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.
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.
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 varieties I now treasure. Those that were less tasty 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. 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.
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.
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.
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. Nursery bought apple trees 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 bare alongside our other standard apple varieties in about 5 more years, but time will tell.
brandy hutto
Thanks for the advice Ashly,just put my apple seeds in the moist paperwork,in a ziplock in the bottom drawer in the fridge,I’m excited this will be my first attempt…wish my seeds luck!
Ashley Adamant
Good luck!
Michelle
Thank you so much for these instructions! The apple tree my husband’s grandmother planted in the yard of her farmhouse, which is now our farmhouse is starting to die. I’ve set aside several of the best apples from this year’s crop and was trying to figure out the best way to grow a few trees that can replace the original tree and be given to her great grandchildren for their yards. Not knowing if the tree will make it through another winter, I want to give those seeds the very best opportunity to survive!!
Charlesetta
Thanks for the information, my name is Charlesetta and my grandson want to try and Apple plant.
Auther Ray
I have a couple of apple trees that came up volunteer from seed from store bought apples so I have no idea what kind they might be. Is it true that large orchards use Crab apples to pollinate their trees? I wouldn’t care if they were 1/2 Crab apple as I believe they make good cooking apples and make the best jelly.
Ashley Adamant
Sometimes large orchards interplant a small number of crabapples to help with pollination, but really there’s no telling where the bee went. It could be any tree in the orchard, and some varieties are even self-fertile. Even still, you never know how the genes will all shake out in the end. I hope they’re delicious and good luck with them!
Heather D Hollingsworth
My son brought home a little brown cup that started growing his apple tree we have had it a bout a month or so and its growing like crazy. Its winter in VA, USA and I dont know anything about moving plants out of the cup into the ground..can anyone help I dont want to kill the apple tree
Ashley Adamant
Keep it indoors and wait until spring, around when you plant your tomatoes. It’ll need to be hardened off, which means gradually introducing it to the outdoors. Natural conditions, even just full sunlight when it’s used to indoor light can burn the leaves. Start by putting it out a few hours a day in a protected area, then gradually longer. More specifics here: https://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicecenter/areas-of-interest/seed-starting/hardening-off-your-seedlings/article10355.html
Brenda
How do you prevent mold from starting while cold stratifying? We tried that with peach pits in the fridge and changed the damp towel out regularly but it still kept trying to mold.
Ashley Adamant
Kept just barely damp, and with the top of the bag open a bit, I haven’t had a problem with mold. I know some people use a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide to wet the paper towels when mold is a problem, but I haven’t used that technique myself. I’m sure a quick search would help you find the right concentration.
M
Best way I found is to crack the peach pit open and get the seed inside and place that in a damp paper towel and put in a ziplock bag or Tupperware container and into the fridge until roots appear.
Julie
Interesting. I ate an apple 1bout 6 days ago. I put the seeds in a small container with a small amount f water. 8 out of 10 seeds have already sprouted!!
Ashley Adamant
This time of year (mid-winter) the apples themselves have been in cold storage for months. They’re already stratified for you in storage at the apple warehouse, so they’re ready to sprout!
Elizabeth
I’m really looking forward to starting apples from seed, but I live in the southern hemisphere, so it is the end of summer here now. Should I keep the seeds in the refrigerator until early next spring or store them until the middle of winter and then put them in the refrigerator? They are seeds from an heirloom apple.
Thank you
Ashley Adamant
I’d put them in the refrigerator until seed starting time in your area. Pull them out and pot them up whenever you’d normally start tomatoes indoors.
Sidney
I’m not sure if I have space for apple trees, but this sounds like fun. I saved some seeds from really tasty apples I ate this past Fall, so let’s see what happens, right? I also think I’ll try Ann Ralph’s method of growing little trees. Any future trees and I are going to be much happier if I don’t have to climb up and down ladders to prune and harvest.
Ginger
Have 10 so far with about 4 to 6 sets of leaves, Thanks for the tips
Juliane
I planted a seed a couple of years ago. It lost its leaves this past fall and looks like it is regrowing them in time with the other trees outside. I think it’s about 3 years old (sieve brain!) so I suppose it’s ready to harden off and plant outside? Soil? Sun? Moisture levels? Thank you! (Also have 1.5yr grapefruit, 1 yr. lemon seedlings, and a bunch of 4311 apples sprouts (generic pink apple code?))
Ashley Adamant
Yup, time to harden off (slowly) and plant it outdoors. Full sun ideally (unless you’re in somewhere absurdly hot like the Mojave). They like moderate amounts of water, and won’t tolerate swampy/wet spots. Our soil is clay with a high water table, so we have to work pretty hard to find a well-drained spot for apple trees. Poorly drained soil is the one thing that really kills them, so watch out for that. Best of luck!