The specialist trade has a great abundance of apple trees in different varieties and trunk forms. If you have a little patience and enjoy experimenting, you can also grow an apple tree from a core yourself.

The peculiarity of the cultivation of fruit trees

Many shrubs and flowering plants can be propagated by cuttings and root cuttings. Techniques such as mossing are now being used in more and more private gardens to propagate plants. However, these techniques cannot really be used successfully for the propagation of apple trees and other fruit trees. Rather, in the case of the apple tree, a seedling is grown from a core, which is then grafted with a scion at a certain trunk height, if necessary and as is customary in commercial cultivation.

Reasons for grafting the apple tree

When an apple blossom is pollinated, the genetic information from the pollen combines with the genetic components of the blossoming apple tree. In the wild, the origin of the pollen is largely uncontrollable, so there can be surprises when an apple tree is pulled from a core. If, on the other hand, a scion of the desired apple variety is grafted onto a suitable substrate during grafting, the growth of twigs, leaves and fruits corresponds to the gene pool of the scion variety. In commercial horticulture, only grafted trees are usually used under professional guidance in order to obtain trees of the same variety and similar growth.

Shape a self-grown apple tree

If you simply let the self-grown seedling grow, it will usually reach a rather impractical height and growth habit. You have better prospects of yield if you refine the tree with a scion and targeted cuts into one of the following tree shapes:

  • espalier tree
  • pillar apple
  • bush
  • half stem
  • standard

tips and tricks

You usually do not need detailed instructions to grow an apple tree from a core. Note, however, that you must first stratify the seeds in the refrigerator for about two weeks before germinating in harvest year.

Category:

Trees