How to grow an apple tree from a seed: the subtleties and secrets of the agrotechnical process

The apple tree is a fruit tree that can be grown from a seed or seedling. Experienced gardeners prefer the second option, often purchasing young trees in specialized stores, because they know how to grow an apple tree from a seed is difficult and troublesome. And not necessarily the result obtained will justify the effort. The seeds often grow wild with small, sour apples. To prevent this from happening, it is important to know all the stages and subtleties of the growing process.

Features of apple seedlings

The procedure for growing fruit trees from seeds has its own subtleties and difficulties:

1. First, not every apple seed sprouts and makes a seedling from it.
2. Secondly, a tree grown from a seed is most likely to be wild, he practically never adopts any varietal traits from his parents.

Most of these trees give a harvest in 6-12 years, while the apples will be sour, small, with reduced quality (taste and marketability) characteristics. Sometimes seedlings grow tall apple trees that are not convenient for pruning, sometimes dwarf or semi-dwarf trees. And in some cases, a decorative apple tree with beautiful fruits, with a completely neutral taste, is obtained. This distinguishes seedlings from purchased seedlings, which are grafted onto dim rootstocks.

From the school course of botany it is known that the wild game gives a good harvest of fragrant, tasty and beautiful apples, it needs to plant a branch of its cultivated "brother".

Seed selection

Growing seedlings from seeds has a great advantage over purchased material. As a result of your labors, you can get healthy, disease-resistant trees, the life expectancy and fruiting of which is more than 40 years. But in order to achieve this, all cultivation rules must be carefully followed.

Before you grow an apple tree from seeds, you should decide on a variety using the Michurin classification.

According to her, there are 3 groups of cultivated plants with different ability to transmit their varietal characteristics to offspring:

1. The first group fully transmits genetic information to subsequent generations, but only if there is no cross-pollination with wild relatives. This is Antonovka, Kitaika large-fruited, Octopus.
2. The second group, to which Borovinka and Grushovka belong, has a low ability to transmit varietal traits by inheritance.
3. The third group includes cultures that transmit all genetic information to their offspring, regardless of conditions. it Anise, Vorgulet. It is these varieties that are best given preference if the task is set how to grow an apple tree from seeds without grafting.

When choosing a known variety for planting, first a frost-resistant wild boar is grown, to which a branch of a cultural "relative" is then grafted.

How to grow an apple tree from a seed: stages

The best time to plant seeds is autumn or spring. But if germination is carried out at home, then the timing of planting is of no fundamental importance. The main thing is to create optimal conditions for the future seedling.

Working with planting material

Germination of apple seeds includes several stages.

Training

Since the apple tree is grown from seeds, it is important to prepare high-quality seed.The grains should be dense, deep brown colored, without damage, cracks, chips, breaks. When choosing seeds, choose a ripe or overripe apple. Remove the seed carefully. Examine it. There should be a greenish speck on the pointed side.

Several seeds are harvested at once (at least 5). After germination, the strongest and healthiest specimens are planted. When growing only one apple seed, there is a great risk of not receiving planting material at all.

Washing

The seeds extracted from the apple are washed in warm water (+36 degrees). Do this carefully, mixing the water with the seeds with a wooden spatula for about 5 minutes. Then carefully drain the water, having previously closed the container with gauze. The procedure is repeated 4 times. This allows you to remove the inhibiting layer, which prevents the germination of the future seedling.

Soak

At the next stage, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 3 days. The water is changed every day to prevent mold and rot. The air in the room where the grains swell should not be colder than +27 degrees. After 48 hours, Epin or its analogs are added to the water to stimulate growth. 3 drops are required for 100 ml of water.

Stratification

Stratification begins 12 hours after the addition of Epin. This is the exposure of the seeds to cold to simulate the harsh natural conditions. The process helps to reject unsuitable planting material.

You can skip stratification before sprouting an apple seed. But then there is a possibility that after transplanting into open ground, the seedling will get sick and die.

For stratification:

1. Peat, sphagnum, sawdust, fine river sand are mixed in equal amounts.
2. A couple of activated carbon tablets are crushed and added to the mixture.
3. Seeds are placed in the ground.
4. They are transferred to a prepared container with numerous small holes for drainage, watered abundantly so that the liquid begins to flow out.
5. Leave warm for 7 days. Then they are transferred to a cool place where the temperature will not rise above +6 degrees. A cellar or refrigerator door works well.
6. Withstand a month and a half, until sprouts appear.

If the cultivation of an apple tree from a seed is planned at the end of the summer period, stratification is not needed. After washing and soaking, the grains are planted in the ground. In autumn and winter, they undergo natural stratification and germinate together in spring. But it is important to plant them a month before the onset of cold weather.

Landing

At the end of stratification, the sprouts are carefully examined and healthy, strong ones are selected.

