Normally, fruit trees for the garden are bought in specialist shops when they are about five to six years old and then bear fruit after just a few years. With a lot of patience, these instructions and a little enthusiasm for experiments, you can also grow apple trees yourself.

The difference between seedlings and vegetative propagation

In commercial horticulture, apple trees are usually produced by grafting the branches of a particular apple variety onto a vigorous rootstock with strong roots through copulation. This method of propagation is also known as vegetative propagation, since the offshoot and sometimes also the rootstock are asexually propagated plants from cut branches. While vegetatively propagated apple trees bear the same fruit as the mother tree, seedlings can revert to the wild form.

Properly sprout apple seeds

If you want to wait out the long wait while the seedlings grow up, you can grow an apple tree from ordinary apple seeds as an exciting experiment in the garden. However, there are a few things to keep in mind so that the seeds can grow into small trees and later survive in the local climate.

Select the seed

In the supermarkets in this country, some varieties are offered that are not necessarily well suited for local cultivation. While apple varieties such as "Granny Smith" sometimes do not survive a severe winter in Central Europe, apple seeds from regional cultivation can be more promising. The traditionally cultivated and proven varieties in Central Europe include:

  • Alcmene
  • Cox Orange Reinette
  • Gravensteiner
  • Jonathan
  • Red boskoop

Prepare the seed for germination

Apple seeds usually contain germ-inhibiting substances that are only broken down during the fermentation process. If you have access to the pressing remains of apples from the must production, you will achieve better germination results with these than with cores obtained directly from apples. Unless you leave the seeds outside in a pot over the winter, you will need to stratify them before germination. To do this, place the seeds in a container between damp sheets of paper towels in the fridge for two to four weeks. Only through this simulated winter will the seeds sprout satisfactorily.

tips and tricks

Apple trees grown from seeds follow their genetic predisposition and are therefore usually very large. If you want a small apple tree, you will need to graft it into a smaller trunk form.

Category:

Trees