasty as well,so my plan is to graft branches onto the 8' crab apple tree I rescued from a Home Depot dumpster
I will also try to create new trees via air layering.
I live in the ghetto,and this tree is in front of a slumlords apartment building,so it's unlikely anyone will even care....

My mother and my mother-in-law both have apple trees from big box stores that are wracked with disease and pests.
I hope to replace them with this trouble free variety,for free!

Hopefully you find tasty and useful varieties. Alas, the only wild apples I've found in my area are mealy and unsweet, and also they spoil very very quickly. I have a couple wild apples on the property that I've thought about using the apple wood from for crafts, but the deer love them so they stay! Plus, they can help pollinate my purposefully planted apples too.

Hi
yes i don't think i will find many nice ones but out of the 30 odd trees i expect maybe one or 2.......the conditions where most of these trees are is very bad keep that is mind when evaluating the fruit.........i think final selection of a broad number of candidates should be done after grafted onto orchard trees.

regards

Many of the old  apples varieties such Bramley and I think Cox as well where named after where they were discovered growing wild or by their discoverer

Easy to spot the apple trees round the industrial estates where I work- the only trees with anything still clinging to the branches! I intend to graft some known varieties of apples to them, and maybe some pears to the hawthorn trees.

Any updates on if any of the apples turned out good?

Anyone else found any good "wild" apples?

sorry no updates the two trees near me are very good with one being a good keeper

I love foraging for wild apples and even the meatiest, sour fruit taste great when dehydrated. They are also good for making apple vinegar!

Steve Thorn wrote:Any updates on if any of the apples turned out good?

Anyone else found any good "wild" apples?

I have about 13 apple trees on my property. All wild, most are average tasting. One is pretty good not great. Most of them are better slightly under ripe. Once they’re ripe they tend to go over ripe very fast. Here’s the oldest ones.

brad millar wrote:I have about 13 apple trees on my property. All wild, most are average tasting. One is pretty good not great. Most of them are better slightly under ripe. Once they’re ripe they tend to go over ripe very fast. Here’s the oldest ones.

That looks like a ton of apples in that first picture.

I hope to have an apple tree that looks similar to that one day.