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Planting apple seeds at home is easier than most people think, and yes, those seedlings really do grow into fruit-bearing apple trees. The seeds inside any apple you eat will sprout readily once they’ve had a few weeks of cold to break dormancy, and from there they grow into healthy young trees that you can plant out into a real backyard orchard.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Homestead
- Can You Grow Apples from Seed?
- Choosing Apple Seeds to Plant
- How to Cold Stratify Apple Seeds
- How to Plant Apple Seeds (Step by Step)
- How Long Do Apple Seeds Take to Germinate?
- Caring for Apple Seedlings
- Overwintering Apple Seedlings
- Transplanting Apple Seedlings
- How Long Until Apple Seedlings Bear Fruit?
- Update from Our Orchard (Several Years Later)
- Other Fruits to Grow from Seed
- Apple Seed FAQs
- More Seedling Growing Guides
- How to Plant Apple Seeds Recipe
Apple trees are surprisingly easy to grow from seed, the catch most gardeners have heard is that apple seeds don’t come true to type. The seedling won’t be genetically identical to the parent variety, so a Honeycrisp seed won’t grow into a Honeycrisp tree, which is why most modern orchards rely on grafted trees instead of seedlings.
What that warning leaves out is that every named heirloom apple in existence (Newton Pippin, Roxbury Russet, McIntosh, and every other heirloom apple variety we treasure) was once a seedling that someone got curious about and decided to keep. Planting an apple from seed is a bit of a lottery ticket, and you’re playing for the chance of something genuinely good.
The actual work is simple. Apple seeds need about six weeks of cold stratification in the refrigerator to break dormancy, and once they’ve chilled, the seedlings emerge in just a week or two and grow into healthy young trees within a few months. The bigger commitment is patience, since seedling apples typically take six to ten years to bear their first fruit. We planted our first batch about a decade ago, and the trees are now starting to fruit.
Notes from My Homestead
Our homestead seedling orchard started with one big apple taste test. We bought every variety we could find at a local heirloom apple orchard, sat down with a knife and a notebook, and ate our way through more than thirty different apples over a long fall afternoon. The seeds from our favorites went into the fridge in damp paper towels for cold stratification, and by spring we had a tray of seedlings ready to plant out. Most of those trees are now nearly a decade old, and several of them have started to fruit.
The honest report from our orchard is exactly what the textbooks promise. Some of our seedlings produce very good apples, some are middling, and we have one tree whose fruit is so tannic it’ll pucker your whole face. That tannic tree turns out to be perfect for hard cider, which actually needs a portion of high-tannin or high-acid apples to balance the sweet ones. We didn’t plant it for cider, but we got cider material anyway, and that’s the whole point of seedling apples. You don’t always get what you bet on, but you almost always get something useful.
I followed your advice. Pulled my seeds out of the fridge today. I had 100% germination on gala apple seeds. They are vigorous and already have roots about an inch long! Thanks for sharing this knowledge!
Can You Grow Apples from Seed?
Yes, you can absolutely grow apple trees from seed, and the seeds inside any apple you eat are perfectly viable for planting. The catch (and it’s worth knowing up front) is that apple seeds don’t come true to type, meaning the seedling won’t be genetically identical to the parent variety. A Honeycrisp seed won’t grow into a Honeycrisp tree. It’ll grow into a unique apple that has some traits of the Honeycrisp mother, some traits of whatever pollinated her flower (probably another tree in the same orchard or yard), and some traits all its own.
For some people, that uncertainty is a deal-breaker. If you want a tree that produces a specific named variety, you need a grafted tree from a nursery, or you can graft scion wood from a known variety onto a seedling rootstock. For others (myself included) the uncertainty is exactly the appeal. You’re planting the next heirloom apple, or at the very least a tree that’s perfectly suited to your specific climate and soil because it sprouted there.
Choosing Apple Seeds to Plant
Not all apple seeds are equally good candidates for planting. Two factors matter most: the parent variety and the second parent (the unknown pollinator). The parent is whatever apple you’re saving seeds from. The second parent is whichever tree’s pollen actually pollinated those flowers, and that depends entirely on what trees were nearby when the apple was forming.
