Guerilla gardening

[Winters_Lackey]

Does anyone here plant in areas that they are not authorized to plant?

This year, I had a lot of little raspberry shoots out in the yard, and I decided to dig them up and plant them instead of just mowing them down. There is a park near here that had an section that was used for dumping old broken up concrete and leaves vacuumed off the streets. The surrounding area has improved a lot, and they no longer dump stuff there, but they never really cleaned it up. So, I planted raspberries in several places. My hope is that they'll spread. That was about a week ago.

Then today I got my replacement tree from Gurney's for the one that died (a Goldrush). For some reason, they threw in an extra free tree, a Pixie Crunch. Lovely apples, but the two I have are impossible to keep totally free of rust because there are lots of cedar trees on this block.

Have you guessed where I'm going? Yep, I took the tree to the park and planted it. I am the guerilla gardener.

[phorbin]

I don't know apples from apples...

It may just be a matter of good customer relations since one died but unless you have other apples on your place or near your property... you may need the other as a pollinator variety so your favoured tree will set fruit or will fruit more abundantly.

I'd suggest checking it out ASAP.

[Winters_Lackey]

phorbin wrote in news:MPG.2dbd85efb02774a1989be7@127.0.0.1:

There is a Liberty tree about a quarter of a mile from the new tree, and that is a good pollinator for both Pixie Crunch and GoldRush.

[David Hare-Scott]

You would be very lucky, usual practice is to plant the pollinator next to the target. You are counting on a significant number of bees visiting one then the other without a nest return in between.

D

[Winters_Lackey]

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in news:lj1ivk$67g$ [e-mail]:

If the tree flowers, but sets no fruit, that could be a plus for the first couple of years. It will allow the tree to become established before anyone realizes that it is a fruit tree. There are those who, for silly reasons, have chosen not to plant fruit trees in the park. Like I said, guerilla gardening.

One solution is to plant a pollinator in the little wooded are nearby. I can do that pretty much for free, as I can grow the pollinator from seed taken from the tree (a Liberty) that (I assume) pollinates my two at home. I'm in this for the long haul. If this thing doesn't have apples for the first few years--or even ever--no loss. The tree was free.

Other apple news, my Obelisk apple finally has blooms after 5 years.

[David Hare-Scott]

Guerilla-schmozilla, the bees will take the shortest path between food and home and only go further than the closest source of food when it is exhausted. There is little chance of them cooperating by dutifully adopting a triangular path to drop off some pollen where you want it along the way. Planting the pollinator next to the target is to avoid this problem.

Apples are not generally true-breeding to the stock that is flowering, so growing from seed will probably not give you the characteristics that you want, that is the seedling may not be a good pollinator for your targets. Apples are commonly reproduced from cuttings of the desired fruiting wood to avoid this problem.

If you want to grow your own apples (not just apple trees) then planting selected compatible grafted cultivars that suit the climate close together is most likely give you a good result.

See here for good general information and a start on pollination issues:

D

[Winters_Lackey]

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in news:lj47ma$ba4$ [e-mail]:

And I thank you for stressing that point. Your earlier post inspired me to grow the pollinator.

The seedling should flower at a time close to the parent, and will very likely be an effective pollinator, though the chance that it would produce desirable fruit is very, very unlikely. Don't nearly all diploid apple trees that bloom concurrently pollinate others at least fairly well?

I'm aware of all of that, and I'm not expecting the pollinator to produce apples, but only to serve as a pollinator. Everthing I've seen online has led me to believe that diploid apple trees are happy to mate with any other diploid apple tree that isn't a close relative, as long as they bloom at the same time. I guess I'll find out. My Liberty has blossoms for the first time, as does my Obelisk.

[Fran Farmer]

No. With multiple acres of garden I have all the work and effort I need right outside my doors.

Good for you. I might do the same thing if I was in a city or town.

[Fran Farmer]

My Liberty has

I've never heard of either of those varieties of apples but that is no surprise given that we're and international newsgroup.

[Bloke Down The Pub]

Another option, and a means of gaining experience without fear of loss, is to attempt to graft the pollinator on to the producer and see if that has any effect.

Mike

[songbird]

Bloke Down The Pub wrote: ...

yep, some trees are three, four or five in one grafts for those with small yards who still want a variety.

songbird

[George Shirley]

The Ag agent here discourages multiple grafts due to the failure of most of them surviving. That was what I wanted originally for a pear tree but instead, on the ag agents advice, I bought a Tennousi pear. A natural cross between a European and an Asian pear and is self-fertile. Alas, a late frost got the blossoms this year so will have to wait until next year to see what it is.

We had a twelve-foot tall live oak in the front yard, just like every house here, it went to someone else's yard to live and that's where the Tennousi is now. Getting lots of attention from neighbors so I keep an eye on it.

George