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Apple seeds are easy to grow at home with the proper preparation, and seedlings are often more vigorous than their grafted nursery counterparts.  Give an apple tree seedling 3-4 years, and it’ll catch up to and pass a potted transplant in size.  From there, you have a tree that may bear for centuries.

Young apple seedlings, or tiny apple trees grown from seed

The main reason apples aren’t grown from seed is that they don’t “come true to seed.”  Just like humans, the offspring may have some resemblance to their parents, but with their own flavor and habits.  Humans tend to want predictability, and for that reason, apple trees are cloned by grafting rather than starting from seed.

The thing is…all the tastiest apple varieties were a seedling at some point in history.  Planting an apple from seed is like playing the lottery, and since you’re likely going to compost that apple core anyway, you’ve got nothing to lose. 

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A few hundred years ago, settlers carried with them apple seeds and started seedling orchards all over the Northeast, and those same orchards became the parents of many of the heirloom apple varieties I now treasure.  Those that were less tasty when eaten out of hand went into hard cider, which requires a certain percentage of high-tannin or high-acid apples to brew properly.

One year we bought more than 30 apple varieties from a local heirloom apple orchard and did a big apple taste test.  Since all the trees were in an heirloom orchard, there’s no telling who the second parent tree was…but it’s less likely that the father tree was a wild crab apple, and more likely that it was another tasty heirloom.  This improves the chances that any given seed will bear offspring with good characteristics.  

Since a seedling tree will have some of the characteristics of its parents, we chose the seeds from our very favorite varieties to plant.  There’s a good chance many of them will be best suited for hard cider or to please the deer as windfalls, but even then, they’ll still feed the bees with abundant blossoms and nectar in the spring.  And at the very least they’ll help pollinate our other tastier trees, so it’s a win either way.

Preparing Apple Seeds for Planting

Apple seeds need cold stratification to break dormancy.  It’s a defense mechanism built into the seed itself, ensuring that the seed doesn’t sprout until winter is over.

The fruit naturally ripens in the autumn, but if the apple seedlings sprouted right away, they wouldn’t be strong enough before winter to survive.  The seeds stay dormant until they’ve been “cold stratified” or chilled for a minimum of 6 weeks.  In nature, this happens naturally outdoors over the winter.  Any seed that fell on a fertile spot, and then wasn’t eaten by squirrels or other animals, will sprout in the spring once temperatures warm up…provided winter is consistently cold.

This is actually tricky in really warm locations out west, where winter doesn’t get cold enough to break the seed dormancy.  That’s one reason there are wild apple trees scattered everywhere throughout the Northeast, but far fewer in areas with very mild winters. 

The plant evolved this seed dormancy to make sure the seeds don’t sprout before the spring, but you can trick them by creating an artificial “winter” in your refrigerator. 

The seeds need to be kept under moist refrigeration for at least 6 weeks before they’re planted.  Place apple seeds in a moist paper towel, and then put that paper towel inside a plastic bag, leaving it open just a crack for air exchange.  Store it in the back of the refrigerator, checking on the towel every week or so to make sure it’s moist.

Sprouting Apple Seeds on a Paper Towel ~ Growing Apple Trees from Seed

At the end of 6 weeks, some of the seeds may have started to sprout already.  That’s a good thing since apple seeds have a very low germination rate.  Some sources say as low as 30%, though I’d guess ours were more like 60% at least, so clearly, it’s variable.

If you buy local apples late in the season, months after harvest, they’ve already been kept under refrigeration for many months.  It’s a good idea to cold stratify those seeds in a moist paper towel too because extra stratification won’t hurt them, but not enough cold hours means no apple seedlings. 

When you cut long-stored local apples open, there’s a chance that some of the seeds may have already started to germinate inside the apple…

An apple seed that had already started to germinate inside an apple from cold storage.
An apple seed that had already started to germinate inside an apple from cold storage.