Seeds from a backyard tree where the only nearby pollinators are wild crab apples will mostly produce small, tart, crab-leaning fruit. Seeds from an apple bought at a heirloom orchard, where the trees are surrounded by other tasty heirloom varieties, are much more likely to produce something worth eating. We chose seeds from our absolute favorite varieties for this reason, hoping the unknown second parent was likely also something delicious.
The other thing to consider is whether the apple actually has fully mature seeds inside it. Cut an apple open and look at the seeds before bothering to save them. Mature seeds are dark brown, plump, and uniform. Pale, white, or shriveled seeds aren’t fully developed and won’t germinate. Most fully ripe apples have at least a few good seeds inside, but very small or unevenly developed apples may not. Newton Pippins, our favorite long-keeping heirloom, almost always have a full complement of plump dark seeds inside, which makes them an excellent candidate for seed saving.
How to Cold Stratify Apple Seeds
Apple seeds need cold stratification before they’ll germinate, which is the single most important thing to know about growing apples from seed. Stratification is just a fancy word for the chilling period that signals to the seed that winter has happened and it’s safe to sprout. Without it, the seeds simply won’t grow, no matter how warm and moist you keep the soil. This is the same dormancy mechanism that protects apple trees from sprouting their seeds in the fall when the parent fruit drops, only to die in the first hard frost.
To cold stratify apple seeds at home, you only need a few simple supplies:
- Mature, viable apple seeds (dark brown and plump)
- A folded paper towel
- A small zip-top plastic bag
- A few tablespoons of water
- Six weeks of refrigerator space
Rinse the seeds gently to remove any clinging fruit pulp, since residual sugar can encourage mold during the long fridge stay. Dampen the paper towel so it’s thoroughly moist but not dripping wet, lay the seeds in a single layer in the middle of the towel, and fold the towel over to cover them. Slide the wrapped seeds into the plastic bag, leave the bag open by about an inch for air exchange, and stash it in the back of the fridge where temperatures stay consistently around 35 to 40°F.
Check on the seeds every week or so to make sure the towel is still moist and to look for any signs of mold or sprouting. After about six weeks, you’ll typically see the first roots emerging from a few of the seeds, which is exactly what you want. Some seeds may take longer (8 to 10 weeks isn’t unusual) and a few stragglers may take even longer than that. Apple seeds have notoriously variable germination rates, with some sources citing rates as low as 30%. In our experience, more like 60 to 80% of well-stratified seeds will eventually germinate, but the exact rate depends on the variety, the age of the seeds, and how consistent the cold period was. Our complete guide to stratifying seeds covers the same general technique for cherry pits, peach pits, plum stones, and other temperate-climate fruit and tree seeds that share the cold-dormancy trait.
One quirk worth knowing: apples bought from a local orchard in winter or spring have often been kept under refrigeration for months, which means the seeds inside have already received a partial or complete cold stratification. Sometimes you’ll cut open a long-stored local apple and find a seed already sprouting inside the fruit, which is a little bit magical and means you can plant it directly without the paper towel step. Even with already-stratified seeds, an extra few weeks of paper-towel chilling won’t hurt them, so when in doubt, stratify.
How to Plant Apple Seeds (Step by Step)
Once the seeds have stratified for at least six weeks, planting them is straightforward. The two main options are direct sowing outdoors after your last spring frost, or starting them in pots indoors and transplanting later. I prefer pots, mainly because squirrels, mice, and voles are aggressive predators of apple seeds and small seedlings, and pots keep everyone honest.
For the pot method, use a one-gallon nursery pot with drainage holes (recycled black plastic ones from old nursery stock work perfectly) and fill it with a sterile seed-starting mix. Plant about a dozen seeds per pot, spaced evenly, pushed about half an inch deep into the soil. Cover gently, water in well, and place the pot somewhere warm and bright. Apple seeds emerge fastest at soil temperatures around 70 to 75°F, which is comfortable indoors but easy to achieve outdoors with a sunny location too.
Keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged, and watch for the first seedlings emerging in 1 to 2 weeks. If you’re new to starting plants from seed in general, my beginner’s guide to seed starting walks through the basics that apply to apple seeds just as much as to tomatoes and peppers, and the post on common seed starting mistakes covers the damping-off and overwatering issues that can take down young apple seedlings just as easily as any other plant.
