Bammbulance
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:15 pm
Location: Harlow

Where to get apple seeds?

Hello,

I have been trying to find some places that sell fruit seeds (online or in the area) but cant seam to find anything relevant.

I'm under the impression I don't want to go to tesco's buy some apples and use those seeds, as they may be hybrid through cross pollination, and probably infertile? (Please correct me if I'm wrong).

All the tree nurserys seam to sell seedlings and saplings, but not the seed.

Thanks

cynthia_h
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Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

Apples don't breed true from seed; that's why you're finding seedlings, etc. already started for you. That way, the nursery can aver that they're the correct variety you're looking for: they came from a tree of the correct variety, which came from another, etc., back to the mother tree.

Most of the eating/cooking varieties we have nowadays are grafts from "sports," or spontaneous mutants, that were discovered in an orchard of something else, e.g., Golden Delicious.

Hope this very brief response helps answer the question.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

JONA878
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Posts: 1014
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:14 am
Location: SUSSEX

When an apples name includes the word ' Pippin ' this is normaly to show that the breeder grew the fruit from a seed and does not know the total parentage of the fruit.
Cox's Orange Pippin being an example.
Here..Richard Cox , the breeder, knew one parent was Ribston Pippin as this was the fruit that he took the pips from ...but he had no idea what the other parent was.
The word 'seedling ' in a fruits name usually denotes that the fruit was from a chance seedling where neither parent is known.
Bramley Seedling being an example.
As Cynthia says. You can grow an apple from seed but unless you can be sure of both of the parents....then you will have a new variety and you can call it what you want.



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