GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

25-09-2005, 08:31 PM

In article ,
says...

Bill wrote:

In article ,
says...
Bill,
I am not trying to be a 'smart alec' or a 'mister know it all', but this father does have
other easy choices.

Yes, he does.

He can plant a stone fruit seed, which has a much better chance
of coming out with decent tasting fruit. He can plant a raspberry shoot from one of his
neighbor's bush. Giving the kid the false hope that he will get a tasty apple after nurturing his
tree for many years will most likely disappoint him.

Now see, you can say there is a high probability that the fruit will
be worthless. What you can't say is that there is a 100% certainty of
it.

There's also a good chance that the seeding wouldn't survive the first
winter.

By the way, I am not clairvoyant about how these apples will turn out. Just ask any
orchardist in the business if it is profitable to plant apples seeds. These people do look
for new apples (sometimes called 'sports'), but they do it scientifically, mixing known
varieties, and they do get a very low success ratio. Occasionally an amateur will 'stumble' on a
chance mutation, but this rarely happens.

See, you just said it happens. Yes rarely, but it does happen.

There is little doubt that it
is possible to grow an apple from a seed, but unlike vegetables, the result is much less
than what is expected.

Maybe, maybe not. Do you think that maybe, by the time the tree is old
enough to bear fruit, that the child will have grown enough to
understand that it was a slim possibility that the fruit would be
worthwhile in the end? And that the lesson to be learned is that
without trying, you'll never know for sure?

Why don't you tell the kid to stand in front of a speeding car, so he can fully
learn what it means to be runned over. He may survive the experience, but
without trying, you'll never know for sure.

Straw man. Stick a fork in you, your done.

Besides the name for a fruit tree that puts out crappy or no fruit is
'ornamental'.

WRONG!

There are specific cultivars of trees like a flowering pear that fall under the
classification of an ornamental tree, or one that never produces ANY fruit.

Ornamental trees that produce fruit: Mexican Fan Palm, California Fan
Palm, Ginko Balboa, California Pepper Tree, Buckeyes, etc., etc.

Above varies from barely palatable, unpalatable, to poisonous, to no
fruit male Ginko Balboa .

As far as I know, there is no official name for a tree that puts out bad fruit
or a fruit tree that fails to produce any fruit.

See above, you were wrong to begin with, you're wrong now.

You may have the last word, if you feel the need. I'm done with this
thread.

Bill