So I am lucky enough to live very close to an apple orchard. This particular orchard has over 200 trees, with at around 120-140 unique varieties, some of which are quite rare. Every fall they open up the orchard to whoever wants to pick the apples (.50 per pound). One of my favorites is a tree that produces pink fleshed apples. I have made some great apple pies and crisps using them and the color (and flavor) is just fantastic! I believe the tree is a pink pearl variety or something like it. The apples are rather small and their skin is unremarkable. The flesh is pink, softer, and sometimes a little mealy when it's late in the season.
I have taken some
seeds from these pink apples and currently have them in a plastic bag in the fridge for stratification.
Now, I understand that
seeds are not true to their parent tree, and that they could end up being just about anything, especially since they could have been pollinated by pretty much any random variety in the area.
What I am personally hoping for in a best case scenario, is a tree that has the pink fleshed fruit of the mother tree mixed with something that would give the apple flesh a different texture. I won't be too picky as long as I can get that one pink gene to show, though.
But who knows what I'll actually end up with 10 or so years from now, lol. If something I grow ends up making for a good rootstock, perhaps I can graft a small branch or two from the pink pearl at some point in the future.
I plan on planting the
seeds in pots this
spring. I am currently a college student and so I move around frequently and do not have my own land to plant things into the ground. Perhaps in a few years when I am done with school and am a little more settled I could plant in the ground, but until then I have to settle with pots, re-potting to larger containers as needed. I have 10 or so
seeds, and I plan on keeping the one or two healthiest ones that sprout.
I admit I am a little new to gardening, and my experience consists of mostly smaller herbs and a venus flytrap, and while I have been doing my best to learn and do as much research as I can, I could still use a lot of help and advice!