Every so often we receive a question about how to make apple seeds germinate. Often, the person is looking for a way to reproduce an apple tree that is dying. Unfortunately, apple trees do not come true from seed. In other words, the apple seed produces trees that differ from the parent. It is extremely unlikely that any apple produced from seed will bear quality fruit. About 1 in every 80,000 apple seedlings will produce commercial quality fruit.
So, how do you reproduce an apple that is like the parent? The most common way is by grafting. Grafting is a procedure that joins two plants together. The upper part (or scion) becomes the top part of the tree, while the lower part (or stock) provides the root system or part of the trunk. In apples, the rootstock is often used to dwarf the tree so it is easier to prune, spray and harvest.
Apples are relatively easy to graft. How to graft is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but local libraries should have materials that cover the procedure, or you can find an excellent publication on the web at http://muextension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/agguides/hort/g06971.pdf (Ward Upham)
