Crab apple query

[shirlthegirl43]

Since I am too skint to purchase a crab apple tree, I was naughty and pinched a couple of apples from one with the intention of trying to grow from seed.

I have now had a panic and I am wondering - will they be okay from seed or do they usually get grafted like other apples?

[littlemark]

It's highly unlikely that an apple tree (crab or otherwise) grown from seed will turn out to be the same as the variety it came from. This is all to do with cross pollination, and is why all commercially grown apple trees available to us are grafted using a known scion onto a rootstock of known performance.

Having said that, it all depends what you want the crab apples for, since the resulting tree(s) may turn out to be good (and unique) varieties themselves. Growing on a seed from an apple can be a rewarding experience, the problem is, it could be several years before you know whether you have a new classic variety (unlikely to be honest), or something totally unsuitable for your needs.

Mark

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks for the response, to be honest I suspected that might be the case. Actually only want to create a 'fedge' and thought crab apples would be nice as we already have a load of apple trees in the garden.

Will probably plant the seeds and see what happens anyway.