How to Plant Apple Seeds

After a minimum of 6 weeks in a moist paper towel in the refrigerator, you can plant apple seeds just as you would any other seed. 

They can be direct seeded outdoors if it’s after last spring frost, and the soil can be worked.  Since germination rates are low, and predation from squirrels, mice, and voles can be an issue early on, we generally sprout them in pots.

I place about a dozen seeds in a recycled one-gallon nursery pot along with a bit of seed-starting potting mix.  Keep the soil warm and moist, as you would any other spring-planted seed start (ie. tomatoes).  

How Long Do Apple Seeds Take to Germinate?

After 6 weeks of cold stratification, apple seeds actually germinate fairly quickly. 

Many of the seeds will already be germinating on the paper towel in your refrigerator, and those will emerge from the soil quickest after planting.  Assuming soil temperatures are fairly warm (about 75 degrees F) the seeds should emerge from the soil in 1-2 weeks.

From there, we tend the apple seedlings in pots until the young trees are at least 4-6 inches tall.  That means we’re less likely to lose them where they’re planted, but staking them is also a great idea because one casual step can mean the end of a young tree at this stage.

Apple Seeds Sprouting
Apple seeds sprouting. These seeds were inside apples local apples from an orchard that were kept inside cold storage for 6+ months. Since the whole apple was refrigerated, the seeds actually “cold stratified” right inside the apple. Once they were brought out of storage in the spring, the seeds sprouted on their own within a week or two.

Transplanting Apple Seedlings

If you’d like to get them into the ground sooner rather than later, just wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees in the spring (or early summer here in the north country).

Once the apple seedlings are in the ground, they’ll begin the work of growing into a full-sized tree.  Since they’re not grafted on dwarfing rootstock that handicaps them and limits their nutrients, seedling apples will grow strong and healthy, but also large.  Good pruning can keep apple trees smaller, but full-sized apples should still be planted at least 20 feet apart.

How Long Does It Take Apple Seedlings to Bear Fruit?

Surprisingly, not really any longer than an expensive grafted nursery tree.  Apple trees purchased from a nursery generally bear about 8 years after planting.  They may have been in the pot for some time, which caused them to become a bit root-bound and stunted.  Even in the best of cases, large 6” tall nursery trees don’t take transplanting well, and it takes them some time to recover and begin to grow vigorously again.  

After three years in the dirt, our apple seedlings are now actually taller than our grafted nursery trees.  We’re expecting them to come to bear alongside our other standard apple varieties in about 5 more years, but time will tell.

Growing Fruit from Seed

Apples aren’t the only perennial you can grow from seed!

Growing Fruiting Plants

Looking for more tasty perennial fruit that you can grow right in your own backyard?

Growing Apple Trees from Seed ~ Growing apple trees from seed is easy, if you know the trick to breaking apple seed dormancy before planting. #appletrees #permaculture #orchard #selfsufficiency #howtogrow #homesteading

About Ashley Adamant

I'm an off grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self reliant.

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221 Comments

  1. Caroline B says:

    You might want to test this method, Epsom salt it might soften seeds so make easier method for seeds to break out. I am not sure if work, but I learned it from another gardener. I hope you try this method, to see if this works or not. Likewise, I am thinking of using Epsom salt method to guard plants from snail assault.

    One other method I got from the same gardener has found cinnamon spice is effective against all bugs. Is that myth or true?

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      We have found cinnamon is effective against most bugs, but only until it gets wet. You need a lot of cinnamon for anything but a small potted plant, and you need to re-apply frequently. It gets expensive fast.

  2. MADELYNN MARTIN says:

    Very helpful Ashley, thank you! 🙂

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      You’re quite welcome!

  3. Little nightmares says:

    I found this post incredibly helpful! I’ve always wanted to try growing my own apple trees from seed, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks for breaking down the process into easy-to-follow steps. I can’t wait to give it a try!

    1. Administrator says:

      You’re very welcome.

