Germinating apple seeds to cultivate new trees represents a long-term propagation strategy involving extracting seeds from mature fruit, stratifying them to break dormancy, and nurturing seedlings until they are ready for transplanting. The process begins with selecting seeds from desirable apple varieties, ensuring proper cold storage (stratification) for several weeks, and then sowing the seeds in a suitable growing medium. This initial phase is critical for successful germination.
Propagating apple trees from seed offers the opportunity to develop potentially unique apple varieties. Seed-grown trees, however, rarely produce fruit identical to the parent tree. The genetic variation inherent in sexual reproduction means that the resulting apples may possess novel characteristics, including different tastes, textures, or disease resistance. Historically, this method has been utilized to develop new cultivars and understand apple genetics.
