On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:54:13 -0400, John Bachman
wrote:

On Sun, 3 Jun 2007 14:46:29 -0400, "Buck Turgidson"
wrote:

My wife sowed some apple seeds from a grocery store apple, which germinated
just fine. Would these things do ok in the Mid-Atlantic region? This was
more of an experiment for our young kids, but I am wondering if these things
are viable here.

Maybe, but it is most likely that you will not be happy with the
result. Apples are grown on rootstock so that the rootstock
determines the growth habit of the tree and the variety is determined
by what is grafted to the root stock.

When you plant the seeds you get the variety of apple on that trees
rootstock which may not be suitable at all.

If you really want to grow apples I suggest that you decide which
variety you want and buy a tree from an nursery or supplier.

Be prepared for some serious pruning and pest control to get quality
apples.

My experience is that nearly everyone wants to grow their own apples
until they find out how much time and money must be invested to get
quality fruit. Then buying from a local orchard seems much more
acceptable to them.

Good luck,

John


Clearly I don't know enough botany to understand this, but how does
the root stock genetics affect the new seed? I can see the pollen and
egg genes getting mixed in the new seeds, of if apples reproduce by
apomixis, then the top stock could show up in the new seeds, but I
can't figure out how the root stock would.