Grow Your Own Magazine

Hello everyone,

My 6 year old son got very excited when he found pips in his apple (Pink Lady), so of course we had to sow them to see if they would grow. They did in a matter of days (to my surprise actually!). My question is whether these would actually make a suitable plant on my allotment? (I had toyed with the idea of apple cordons etc next year), or will they be too big/not suitable/wrong climate etc? I know most apple trees come on some sort of alternative root stock but I don't know about apple trees grown from pips. Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks, Jules

Apples are thought to be the plant most capable of variation from seed in all the plant kingdom. So what you will get from your pips could be almost anything, but almost certainly not a Pink Lady. It could be a new variety of worthwhile apple or more likely a 'spitter'. (Take a bite and spit it out!).
Next point is that it takes about 5 years for a tree to produce fruit, so you have a longish wait.
Finally apple trees on their own roots can grow anywhere up to 60 feet tall! (In time).
It is still worth trying though, if only to keep your son's interest in the process.

Well, if for no other reason than to encourage your son into gardening, you've got to give it a try. It'll be a long time before it takes up too much space on the lottie, and will teach you both something about growing fruit from seed over the years. It could be your joint long term project.

When it does eventually fruit, it will be a hybrid variety, not necessarily true to the Pink Lady. You may well end up with a completely new variety. After all, that's where the Bramley apple came from - a pip!!

valmarg

Thanks loads, we'll give it a go then! Julia