"K. Kly" wrote in message
...
So one day my 4 yr old is eating an apple and asks my wife about seeds &
such. So they decide to do a little expirement and plant the seed. Low
and
behold a seedling sprouts up and they cherish it and nuture it, etc, etc.
5
months later and the thing is only about 5 inches tall, but has a bunch of
leaves on it. They've got it in a little container(we live in Ohio).

Thing is, they both think they are going to plant it outside next spring
and
my wife seems to think that in a few years we'll have an apple tree. And
of
course she is telling my son this. Meanwhile, I'm skeptical of the whole
thing. First of all, we don't know what kind of apple it was, we don't
know
if it'll survive in Ohio and we certainly don't know if it will bear
fruit.
Doesn't their have to be some cross pollination or something for a tree to
bare fruit?

What's the fture of this 5inch apple tree?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many well known apples were found originally as seedlings. That so few
exist, and have not been improved, shows how unlikely your seedling will be
worthwhile in the 15yrs it will take to fruit. Nothing ever grows totally
true from seed and apples have such a complicated background~~ making your
chances minuscule. HOWEVER you could quite simply graft your seedling onto
a small branch of an existing fruiting~ age tree and then expect fruit in
fewer months than years. It just might have been worthwhile. If
worthwhile~ then graft on to other rootstocks and await your fortune!!
Commercially millions are grown and grafted in this way each year but
few, if any, become well known.
Best Wishes Brian.