The Johnny Appleseed Festival got me romantic about apple trees — grow one from seed, or is that a fool’s errand?
I went down a rabbit hole after the Johnny Appleseed Festival made the news this week and now I want an apple tree in my yard. I love the idea of planting a seed, but I keep reading that seed-grown apples take forever and the fruit is a lottery. Is it genuinely not worth it? Would a nursery sapling actually get me edible apples in my lifetime? I am in zone 6 if that matters.
2 answers
- Buy the grafted sapling — seed-grown apples are a genetic lottery
Apple seeds do not grow true to the parent. You get a random tree, fruit in 8 to 10 years if at all, and it will not taste like the apple you planted. A grafted nursery sapling is a known variety on dwarfing rootstock, and you will see fruit in 2 to 3 years. That is checkable on any extension-service site like Cornell or Penn State. Plant a seed with the kids for fun. Plant the sapling for actual apples.
- Do the math: seedling vs sapling is years apart
The lottery point is right, but here is the number that settled it for me: a seed-grown apple takes 6-10 years to fruit, and the fruit is unpredictable. A grafted sapling runs $30-50 at a nursery and fruits in 2-4 years with a known variety. Zone 6 is great for apples, so the sapling route is solid. If the romance of the seed matters, plant one as a fun side project — but do not make it your plan for edible apples.