For indoor planting where natural light is limited, supplemental DIY grow lights make a real difference. Apple seedlings can get leggy fast under weak light, with thin pale stems that struggle to hold up the leaves, so don’t skimp on light if you’re starting them on a windowsill in late winter.
How Long Do Apple Seeds Take to Germinate?
Properly cold-stratified apple seeds typically germinate in 1 to 2 weeks once they’re planted in warm, moist soil. Many seeds will already have visible roots starting to emerge from the paper towel before they’re even planted, and those will be the fastest to break the surface. Slow seeds may take 3 to 4 weeks, and the occasional straggler will take even longer, so don’t give up on a pot just because germination is uneven.
If a seed hasn’t germinated after a month at the right temperature, it probably needed more cold stratification time, was an immature or dud seed to begin with, or rotted in storage. Cold stratification followed by warm soil and consistent moisture is the formula. If germination is poor across an entire batch, the most common culprit is insufficient cold time before planting.
Caring for Apple Seedlings
Once your apple seedlings have emerged, the goal for the first year is steady, healthy growth and a strong root system. The seedlings should grow rapidly during their first season, putting on six inches to a foot of height by fall under good conditions. Keep them in their gallon pot for the first growing season, in a sunny location with at least six hours of direct sun per day, and water consistently to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged.
Common first-year problems include leggy growth (almost always low light, fix with more sun or grow lights), drooping or flopping stems (sometimes weak stems from low light, sometimes the top getting too heavy for the developing root system, support with a small stake), and yellowing leaves (typically overwatering or nutrient deficiency in long-used potting mix, ease back on water and consider a light dose of liquid fertilizer).
If you started a dozen seeds in a single pot and several have sprouted, you can either let them all grow together for the first season and divide them at transplant time, or thin to the strongest two or three early on. I tend to let them all grow in the shared pot through the first year and then carefully separate them in spring of the second year, which lets you pick the most vigorous candidates for permanent planting and gives weaker ones a chance to catch up.
Overwintering Apple Seedlings
This is the most common question I get from readers in the comments, especially from people in colder zones. The short answer is that potted apple seedlings in their first year are vulnerable to winter cold because their root systems aren’t established enough to handle the kind of deep ground freeze that mature apple roots can survive without trouble. The pot itself amplifies cold, since potted soil freezes solid much faster than ground soil does.
For first-winter potted seedlings in zone 5 or colder, the safest approach is to bring them into an unheated garage, basement, or cool indoor space for the coldest months. They want to stay cold (so they go through their natural dormancy) but not so cold that the roots freeze solid. Anywhere between 28 and 50°F works well, and the plants need very little water during this period since they’re dormant. A weekly check is enough to make sure the soil hasn’t dried out completely.
By the second year, the seedlings can usually be planted directly in the ground, where their roots will establish a real network in the surrounding soil and survive normal winter cold without protection. If you’re not ready to plant them out, a larger pot (3 to 5 gallons) buried up to the rim in a protected spot in the garden gives the same protection as in-ground planting through the second winter.
Transplanting Apple Seedlings
Apple seedlings are ready to plant out in their permanent location once they’re at least 4 to 6 inches tall, well-rooted, and the danger of hard frost has passed in your area. In Vermont, that usually means late May or early June for first-year seedlings. Wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50°F, harden off the seedlings gradually over a week or two by exposing them to outdoor conditions for increasing periods, and then transplant on a cloudy day or in the late afternoon to reduce transplant shock.
Choose a permanent location with at least six hours of direct sun, well-drained soil, and enough space for a full-sized tree. Seedling apple trees grow on their own roots without the dwarfing effect of grafted rootstocks, which means they grow large. Plan on at least 20 feet between trees, and keep them well away from septic systems, foundations, and anywhere a 30-foot mature tree would be a problem in 20 years. Our guide to planting fruit trees covers the planting hole, soil amendments, and staking procedure that gives a young tree the best start.
Stake young seedlings with a soft loop of cloth or rubber tubing for the first year or two, since one casual step or a curious deer can take down a foot-tall sapling in seconds. Mulch the planting area with two to three inches of wood chips or shredded leaves, leaving a small gap right at the trunk to prevent rot. Water deeply once a week through the first growing season unless rainfall takes care of it for you.
How Long Until Apple Seedlings Bear Fruit?
