apple trees

I saved the seeds from several apples last year and threw them in a pot.. amazed to find i now have EIGHT apple trees.
i'm concerned with the pollination etc..
if i plant out all 8 trees in my new "orchard" will they be able to fruit eventually?
they are all from the same tree in a walled garden, but variety is a bit of a mystery... i know there are several other apple trees in the garden, all different varieties, and we have crab apples growing in nearby woods etc. and a neighbour has a few apple trees too.
I've been googling, but the info seems to vary from not being likely to get fruit to possibly getting fruit if there are other trees locally...

 

I'm assuming that no-one knows?
I kept googling.... And I found The Orchard Project which is very helpful,and interesting if anybody else wants to have a read......

 

Yes your 8 trees will eventually fruit. However they will probably not be like the tree the seed came from. They could take 10+ years to fruit and as they are on their own roots they could well be big trees before they fruit. This is why most apple trees (most fruit trees) are grafted onto a rootstock. The rootstock "controls" the final size of the tree and usually reduces the time to fruiting to a couple of years. The scion (grafted on bit) dictates the variety. As you are in the Scottish Boarders I would contact local nurseries about varieties suitable for you. These may be of help as well https://www.scottishfruittrees.com/ and The Northern Fruit Group

 

Agree with all @NigelJ says, plus the chance of any turning out to be really good eating apples is tiny. Most will be sour and small.....however there are some really good ones that came from seeds, mostly deliberate cross pollinations. The chance of one of your random seedlings being as good as say a Cox, are infinitesimal. That said, I believe Bramleys Seedling was planted by a child from an apple she ate and look what it turned into![/USER]

 

From what I learnt on an apple growing course [1], the only variety of apple that stands any chance whatsoever of producing fruit the same as it's parent, is Blenheim Orange, and even then you can't be sure of the size of resulting tree.

[1] Lots of fun, trying numerous ciders, going to local pub, drinking local ciders, etc., etc. Very educational.

 

thanks for the replies... im feeling a bit defeated that i can't use what mother nature is providing - it seems strange that a tree produces fruit with seeds and the seeds won't produce a tree in return... is this a marketing ploy by gardening centres (our local one wanted £45 for a very poor specimen)????
im guessing then that the same will apply to the plum stones that are growing and the cherry pips?

 

i HATE cider!!! lol

 

These comments show a complete misunderstanding of plant biology, pollination and plant breeding. No desert apple trees (or cider apple trees or cookers or even crab apple cultivars) are species that occur in the wild. All are the result of centuries of plant breeding, and I do mean centuries, without exaggeration. Your seeds will produce a tree but not one like the parent. It is definitely not a “marketing ploy by garden centres “. I don’t mean to be harsh but I suggest you do some research on breeding of fruit trees.

You could take cuttings from your tree but there is no way you could know how big (or small) it would eventually grow, although the fruit would be as the parent.

 

Graft them onto rootstock bought from a garden centre who sells it, as I gave done.

No, many varieties, especially cider apples are from random pollination, Bramlely cookers for example, and many new cider apple varieties have been found growing 'wild' or from discarded pips in pommace.

I collect lots of local wild apples for pressing (plus others whilst on holiday) and collect scions from anything promising later on for grafting.

 

@ridgiemum

I would suggest you use a specialist fruit nursery and buy bare root trees in the winter. I bought a number last winter for about £18.00 each + p&p
A specialist nursery can also provide rootstocks if you want to try grafting for example Rootstocks for Apple & Pear Trees | Ashridge Nurseries other nurseries are available.

Unfortunately yes.
All cultivated fruit is a complex hybrid of different species and varieties and as Redwing said it has taken centuries of selection and breeding to get where we are today. The result is that sowing your own seed is a bit like buying a lottery ticket you may be lucky but? The good bit is that you are more likely to get a good fruit tree than a jackpot, the bad bit is that you have to wait 5+ years to see if you have won anything.

 

OK, I should have said “nearly all”. I did make an exception for Bramley in my earlier post. The point I was making is about plant breeding.

 

I honestly sympathise with ridgiemum. It can be difficult to understand at times. However, Nature hasn't let you down. You sowed apple seeds and you got in return, 'apple tree seedlings.'

Please don't give up. Members here are only too willing to assist you. Just ask. Best wishes.

 

You might not mean to be harsh, but you definitely are! If you had read my introduction you would have seen that I have absolutely no gardening experience whatsoever and I'm doing this on a shoe string...

 

It is frustrating, @ridgiemum ... I sympathise!

With many plants, we can do so much by gathering seeds, and growing on our plants from the start. It is incredibly satisfying, and of course a great way to save money, learning about our plants as they grow with us.

With many of the berry plants (strawberries, raspberries, currants) we can get free plants by taking cuttings (currants) or moving off-sets/runners (strawberries and raspberries). However, it is not the case with the tree fruits. You may have heard gardeners talking about having a pollinator for your apple/pear/plum/cherry. However hard they work, the bees can only pollinate the flowers by having first been to another tree.

Let’s take this through with an apple tree. This means that the pips are genetically 50% the tree that the apple is growing on - the ‘mother’ tree - and 50% the tree that the pollen came from - the ‘father’ tree. Bees can fly a long way, so you have no way of knowing what the cross you have might be. But if you have a Granny Smith apple, the pollen will NOT have come from another Granny Smith...

Now, the chances are it is from another cultivated apple, so you may well get a “useable” apple from your pip - eventually. It may be a cider type, or a juicing type, rather than a dessert apple.

In fact, that is not your main problem. Naturally apple trees tend to be big, beautifully big trees. Imagine an old orchard, where the pickers have to stand on tall wooden ladders to reach the fruit. Apple trees that are sold are grafted (ie a bit of Granny Smith stem put on a rootstock) but the rootstock has also been carefully developed to produce small, compact trees, that fruit quickly. A dwarfing rootstock can make a productive tree after 4 years, growing to just 5 foot. There are so many different sizes, for growing trees in different situations. Your pip tree may grow big, or very big. It is unlikely to be small, however carefully you prune it.

I hope you don’t mind me explaining things again, and step-by-step. It’s how I learn.... As gardeners, we don’t want to upset or dishearten you. But we also don’t want you to have a garden totally overcrowded by big, orchard-size fruit trees, that will take many years to fruit, for you to find that you don’t want to eat the fruit they eventually produce. That would be even more disheartening!

If you want to grow apples/pears/cherries/plums in your garden, then may I suggest you keep an eye on shops like Aldi/Lidl. In the spring, they sell young fruit trees at a very reasonable price - I think around £5-£6? These are named varieties, and are on dwarfing rootstock. Try to get to the shop the day they first put the plants on display, so the plants don’t get knocked around, and you can have a good selection.

Meanwhile, you can keep your pip plants in a pot, as a fun thing. Just don’t expect to make an apple pie from them! You may have seen that I have a pot of mango seedlings. I won’t ever grow a mango, but it’s still fun to tend a living plant from something destined for the compost heap!

 

Excellent post
@Sian in Belgium