Sorbaronia Seeds

currently unavailable Sorbaronia represents a complex genus hybrid between Mountain ash and black chokeberry. It is thought to occur in North America in the wild but is mostly known for its Russian and German hybrids developed by plant breeders doing hand pollinations and a lot of trials. Named varieties are available from many nurseries now and likely more will pop up as people experiment with them on a global scale. I found one named selection very good here as well as setting a few fertile seeds. This grafted one lone tree I have is incredibly productive produces huge yields almost every year. 

I have grown out many of these hybrids from seeds. Without exception, all of the seedlings look pretty much like mountain ash and are probably going to look that in fruit as well.  They have not fruited yet. The advantage of the seedlings appear to be better resistance to foliar diseases (the parent is good but could be better as it looses its leaves by late summer) and possibly higher yields of fruits corresponding with vigor. The seedlings I have I winnowed down to are the most vigorous. Many have glossy leaves just like Aronia but are compound leaves like mountain ash. 

Why would anyone do this?  I really think the secret of this genus hybrid is its potential health benefits. You're talking about Aronia and Mountain ash both well known anti-scurvy, medicinal and nutritional fruits. As well as finding new flavor profiles outside of both mountain ash and Aronia it is easy to suggest many commercial possibilities exist as well as home fruit production that does not require spray. This is an ecological benefit that is often overlooked with new fruit introductions. Today it should be priority one. I think the tree fruits in general could be easier to manage and would allow by rooting an easy way for any farmer to grow his own nursery stock from the cuttings thereby removing the expensive grafting and grafted trees with potential of rootstocks that are problematic in some locations and soils. Mountain ash in general is a short lived tree as borers find them very attractive when they age. 

Sorbaronia does set seed but not a lot of it. Usually it is less than one per fruit. Also some seeds appear partially filled. I winnow out the seeds and provide only solid good fully formed seeds. It is quite a reduction going from a 5 gallon pale of fruit to a handful of seed. Keep in mind when you buy this seed, there is never very much of it. Hopefully my new plantings will yield many more seeds for future breeding and experimentation. Consider this to be the beginning.