Eating apples from seed

[Herd900rd]

Is the effort needed to convert an apple seed from a supermarket apple to a decent size tree worthwhile?
Could it even get too big?

[Jim Ford]

It's probable that the seed won't breed 'true' and turn out as a crab type apple.

To control the size of a tree, many fruit trees are grown on a dwarf rootstock. Trees grown from the pips will most likely have the characteristics of the rootstock, rather then the tree.

I've read that many hedgerow 'crabby' apple trees have grown from discarded apple cores, generally producing a small, hard bitter fruit.

Jim

[Herd900rd]

The tree is more for the birds than me. Perhaps they would like a crab-apple.

[Hedera]

It might be an interesting experiment - some of the "roadside" apples are eatable, depends on what the parent apple was. Wouldn't bother with a Golden Delicious though! You may get a new variety; at least the birds and mice will enjoy the fruit.

[ceterach]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

To control the size of a tree, many fruit trees are grown on a dwarf rootstock. Trees grown from the pips will most likely have the characteristics of the rootstock, rather then the tree.

Jim

Hi Jim

I think you will find that goes against our understanding of genetics!!

Sure the seed will not breed true but the nature of the seedlings will be affected by the pollinating plant and where crab apples are common they are likely to frequently be the source of pollen, hence the offspring.

All the best

[artdemole]

Near where I live is the route of the old Somerset coal canal.It was then then taken over by the railway.Along the route are many apple trees.No doubt seed from apples thrown out of carriage windows and discarded apple cores from barge men.On walking the route I have collected apples for eating and for pies and crumbles.So in three to four years you could be eating your own seeded apples.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by ceterach

Sure the seed will not breed true but the nature of the seedlings will be affected by the pollinating plant and where crab apples are common they are likely to frequently be the source of pollen, hence the offspring. All the best

There is more than one influence involved in what characteristics are expressed in the offspring trees. Certainly the predominance of a particular form or variety in the immediate landscape will influence the fertilisation rates, and in areas where crab apples are present in large numbers it is likely that they will be a parent of fertilised fruit. However apple tree varieties are variable across a range of flowering times, this means that fertilisation is predominantly between trees of very close flower times (the basis of the types used by nurseries when selling trees).

Because modern orchards are based around bulk production of a limited range of varieties, fertilisation by crab apples is very unlikely for the bulk of supermarket sold apples. If the only basis for the characteristic of the offspring fruit were the characteristics of the parent fruit, then edible quality fruit would be expected from trees grown from seed. In fact, a 'crab' fruit is far more likely than mere chance because all possible parent trees have been developed from a 'crab' ancestor and therefore both parents have gene copies for many of the characteristics of a 'crab', while the characteristics which confer desirable fruit copies may not be shared by the parents. The result is that 'crab' characteristics will be expressed far more frequently than characteristics such as large fruit size, sweetness, durability of fruit etc.

The biggest drawback about growing apples from seed is that the plant is likey to be poorly resistant to disease and infected plants can become a reservoir of infection for other nearby fruit trees.

CM

[Herd900rd]

I'll probably try a few and see what happens