Apple trees grown from seed typically take 6 to 10 years to bear their first fruit, though some bear earlier and others take longer. The exact timing depends on the genetics of the seedling, the growing conditions, the climate, and how vigorously the tree grows in its early years. Trees in good soil with plenty of sun will fruit faster than trees in poor or shaded conditions, and warm climates will see first fruit somewhat sooner than cold ones.
Surprisingly, that timeline isn’t really any longer than what you’d expect from a grafted nursery tree. Grafted trees often hit their first fruiting at year 5 to 8 after planting, but they spent some unknown number of years in nursery pots before that, getting root-bound and stressed in the process. A seedling planted directly in the ground after one year in a pot will often catch up to and surpass a nursery transplant by the third or fourth year, since it’s never had its growth interrupted by transplanting.
If you want fruit faster, the best approach is to graft scion wood from a known variety onto your seedling once it’s two or three years old. The seedling becomes the rootstock, the scion becomes the fruiting top, and you get fruit in just a few years instead of waiting for the natural seedling fruiting timeline. Our guide to grafting fruit trees walks through the technique, which is a satisfying skill to learn and lets you turn any seedling into a tree of a known variety.
Update from Our Orchard (Several Years Later)
It’s been a long time since I planted those original seedlings from our heirloom apple taste test, and I get asked enough about how they turned out that it’s worth a real update. The short version: most of our seedlings are now thriving young trees, several have started to fruit, and the early results have been about what the textbooks promise.
Of the seedlings that have fruited so far, we have a small number of really good apples (genuinely worth eating fresh), a larger number of middling ones (fine for sauce, drying, or cooking but nothing special), and one tree whose fruit is so tannic and astringent that the only thing it’s good for is hard cider. Cider makers actually need a portion of high-tannin apples in any blend, so even the spitter has earned its place in the orchard. None of our seedlings have produced fruit identical to either parent variety, which was expected, but several have produced fruit that’s distinctively their own and pleasant in its own way.
The genuinely surprising thing about the seedling experiment isn’t how the seedlings turned out. It’s how our grafted nursery trees did by comparison. Of the two dozen labeled grafted varieties we bought from a nursery the same year, more than half are not what they were labeled as. A tree sold to us as “Golden Russet” is producing insipid red apples. A summer-ripening variety is producing apples that taste like a potato in mid-October. We’ve since top-grafted several to known varieties using scion wood from a separate online nursery, and even some of those scion grafts came in mislabeled too, with the wrong variety appearing on the branches a few years later.
So the moral of the story, after a decade of running this experiment, is that there’s some uncertainty in any apple tree you plant unless you propagate from your own known parent. Seedlings are uncertain by design, and you know that going in, which I now think is more honest than the false predictability of a nursery label. The seedling apples are, in some ways, the most satisfying trees in the orchard, because every harvest is a discovery.
Other Fruits to Grow from Seed
Apples aren’t the only perennial fruit you can grow from seed, though they’re one of the most rewarding. Growing lemon trees from seed is another long-game project that produces a beautiful tree even before it fruits, and citrus actually comes mostly true to type from seed unlike apples. Strawberries from seed, rhubarb from seed, and asparagus from seed are all faster to harvest and pair well with seedling apples on the homestead.
Once your seedling apples are in the ground, they’ll eventually produce a real harvest, and you’ll want a plan for what to do with all those apples. Our guide to preserving apples covers more than thirty methods, and our most-loved apple recipes include canning apple pie filling, apple jam, apple butter, homemade apple cider vinegar, and of course hard cider for those tannic seedling apples that nobody’s going to eat fresh.
Apple Seed FAQs
Yes, a seedling apple tree will produce real apples once it matures, typically after 6 to 10 years. The fruit won’t be identical to the parent variety because apple seeds don’t come true to type, but the apples will be edible. Some seedlings produce excellent fruit, some produce middling fruit, and some produce fruit that’s better suited to cooking, sauce, or hard cider than fresh eating.
Apple seeds need a minimum of 6 weeks of cold stratification to break dormancy, with 8 to 10 weeks producing the best germination rates. Refrigerator temperatures around 35 to 40°F are ideal. Some seeds may sprout while still in the refrigerator, which is normal and a good sign that the chilling period was sufficient.