They are transplanted into a box, at the bottom of which drainage expanded clay and perlite layers 2 cm thick are laid:

1. For germinating seedlings, oily black soil is best suited, which contains all the nutrients necessary for growth. Wood ash (100 g per kilogram of soil) is added to the chernozem soil, poured with water with the addition of Epin (1 ml per liter of water).
2. The soil is thoroughly mixed, placed in a container. Its moisture content should be at least 60%.
3. Markings are made in the box so that there is a distance of 3 cm between the seeds, 20 cm between the rows.
4. Sprouts are planted to a depth of no more than 2 cm, sprinkling with soil.
5. Cover the box with glass to accelerate the growth and development of future seedlings.
6. The box is placed in a room with a temperature of +25 degrees.

There is an alternative landing method:

1. After the completion of stratification, the sprouts are removed from the soil and placed in a container filled with water.
2. After a week, the germinated seeds, which have developed roots, are transplanted into peat pots.
3. When the sprouts grow and become visible on the soil surface, the glass is removed and the box is placed on a well-lit windowsill.
4. They take care of the green stems that have appeared, maintaining the moisture content in the soil at 50%. This is done with a spray bottle so as not to damage fragile seedlings. The exposed seeds are sprinkled with soil again.

When the seedlings have 4 true leaves, the wilds are discarded.They are distinguished from cultivated specimens by several characteristic features:

1. Seedlings of wild birds have bright green foliage, small size, small thickness of the stem with long internodes. On the trunks and shoots, there are thin straight thorns.
2. In varietal seedlings, leaf blades are slightly curved and pubescent. In apple trees with red fruits and on the leaves, a reddish color can be seen.

After thinning and removing non-varietal plants, a distance of about 8 cm should remain between the seedlings.

Further care

At home, seedlings are grown for 4 years, each year replanting them in more spacious containers with soil. The first pick is carried out when 3 pairs of leaves appear. During transplantation, make sure that the roots do not reach the bottom of more than 5 cm, they are located at a distance of 8 cm from the sides of the container. During the first transplant, the central root is cut by 3-5 cm or bent to the side by 90 degrees.

The rest of the transplants are carried out every year in April. One-year-old seedlings are watered once a week under the root. The soil is soaked abundantly so that the water begins to flow out. An hour after watering, pour excess water from the pan, wipe it dry.

In May, seedlings are fed, diluted in water with nitrophos. A liter will require no more than 30 g. In September-October, they are fed with a mixture of 30 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium chloride, diluted in 2 liters of water. This will prevent the tree from pulling out. After watering and fertilizing, the soil is carefully loosened after 12 hours.

Young trees should spend the winter at home in cool conditions, so that it plunges into a state of rest and fully rested.

During the day, apple trees need air warmed up to +15 - +18 degrees. At night, the temperature is lowered by 5 degrees. Since apple trees need a lot of light, it is more expedient to place them on the south side of the dwelling or periodically illuminate them special lamps... In the warm season, young trees are taken out into the open air.

How to grow an apple tree from a seed: planting a seedling in the ground

You can plant trees in an open area already in the third spring, but not earlier. It is important that young apple trees get stronger and quickly adapt to the surrounding natural conditions, and be able to grow new shoots. But if the seedlings are planted earlier than 4 springs, then in winter they need shelter. Cover the apple trees with agrofibre. It retains heat, but is permeable to air and moisture. After 4 years this is not required.

During the first few days after transplanting young apple trees into open, unprotected areas of land, they are watered in cool times (in the morning and in the evening). In the first year, it is better not to feed the trees with chicken droppings and manure, so as not to burn the roots. Better to add humic supplements.

At the end of summer, apple trees are fed with potassium chloride at the rate of 15 g per square meter of land and superphosphate (30 g per square). Fertilizers are simply scattered over the surface, and then the soil is watered.

Seedlings grown for rootstocks are dug up in annuals in the fall. The leaves are removed, the central root is cut 18-20 cm from the root collar. So the root system will become more branched, and the seedling will not actively grow.

The stock is stored all winter until spring in a cool room (cellar, underground) with roots wrapped in a damp soft cloth. Seedlings intended for fruit are transplanted in spring and autumn.

The desire to grow an apple tree from a seed often arises among gardeners who want to experiment, to bring out plant varieties whose trees cannot be bought in the store. Sometimes, even if there are seedlings of the desired apple varieties on sale, there is a sports passion and you want to try your hand at such a difficult business.

After studying the instructions and learning how to grow an apple tree seedling from a seed, it is quite possible to get a varietal tree. Seedlings grow faster than their domesticated relatives, they are healthier, stronger, but begin to bear fruit later.If the result of the work does not suit you, it is quite possible to plant a branch of a varietal plant. Using seedlings from seeds as a rootstock allows you to get strong, disease-resistant and cold-resistant trees with a long lifespan.

Seed stratification - video

Video how to grow an apple tree from a seed