Quote:
Originally Posted by harry
Only a percentage of the seed will have the same properties. It has to
be bred back over generations or cuttings taken. That's why you buy
most trees as saplings, they are cuttings and hence "clones" of the
original plant.
It takes years to get them to breed true because trees take so long to
come to maturity and bear seed.
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There is a possibility that a freak dwarf tree would have a genetic defect and would not produce viable seed. A nurseryman once showed me such a tree he had been trying desperately to propagate for several years, and he had some specialist lab onto the job. It was a freak dwarf Eucalyptus gunnii (cider gum), a very beautiful thing, and he was of the unsurprising opinion that if he could reproduce the thing he'd make a bit of money. The last time I met him, he had still failed after trying for several years. Eucalyptus are exceedingly difficult to propagate by vegetatively.