After cold stratification, apple seeds typically germinate in 1 to 2 weeks once planted in warm, moist soil at temperatures around 70 to 75°F. Many seeds will already have visible roots from the stratification period and will emerge fastest. Slower seeds may take 3 to 4 weeks, and germination across an entire batch is usually uneven.
Apple seeds are small, teardrop-shaped, and dark brown to nearly black when mature. They’re roughly a quarter inch long and a little less than that wide, with a smooth, slightly glossy seed coat. Pale brown, white, or shriveled seeds are immature and won’t germinate, so look for plump, dark, uniform seeds when selecting for planting.
Mature seedling apple trees are typically as cold-hardy as their parent varieties, often hardier since they’ve adapted to local conditions from the start. First-year potted seedlings are more vulnerable because their root systems aren’t established, so they should be overwintered in an unheated garage, basement, or other cool protected space until they can be planted in the ground. By the second year, most seedlings can survive normal zone 4 winters once planted out.
Yes, apple trees need cross-pollination from a different apple variety to produce fruit reliably. A single isolated apple tree usually produces little or no fruit. If you don’t have other apple trees nearby, plant at least two different seedlings together, or include a crab apple in your planting since crab apples bloom over a long period and pollinate most other apples effectively.
Most apple varieties need a period of winter chill (sustained temperatures below 45°F for hundreds of hours) to set fruit properly. In warm climates without a real winter, standard apple varieties usually produce poor harvests or no fruit at all. Low-chill apple varieties like Anna, Dorsett Golden, and Tropic Sweet can succeed in subtropical and Mediterranean climates, and seeds from those varieties will produce seedlings adapted to warm climates.
If you tried planting apple seeds, leave a ⭐ star rating on the how-to card and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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How to Plant Apple Seeds
Equipment
- Paper towel
- zip-top plastic bag
- refrigerator
- 1-gallon nursery pot with drainage holes
Ingredients
- Mature apple seeds, dark brown and plump
- water
- seed-starting mix
Instructions
- Cut open ripe apples and pick out the seeds. Choose plump, dark brown seeds and discard any that are pale, shriveled, or white, since those are immature and won't germinate. Rinse the seeds gently under cool water to remove all clinging fruit pulp, since residual sugar can encourage mold during the long fridge stay.
- Dampen a paper towel until it’s thoroughly moist but not dripping wet. Lay the seeds in a single layer on one half of the towel and fold the other half over to cover them completely.
- Slide the wrapped seeds into a zip-top plastic bag, leaving the bag open about an inch for air exchange. Place the bag in the back of the refrigerator where temperatures stay consistently between 35 and 40°F.
- Check the seeds every week or so to make sure the paper towel stays moist and to look for any signs of mold or sprouting. After about six weeks of cold stratification, many seeds will have visible roots beginning to emerge, which is the signal that they’re ready to plant.
- Fill a one-gallon nursery pot with sterile seed-starting mix. Plant about a dozen stratified seeds roughly half an inch deep, spaced evenly around the pot. Water gently until the soil is evenly moist but not waterlogged.
- Place the pot in a warm, bright location with soil temperatures around 70 to 75°F. Seedlings should emerge from the soil within one to two weeks, with seeds that already had visible roots emerging fastest.
- Once the seedlings are 4 to 6 inches tall and nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50°F, transplant them outside to a permanent sunny location with at least 20 feet of space between trees. Stake young seedlings for the first year or two, mulch around the base with wood chips or shredded leaves leaving a small gap at the trunk, and water deeply once a week through the first growing season.
Once your apple seedlings are settling into the orchard, the homestead calendar keeps turning. Our guide to heirloom apple varieties is a good companion read if you’re starting to think about which named varieties to graft onto your seedling rootstocks down the road, and the year-round fruit orchard guide covers how to plan an orchard that produces from June through deep winter.
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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?
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.
Very helpful Ashley, thank you! 🙂
You’re quite welcome!
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!
You’re very welcome.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
Awesome post
Thank you.
I love learning about gardening tips and tricks! This one is definitely worth reading.
So glad you enjoyed the post.
Can I plant an apple seed at my back yard in Calabar
I don’t believe that apple trees will grow there. They need a cool dormant winter period.
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?
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.
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.
I would bring it in for the winter and then in the spring allow it to harden off and then plant outside.