What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?
biffvernon wrote:Hmmm... Growing apples from seeds occasionally gets a good result but usually is a disappointment. I don't think school children have the time and patience for that sort of project.
Well there's nearly 10 million in our schools, so even if 10% made it through to be 'good stock' then that would be something.
They wouldn't have to do much, just pop it in the pot, or preferably...the ground...and leave it, what makes it...makes it, the hardier the better.
clv101 wrote:I can see it being a problem that almost all apple trees are gown on one of only a dozen or so different (each genetically identical) rootstocks. But there are several hundred fairly widely grown cultivars (but I bet only a dozen or so represent most of the trees). However this isn't a situation that's getting 'worse'. There's no harm in grafting - in fact if we didn't graft the previously identified 'good' cultivars onto dwarfing rootstocks all we'd have would be vast diversity of crab apples, only coming into fruit after 5+ years and growing to unmanageable sizes.
The development of precocious, dwarfing rootstocks (largely pre-war) has been a very good thing. As has the discovery and subsequent propagation of good cultivars. In fact many decades ago, my partner's great-grandfather planted an apple pip and against the odds grew a palatable apple tree - and has been officially recognised (link). I'll be grafting from the original tree in a couple of weeks.
I think it would be a good idea to strengthen the choice of strains that we
have.
That one action from your partners grandfather is a better legacy than most of our lives will culminate to, good on him.
biffvernon wrote:Hmmm... Growing apples from seeds occasionally gets a good result but usually is a disappointment. I don't think school children have the time and patience for that sort of project.
Well there's nearly 10 million in our schools, so even if 10% made it through to be 'good stock' then that would be something.
They wouldn't have to do much, just pop it in the pot, or preferably...the ground...and leave it, what makes it...makes it, the hardier the better.
10%?
I think it's more like 1 in 10,000 or 0.01%. And you don't find out if you're a winner for 5+ years.
biffvernon wrote:I called in at the Aldi in Lincoln today but they only had Jonagold. Nice looking trees and only £3.99 but I left them for someone else.
I only bought plums and cherries from the Aldi sale.
biffvernon wrote:Hmmm... Growing apples from seeds occasionally gets a good result but usually is a disappointment. I don't think school children have the time and patience for that sort of project.
Well there's nearly 10 million in our schools, so even if 10% made it through to be 'good stock' then that would be something.
They wouldn't have to do much, just pop it in the pot, or preferably...the ground...and leave it, what makes it...makes it, the hardier the better.
10%?
I think it's more like 1 in 10,000 or 0.01%. And you don't find out if you're a winner for 5+ years.
Are you sure that figure isn't one that's quoted for 'commercial' satisfaction?
Either way and putting the maths to one side, it's still a productive and positive thing to do.
Yes, I do rather like the idea of getting several hundred thousand school kids doing something in this vein. One of the challenges would be the need to show some kind of 'result' within an academic year.
Maybe annual seed saving of open pollinated varieties might be more 'fruitful'. A company like Real Seeds might be able to provide advice/support.
I'd much rather 100,000 schoolkids grafted and grew 100,000 productive, heritage variety apple trees. It would be far better both from an educational and nutritional point of view.
Aldi don't have much info on their trees, but they're very cheap so I've planted a few apples, pears, plums and morello cherries. They're a good size and look well.
The raspberry canes are 3 for £2.49, so I've stuck a few of those in too. They have blackcurrant and blackberry for the same price.
The trees look exactly the same as those sold by Tescos ( just up the road from Aldi ) at £8 each, and the garden centre at £more .
Though I love the idea of millions of people planting trees I don't think schoolkids are the ideal personnel. When I was one, I remember we did a sort of "tree diary" where we picked a tree in the school grounds and made notes about it every week in the spring: Feb til April. I'd chosen a cherry tree (I later found out) and it was a late spring that year, so my tree did s*d all. Result: I completely lost any interest in Botany that I might otherwise have had. The effect lasted about 40 years.
We should borrow pensioners instead. Time seems to go faster when you're older. The problem of course is that unlike schoolkids they don't appear in ready-made batches of 40, with a mentor.
Pepperman wrote:I'd much rather 100,000 schoolkids grafted and grew 100,000 productive, heritage variety apple trees. It would be far better both from an educational and nutritional point of view.
Sure, but wouldn't it also make sense to increase genetic diversity?
RenewableCandy wrote:Though I love the idea of millions of people planting trees I don't think schoolkids are the ideal personnel. When I was one, I remember we did a sort of "tree diary" where we picked a tree in the school grounds and made notes about it every week in the spring: Feb til April. I'd chosen a cherry tree (I later found out) and it was a late spring that year, so my tree did s*d all. Result: I completely lost any interest in Botany that I might otherwise have had. The effect lasted about 40 years.
We should borrow pensioners instead. Time seems to go faster when you're older. The problem of course is that unlike schoolkids they don't appear in ready-made batches of 40, with a mentor.