  4. Pablo says:

    Hey, good post, very helpful. It’s an old post so I don’t know if you’ll see this comment, but it’s been almost five years now so I’d love to know if the tree are bearing fruit now, is there any follow up? Cheers.

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      Several are fruiting this year actually! I should take some pictures and do a follow up. We have a mix of very very good apples, and some middling ones and one spitter that’s very tannic. Overall, I’m very happy with our trees, and we have some for eating as well as some for hard cider.

      Oddly, 10 years ago we bought trees from a nursery too…grafted varieties and all labeled. Literally two dozen different varieties…and most, now that they’re fruiting are not the variety they were labeled. A tree labeled “golden russet” is producing insipid red apples, and another that’s supposed to produce sweet apples that ripen in summer has apples that taste like a potato and aren’t ripe in Mid-October. So, I went both routes, and honestly, the nursery route was a bad experience in our case, due to lack or integrity or bad labeling at the nursery.

      We’ve since top grafted several of the trees to change their variety, and that has been a great success. Ironically again, we bought scion wood form an online nursery…and that was 3 years ago. Some of the branches are starting to fruit, and some are the correct variety, while others are a surprise and not the variety they were labeled.

      Anyhow, it does seem that we got a surprise no matter what we did. Planting from seed, grafting from purchased twigs or planting from potted nursery stock. And in my book, the seed grown apples are the most satisfying, because you know form the beginning that it’s going to be a surprise. Buying nursery stock at a high price, only to find out a decade later that it’s not what you paid for is disappointing. A matter of perspective I guess.

      1. Pablo says:

        Awesome, thanks for the reply. We also bought a bunch of fruit trees from a nursery, almost picking them at random, about ten years ago and they barely give any fruit, but, tbh, we haven’t given them any kind of proper maintenance. That’s why I’m thinking of starting to pay more attention to them now. Also because I think there is only a single apple tree so that may be the reason it doesn’t get polinated properly, so I’m thinking of growing a few more nearby so they at least can pollinate each other even if the fruit on the ones grown from seed is not great.
        Cheers!

  5. Calwin says:

    I have successfully germinated dozens of seeds this winter/spring and now,August, have them outside in pots. I am in Zone 5. Can I safely plant them outside this fall or overwinter in an unheated garage?
    Thank you

    1. Administrator says:

      They can be direct sown into the ground after the last frost in the spring so you should be able to go ahead and plant them out in the ground. I would just give them plenty of time to get established before it gets too cold.

  6. Rehoboth says:

    Awesome post

    1. Administrator says:

      Thank you.

  7. mojapk says:

    I love learning about gardening tips and tricks! This one is definitely worth reading.

    1. Administrator says:

      So glad you enjoyed the post.

  8. Samuel says:

    Can I plant an apple seed at my back yard in Calabar

    1. Administrator says:

      I don’t believe that apple trees will grow there. They need a cool dormant winter period.

  9. Natalie L says:

    My 4 year old son wanted to grow an apple tree from seed this summer. On our 2nd try, 2 of the 3 seeds sprouted. They were from an organic store bought apple. Now the seedlings are about 7 inches tall and about an inch and a half apart. They were outside all summer, but I brought them in last night before our first hard freeze. But I don’t know what I should do with them over the winter. They are already hardened off, but we are on the western side of CO so I know it’s going to freeze hard this winter. And I also don’t don’t if I should try to split them up or leave them together? Keep them in the basement anyway, or put them in the ground?

    1. Administrator says:

      I think I would bring them inside for the winter and then by next year they should be big enough to plant out. At this point it might be a good idea to repot them into individual pots.

  10. Jeanette Minten says:

    I have four started from seed apple trees. They are 4-5 inches tall; What would be the best way to winter them this first year? We are zone 3 in Minnesota. They are currently potted.

    1. Administrator says:

      I would bring it in for the winter and then in the spring allow it to harden off and then plant outside.