Author Topic: Asimina seedling plants question  (Read 704 times)

Plantinyum

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Asimina seedling plants question
« on: June 09, 2021, 01:53:26 AM »
Was wondering are paw paw seed grown plants generally true to type?? I have bought tree seedling plants that are claimed to be seedlings of variety Prima (2 of them), and one sunflower ... are there any varieties that are known to produce seedling plants with a higher percent of trueness to type ??
I know this may be challenging with the cross pollination factor involved , but still was wondering ....

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Asimina seedling plants question
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2021, 10:50:47 AM »
This is a sorta controversial subject.

The short answer is no - they are not true to type. But they might be very similar, or potentially even "better."

Much of the literature highly discourages planting of seedlings with the explanation that they are not true to type and furthermore are usually poor quality.
But others such as the late Jerry Lehman suggest that if the parents of the seed are high quality, the seedling is relatively likely to also be high quality. Several backyard growers can attest to this fact - i know some whose favorite trees are seedlings.

I think when literature discourages planting seedlings, the assumption is you are planting random/unknown seeds or  wild seeds. In this case I agree that there good odds of getting mediocre to poor fruit.

I think there is a chance that some named varieties coudl have more dominant genetics and therefore be more likely to produce true to type. But i'm not sure if we know what varieties those are.
Of course the pollen parent would have a lot to do with how the seedling turns out.

Bottom line is I would try to plant only seeds where both parents are known to be superior. Even then, in every case there is at least moderate potential for the seedling to be different/lower quality.

Plantinyum

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Re: Asimina seedling plants question
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2021, 11:38:17 AM »
This is a sorta controversial subject.

The short answer is no - they are not true to type. But they might be very similar, or potentially even "better."

Much of the literature highly discourages planting of seedlings with the explanation that they are not true to type and furthermore are usually poor quality.
But others such as the late Jerry Lehman suggest that if the parents of the seed are high quality, the seedling is relatively likely to also be high quality. Several backyard growers can attest to this fact - i know some whose favorite trees are seedlings.

I think when literature discourages planting seedlings, the assumption is you are planting random/unknown seeds or  wild seeds. In this case I agree that there good odds of getting mediocre to poor fruit.

I think there is a chance that some named varieties coudl have more dominant genetics and therefore be more likely to produce true to type. But i'm not sure if we know what varieties those are.
Of course the pollen parent would have a lot to do with how the seedling turns out.

Bottom line is I would try to plant only seeds where both parents are known to be superior. Even then, in every case there is at least moderate potential for the seedling to be different/lower quality.
thanks for this!! I guess only time will tell ,when they fruit probably 6+ years from now I'll see what they turn out...grafting is also a possibility then, no ?

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Asimina seedling plants question
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2021, 09:41:50 AM »
Grafting - definitely. You can graft as soon as the second year.

Plantinyum

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Re: Asimina seedling plants question
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2021, 03:27:53 PM »
Grafting - definitely. You can graft as soon as the second year.
yeah the plants plants are graftable size already ,I will gust wait them fruit first to see what I end up with , then maybe I could graft the thicker branches with different varieties .....

NateTheGreat

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Re: Asimina seedling plants question
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2021, 05:07:38 PM »
Many popular varieties are seedlings of other popular varieties, for pawpaws and for other fruits. IIRC some of the Peterson pawpaws are seedlings of other ones. With any plant there is an incentive for people selling grafted plants to say you shouldn't plant from seed. I wish I had direct planted seeds instead of mail ordering grafted trees.