The best apple - we need your help!

[Paulieb]

hi i am new to this my name is kev & i live in hull
i have grown an apple tree from seed & i have waited 14 years for fruit and may i say i am so lucky to have grown a beautiful sweetest apple tree i am so exited about it i want to tell someone
i very nearly gave up on this tree
but on the 13th year in spring one branch blossomed
so producing about eight apples so in the autumn me & my partner andrea cut back the tree
and this year we had a tree in full bloom
the apples were superb very sweet some were pale green early on and later a lovely red and green
i was told that you could not get a good apple from seed but my patience and of course luck has paid off
now how do i get to sharing this exiting new apple with other enthusiasts
and can i name the tree and produce cuttings from this new tree
i want other people to experience this sweet apple i have grown
its as good as any if not better than any i have ever tasted
please help me as i do not know what to do to help generate a new orchard variety that will be eaten by lots of people
i would like to produce root stock and sell them for a local hospice charity
please help me

Hello and welcome.
Well done on finding a new variety. Obviously flavour is important in a variety, but so is disease resistance, pest resistance, and also how vigorous the tree is.

New apple trees are created by grafting (one year old growth in Feb/Mar) and budding (new growth in Jul/Aug). They can be a bit tricky if you've never done them, but you'll find lots of info in books and videos on youtube.

Its easiest to buy rootstocks to use, and Blackmoor are one provider that I know of. Or better still find a local expert who should be very interested, if you have a new variety which tastes nice.

Not sure what to do to register an apple, but here is an intersting link about the work that goes into developing new varieties.

Apple breeding at East Malling Research

[boundtothesoil]

please help me as i do not know what to do to help generate a new orchard variety that will be eaten by lots of people

I think your questions might be better placed in another thread in terms of attracting responses, but I agree with what Paulieb says. I'm interested in apple breeding myself, and have searched the internet for information on the kind of questions you raise (see also the discussion on another thread on the Grapevine in this section called:-
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ers_72209.html

A few possibly relevant snippets of info are listed below:-
The Royal Horticultural Society used to have a procedure for the certification of new apple varieties, but I think that it was discontinued over ten years ago (check their web site).

One or two fruit tree nurseries list local/seedling based varieties(e.g. Deacons nursery) that must have been referred to them by the finder.

I'm pretty sure that the commercial fruit tree nurseryman Frank Mathews (Tenbury Wells) takes on promising new potential varieties for trials/development etc. (check out his website).

I came across an organisation on the web called 'Newvar' based in Kent, purporting to help develop new varieties, but the website was a couple of years old and it was not clear how active/helpful it might be.

I guess that the first thing you must do yourself, or with the help of local fruit experts/enthusiasts, is to multiply up your unique tree as soon as possible, not least in case it dies! If I were you, I'd order ten MM106 rootstocks from Blackmoors nursery ( a couple of quid each I think) now then graft them in late feb/march 2014 with (scion) wood from your tree. I learnt how to graft by watching you tube videos made by Stephen Hayes - very easy. Then you'll have a few one year old trees by winter 2015
to send to people/nurseries etc for trials etc. Others on the forum may have better/more ideas and relevant expertise.

Good luck