Apples, Anyone?

[Mellow Mullet]

Earlier this year, I cut open an apple to smear some peanut butter on it and noticed that most of the seeds had started to sprout. I haven't tried to grow apples, so I had to give it a shot. I planted them and this is what I have now.



Kinda straight and boring, so I wired them up





And introduced some movement into the trunks





Now, we will see what happens. What do you think?

 

[rockm]

The curves you're introducing in those won't amount to much in the coming years. Apple are best grown up then hacked back substantially to get a decent looking bonsai.

Apples tend to be rugged looking when left on their own in "the wild." There are numerous old apple orchards in the Shenandoah Valley in Va. with spectacular mature trees that have been busted, cracked and beat up. This toringo crab at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum shows the drastic angles produced by repeated hard pruning. Apples NEED pruning to remain healthy. Also, get your malathion, antifungal and other pesticides and fungicides ready. Apples attract every bug in a mile radius and I would suspect that far south, fungal issues will arise.

 

[Silentrunning]

Also, keep them away from any Cedar you have. I have 3 apple trees that have contracted Cedar / Apple rust. The nearest Cedar tree is almost 100 feet away.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Thanks guys. This just an experiment, the main reason for the wire was to introduce movement into the first few inches of trunk. Most of the rest will be chopped or airlayered. Just experimenting, mostly. Apples are not typically grown here so they may not do well. However, the seedlings have held up well to the 6000 degree - 10000 percent humidity July weather, so far.

 

[just.wing.it]

The curves you're introducing in those won't amount to much in the coming years. Apple are best grown up then hacked back substantially to get a decent looking bonsai.

Apples tend to be rugged looking when left on their own in "the wild." There are numerous old apple orchards in the Shenandoah Valley in Va. with spectacular mature trees that have been busted, cracked and beat up. This toringo crab at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum shows the drastic angles produced by repeated hard pruning. Apples NEED pruning to remain healthy. Also, get your malathion, antifungal and other pesticides and fungicides ready. Apples attract every bug in a mile radius and I would suspect that far south, fungal issues will arise.
View attachment 203330View attachment 203331

Definitely one of my most favorite trees they have there.

 

[miker]

I have an apple sapling that is actually a rooted cutting from a Fuji apple tree. I took the cutting from the apex of the tree in fall 2016 and it is still going strong, so I may go ahead and try to apply bonsai techniques to it. Otherwise, I will just put it in the ground.