To grow a tree, gardeners resort to the help of special farms and purchase seedlings for planting. But there is another way, which is much more complicated and will take more time.
You can grow an apple tree from a seed.
Is it possible to grow a tree from an apple seed at home?
This process takes a long time. and can be quite risky. Because the resulting fruits can be very different in taste from the original plant.
When growing an apple tree from a seed, the result of planting will be known only after the first fruiting, which occurs in the 5th year of life.
The final material can be obtained:
- A full-fledged tree that bears delicious, varietal fruits.
- A wild apple tree with small fruits suitable for processing.
- There is also a chance of getting an ornamental plant, the fruits of which will be beautiful, but not tasty.
If you follow all the conditions for growing an apple tree from a seed, there is a high probability of getting a varietal tree... The best option is to use a one-year seedling in the form of a rootstock for an already mature tree.
To protect yourself from not receiving material suitable for planting, it is better to germinate a few seedsextracted from different varieties of apples.
How to choose a seed for growing an apple tree?
It is worth remembering that growing an apple tree from seed is a laborious and lengthy process, and so that it ends with success, you need to choose the right seeds.
They should be firm and mature. Such planting material is distinguished by its dark color and uniform color.
Also, there should be no mechanical damage on the seeds, so you need to remove them from the apple as carefully as possible.
For proper preparation, follow these steps:
- Washing - to get rid of the inhibitory layer that interferes with germination, the selected seeds are placed in a container with warm water and stir with a small spoon for 3-5 minutes, it is better to repeat this procedure several times. Then the water is drained using a sieve or gauze.
- Soak - then the seeds are poured with water and placed in a warm place for 3-4 days. On day 3, experienced gardeners recommend adding a growth stimulator to the container. The water must be changed every day to avoid stagnation.
- Stratification - with the help of this procedure, the seeds are hardened and prepared for their natural habitat conditions.
It is best to use a wooden spoon or stick because this material is less likely to damage the seeds.
There are several ways to carry out stratification:
- The planting material is mixed with peat and sand in a ratio of 1 to 3, then the resulting mixture is moistened until the water begins to seep to the surface.
- According to gardeners, the best substrate is moss mixed with sawdust.
- A combination of sand, sawdust and activated carbon is also used.
The seeds should be in the selected substrate for 6 days at room temperature. At this time, they will swell. Then they are transferred to the refrigerator for 2-3 months.
How to grow an apple tree from a stone. Seed stratification:
Bone planting conditions
After the first shoots appear, the strongest and healthiest of them are selected... Any time of the year is suitable for transplanting seeds at home.
Once the material is ready, do the following:
- For sowing seeds, a special container is prepared, which is most often a box or container. There must be holes at the bottom to drain excess moisture.
- Then a drainage layer is made of expanded clay, pebbles and other similar materials.
- Black soil is used as a fertile soil, such soil has all the substances necessary for a young tree.
- During planting, the following scheme is used: the width between the rows is 15-20 centimeters, and between the seeds is 2-3.
- The thrust depth should not exceed 2 centimeters.
- Then the soil is watered abundantly.
- When watering the plants, they act carefully so as not to erode the soil and not expose the not yet matured seed.
- As soon as the second pair of leaves appears on the grown trees, you need to sort them out, removing weak plants and wild apple trees. They differ from varietal ones in that they have smaller and brightly colored leaves, thorns appear on the trunks. Thus, the distance between the trees increases to 7-8 centimeters.
At home, apple trees are kept for at least 4 years., in this case, they will be able to get stronger and in the future will be ready for transplantation into open ground.
If the apartment does not allow for such a long period of time to keep a small tree, it can be transplanted to a garden plot, but at the same time they protect the plant from cold temperatures, pests, wind and other troubles.
Every year it is necessary to increase the volume of the container in which the apple tree grows. This will help the tree develop the correct root system.
How to grow an apple tree from a stone. Transplanting germinated seeds into the ground:
Watering - for a young apple tree, timely watering is the main source of livelihood, without it, the not yet strong root system will not be able to receive a sufficient amount of moisture and the tree may die.
It is best to carry out this procedure once a week, avoiding the formation of a dry crust.
Top dressing - it is worth considering that in the first years of life, active organic additives, which include manure or bird droppings, can harm the plant.
They can cause burns and can cause various bacterial diseases. Therefore, it is better to replace these fertilizers with infusion of humus.
To stop the growth of leaves and improve the maturation of the wood, at the end of August, the apple tree is fed with potassium-phosphorus supplements.
For each square meter of crops, the following amount of fertilizer is poured:
- 15-20 grams of potassium chloride;
- 30-40 grams of superphosphate.
So that nutrients penetrate to the root system during feeding the soil must be carefully loosened and watered abundantly.
Transplant to open ground
As soon as the seedling reaches 4 years of age, it can be planted in open ground. This procedure is best done in late April - early May, or in September.
In order for the tree to take root in a new place, it is necessary to choose the right site for planting.
Good lighting contributes to the correct development and high-quality ripening of fruits.
Also you need to pay attention to the level of occurrence of groundwater, they must be at least 1 meter deep. The technology of the process is no different from the planting of seedlings purchased in the nursery.
How to grow an apple tree from a branch?
If the method of growing a fruit tree from seed seems too complicated, you can resort to cuttings propagation... To get a seedling from a branch, preparatory work begins at the end of autumn.
This process is also quite laborious, but it will take less time and the most likely to get the desired variety.
How to prepare cuttings for propagation
Many gardeners try to get a seedling by cutting off unprepared branches and placing them in water. But in this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to wait for the roots to appear.
To make the process a success, in late autumn - early winter, cuttings are prepared for propagation using the following actions:
- To begin with, a strong, young and ripe branch is selected, its age should be 1-2 years.
- Its middle should be gently broken without damaging the bark. For this, the selected area is bent until a crunch appears.
- Then the injured place is rewound with scotch tape or electrical tape.
- The last step will be to attach a support, which can be a regular stick. She will not allow the bent branch to straighten.
How to properly plant the prepared planting material?
After the formation of fractures, the tree will independently try to heal them, for this a large amount of nutrients will go to the injured places.
With the help of such manipulations in April, the apple tree will be ready to start the breeding process:
- The first step is to remove the winding, after which the branch is cut in the damaged places.
- For germinating cuttings, it is best to use a cropped dark bottle filled with melt or rainwater.
- For the best efficiency of the process, several tablets of activated carbon are dissolved in water.
- If you fill the container to the level of 10 centimeters, you can put 10 cuttings in it.
- After 3 weeks, roots will appear under the buds that are in the water.
- A bottle with sprouting branches is best placed on the windowsill.
As soon as the roots reach a size of 7 centimeters, they can be safely transplanted into open ground.
If a young tree is provided with regular watering and protection from bright sunlight, then it can quickly adapt to new conditions.
Sprouting an apple tree from a seed is a very difficult process., which only an experienced gardener can carry out, but cuttings propagation is also suitable for novice gardeners.
In any case, the resulting tree will be one of the most beloved on the site.