DEM wrote:
I found a couple of old apple trees that produced the
best apples I had since a child. I have always wanted
to try planting apple seeds and now with these two
wonderful apple seeds, I did just that.

I have two apple trees (same tree) that grew almost 3
ft in one year! I'm ready to plant them in the ground as
soon as the weather cools.

The other apple seeds that I planted, are just now
popping up in my make-shift hot box.

My question....will these trees produce anything near
to their mother plant? I have other dwarf apple trees
and I'm not worried about pollination. But I don't
know what if any type of apples these trees will produce.

Is a seed a seed and will it keep growing and be like
the mother seed from which it came?

Donna
in WA

There are two reasons why you might not get a tree that you like.

One is that if the original was grafted (and the seedling obviously isn't)
the different root stock may change the nature of the tree and its
hardiness, although it shouldn't have much direct effect on the fruit.
The second is that when grown from seed there is a degree of genetic
variation due to random recombination of genes from the parents, this is
more marked if the pollinator is another variety.

You mention dwarf trees, dwarfing is done by grafting good fruiting wood on
to dwarf rootstock. Your seedlings will not be dwarfs unless from dwarf
fruiting wood which is probably not the case.

Commercially raised apple trees are grafted. The rootstock is a hardy one
(eg resistant to root disease) and/or a dwarf one and the scion is cut from
of a known good fruiting performer, you probably won't get either of these
benefits but you might still get a nice apple tree, it's a matter of chance.

David