Growing Apple Trees from Seed
Can I plant and grow an Apple tree from Seed
The simple answer is yes, but.......
The 'yes' is because you can plant an apple tree seed
and there is probably a 30% chance of it germinating and growing to full
size. That means if you plant 10 apple seeds you are likely to get
around 3 which grow. You can select the healthiest of the three and let
it grow to full size.
The 'but...' is that you will have to wait for 6 to
years to find out if it will produce edible apples - the chance of it
producing an edible apple is about 5%. The chance of it being even
remotely a tasty edible apple is very, very small. It certainly will not
resemble the apple from which the pip came. This is because modern apple
trees are a cross between two or more varieties. Further, you will not
know which apple tree pollinated the one you have.
The second 'but..' is that apple trees grown from seed will end up 30
foot or so high because they are not grown on a dwarfing rootstock. All
modern apple trees are grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock and this
restricts their height. See the picture below which clearly shows how
the apple tree has been grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock. 
In the picture the rootstock is the dwarfing rootstock
which controls the vigour and height of the tree. The scion is joined to
it and this part determines which variety of apple you will get.
Sorry to disappoint. But if you still want to go ahead,
the instructions are below:
Chill your apple seeds for at least six weeks in a bag
of damp peat in the fridge. Then plant them on a sunny windowsill, in
paper cups for the kids to watch. As soon as they outgrow the pot, plant
them outside. Water well if conditions are hot or dry.
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