The TREE is HUGE now but the apples are small and nothing like the originals.

I know this is the same info you already got but I wanted to provide my personal experience.

The tree is still growing Strong in my grandma's yard.

You can get very good peaches from seed as long as the peach came from a named variety. Seed from a seedling will produce peaches, but they are most often very small...barely a seed with skin.

The North Star cherry is a genetic dwarf. I am sure that the seed would need stratification...they never come up around the tree.

Not sure how the colonade apples were made/bred, or whatever. I doubt that they will come true from seed, just too unusual.

Fruit quality of your seedling will be a total crapshoot, as apples do not 'come true' from seed - it will have genetic contributions from both the 'mother'(your colonnade type) and 'father' - whatever the pollen source was(another colonnade, an ornamental crab in your neighbor's yard, etc.).
While most seedling apples will eventually(you may have to wait 10-20 years) produce edible apples, the likelihood of the fruit quality being worthy of continuing to propagate this selection is, at best, 1 in 10,000.
A 'standard' tree is far too large for most residential properties.

I suspect that a significant percentage of the seedling trees grown by John Chapman and other pioneers, were used primarily for cider production, so fruit quality and disease resistance were not a significant consideration.

Mike Cassidy
kcassidy@erols.com

I admire Joefalco for his 21 year project...
So, the apples aren't quite as dazzling as fruit-stand-quality apples. But, he witnessed his seedling progress into a large tree, which, I'm sure is attractive in its own right, and is appreciated by birds and other animals.
I think that's really cool.

Patsy

Bobcat, did your tree seedlings survive their "pruning"?

"Studies of columnar habit inheritance by Lapins showed that it is controlled by the dominant Co gene, possibly together with modifying genes, as the columnar trait is inherited close to 1:1, but not exactly. Further research reviewed by Kelsey and Brown, as well as the recent study by de Wit et. al. showed that the gene works through apical dominance regulated by growth hormones, but the tree habit in hybrid progeny is influenced by both parents."

I'm trying to grow some seedlings and any and all info that can be offered on the matter would be greatly appreciated. I tried this once before and consulted with greenhouses before planting my seedling but all went downhill once I put it in dirt. I now have two two inch seedlings with 5 leaves each that I pulled from a granny smith apple I was eating. I grew them by putting them between two cotton balls which I wet everyday. But I am completely clueless about how to proceed from here. I really want these seedlings to survive. Can anyone advise me please? What kind of dirt and do I need to add anything? When should I take them out of the cotton and should I transfer them to water or dirt? If the former, when should I transfer to dirt? I know nothing so anything would be helpful. Thank you!

As for dirt, I have had everything from hard concrete to duff in stores, so for transplants I have just been using dirt I have local which is sort of a clay loam that will retain moisture a bit easier.
The plant should not die in transplanting providing you put them into plastic pots (like pint sized flower pots you get from buying flowers to transplant in the garden) and just water from the bottom. As long as there is drainage, I believe one can not soak tranplants too much.

The main problems is heat or wind, so I sit mine in a cool room around 60 degrees by a window allowing roots to start forming. I place mine outside on cloudy days to harden them off and in shade.

As the plants root and grow you can move them to bigger pots. I would not though transplant them outside this year if you were zone 5 and below as the cold might kill them as Granny Smiths are not tolerant to cold.
So a garage where they were 30 degrees and above would be for winter storage and the leaves do tend to drop, just keep them watered as I lost a bay this past winter.
Next year you should be able to transplant in the spring, protect them from rabbits, water them and watch the show.

PS: If you have a manure tea or fish emulsion it would benefit any of these potted plants.

Hope that helps.

To add some more information in a late post:

Part of the joy of having seedlings is the adventure of it all. I know the book on it is the apple "will not be true", but that can be wonderful!
I happened to get some of the last apples off of a tree before my Grandfather died and the treed died shortly thereafter. He actually survived on apples in the dirty 30's as he was so poor.
By God's grace, the discarded cores produced a tree which was out of a parentage of McIntosh Wealthy cross. The apple is like the old apples with a green stripe and a red blush, but the tree is hardy past zone 3, the fruit is crisp and wonderfully "fruity". It delights me very much.
Right now I have a chance seedling again I transplanted. When I go for walks I always eat an apple picked off my trees and toss it in a peony bed and one sprouted. I have no idea what it will do, but it is 6 feet now, a sort of bush and tough as nails for taking the elements.
I will not add to sprouting apple seeds, but I did have a dwarf North Star Cherry whose seeds I planted in a raised bed, wetted it and covered with clear plastic. I had a large number of seedlings from that when other methods failed.
The little trees are coming along fine even if the rabbits nipped one last winter.
There is a great source of accomplishment in propagating things from seeds and discovering what will be. For the record, all of the apples which have endured are ones of natural selection and found by people.
I hopefully will have several Esopus Spitzenburg seeds this fall to germinate, but then I ordered my original tree from Raintree Nursery in Oregon as a dwarf closeout. My tree is now 15 feet tall, crowding the house and while they are supposed to be like Spy's in biannual this one is producing for the 3rd year in a row.
It is always nice when apples don't behave like the experts figure they will. It makes it all a wonderful adventure.

They are about 4 feet tall but do not have any side branches. They look pretty healthy except for the fact that each is only one "stalk" and I had to tie to stakes for support.

Should I prune the top to encourage side branching?

Thanks for your reply. I'll take your advice and wait until next year to prune.