Accidentally Grown an Apple Tree

cakeforbrains

Hello hello!

A couple of weeks ago my four year old son arrived at my side with a sticky, clasped fist asking 'what is dis?' The 'dis' in question, upon examination, was a germinated seed from the apple he was eating so, in my wisdom, I suggested he 'plant' it in one of the pots on the patio.

It's grown.

We now have a teensy seedling, about 2-3 cm tall, with four tiny leaves and I have no idea what I should be doing with it. A quick look at Google said that we should have planted two as apple trees need to be pollinated by a partner but also that seeds normally need to be manipulated into germinating via complicated fridge/paper/witchcraft mechanisms. I have no idea. I am not green-fingered at all! This seed literally came out of the apple with a tiny root.

Should I just let it grow? Will it make a proper apple tree? Can I keep it in a pot all its life? Do I have to find it a girlfriend apple tree? Please help!

dacouch

You should have planted a pear

Lorian

Apples trees grown from pips tend not to make edible apples. The way they get a reproducible type of apple is to graft part of trees on to root stock. It doesn't hurt to grow it, but I wouldn't be too concerned about a partner and germination for this reason, which would be many years off anyway.

ampersand

It is a marvellous thing to have happened for you and son. Well done!

Let it grow:-) Not all apples need pollinators, if this element is grafted to rootstock. Enjoy this one for what it becomes. What variety apple was it?

You'll know when it's too big for successive pots. Let it become accustomed to yuck English conditions outdoors. Circa February/ March bare-rooted stock is sold for planting so that fruit trees bed in, dormant-ish, in the down times of winter, then have a first garden growing surge with Spring. You'll have blossom!!!

It really is a lovely thing to have happened, whether or not you think your pinkies are green. Take progress pics. and be proud. Could be the start of great things:-)

londonTiger

we planted an apple tree and orange tree in my parents garden when we were kids, it was a really hard decision when we finally cut it off. They were completely unsuitable, orange tree never flowered and apples were unedible.

My advice is, cut it and get rid of it now rather than later. When it grows and produces unedible fruit and takes up half the garden you're going to have a difficult decision.

Then buy a good tree on a good root stock to put it in it's place.

Ectophile

It won't be grafted onto a dwarfing root stock, so the chances are it will try to grow into a full-size apple tree. Unless you're into bonzai, there's no way that would fit into a pot.

It will be anyone's guess what sort of apples it will produce. Because you're supposed to grow two different but compatible varieties side-by-side, to ensure pollination, the resulting tree will be a cross between the two.

Mojisola

cakeforbrains wrote: »

We now have a teensy seedling, about 2-3 cm tall, with four tiny leaves and I have no idea what I should be doing with it.

A quick look at Google said that we should have planted two as apple trees need to be pollinated by a partner

Should I just let it grow? Will it make a proper apple tree? Can I keep it in a pot all its life? Do I have to find it a girlfriend apple tree? Please help!

Let it grow for a couple of years - or as long as your youngster keeps an interest in it.

It will make a proper tree but it will be big - not like the modern grafted trees that you can buy. If you want to keep it forever, it will need to be planted in the ground but it could stay in increasingly big pots for a few years.

It doesn't need a pollinator until it starts flowering which will be some years yet. If any of your neighbours have apple trees or ornamental crabapple trees, it may be pollinated from them.

It's most likely that the fruit will be horrible but there's always the chance that you will have a new, lovely variety on your hands.

Tigsteroonie

Pot it on, keep potting it on as the years go by. Your son is now 4 - he will lose interest long before the tree is sufficiently mature to consider fruiting, and you can dispose of a larger sapling later. But for now, enjoy the 'growing' thing while your son is young

Farway

cakeforbrains wrote: »

It's grown.

We now have a teensy seedling, about 2-3 cm tall, with four tiny leaves and I have no idea what I should be doing with it.

Should I just let it grow? Will it make a proper apple tree? Can I keep it in a pot all its life? Do I have to find it a girlfriend apple tree? Please help!

Let it grow, help your son enjoy gardening, Google Granny Smith, Cox's orange pippin, all from pips, the clue is in the name for Cox

If you have room put it in the ground

You could try & train it, step over maybe?

But let your son enjoy enjoy it

Not knowing where you live, but pollinators are not normally faraway

I grew from a pip, trained, but it never flowered, just a word of caution

Mojisola

Farway wrote: »

You could try & train it, step over maybe?

Step overs need to be on a very dwarfing rootstock.

nonnatus

What an interesting thread! Who knew growing a humble apple was so complicated?

It's made my day to read that Apple trees need partners in order to be able to fruit - how cute is that?