Author Topic: Wild orchard (Read 1953 times)

RareAGcoinz · « **on:** November 17, 2016, 11:03:37 am »

There is a disused old road near to me that I often take a walk along, there are numerous different apply and pear trees growing wild here for years.

I think drivers often threw an old apple core out the window and these huge apple trees have now grow massive over the years.

It got me thinking and asking the question, how come there is so much effort put in and often poor results with people trying to grow orchards, when these wild ones seem to be thriving.

How can I emulate the wild fruit trees growing on their own with no helping hand?

pgkevet · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2016, 11:16:15 am »

It's uncommon for seed grwn apples or pears to come true. You might get lucky with a new variety but if you want soemthing known to thrive in your local conditions then choose accordingly from the long list available - or buy cheap from lidl/aldi etc in feb and save 1-2 years wait.
It's the rootstock that determines growth type.. get unlucky and your wild thing may either be a dwarf or grow so fast and large it takes over.

Having said that some trees do have seeds true to type. If I understand correctly many have polygerminous seeds and the mango is one such and a good chance you get it coming to type. I tried it with orange grown from seed and got a weird result.. the first fruiting year a tiny super sweet mini-orange and then the next year the bitterest crop ever (marmalade) and never fruited since. Also some seeds can carry disease over.. a problem I hit with pink bananas and an uncontrollable mite. That assumes you're as daft as i am and try to grow this stuff UK

DavidandCollette · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2016, 05:11:29 pm »

Are you sure that its not an orchard that has been ignored?whereabouts do you live there are organisations that work to identify and restore such places

Steph Hen · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2016, 05:56:44 pm »

I've tried to cultivate hundreds of pips and fruit stones with fairly limited success.
I've found cutting a tiny hole in Apple pips increases chance of them growing. Unfortunately the bloody goats got into my seedlings and destroyed them all so I'm back to collecting pips again.

I do see wild fruit trees by roads and railways, but considering the millions of pips, stones and seeds that must have been tossed from Windows over the years not many grow into trees and even fewer end up with tasty fruit. Still good for diversity, wildlife, interest, cider though!