How to Grow an Apple Tree from a Pip

All of these apples were grown on single tree and there's more here than my family and could possibly eat. An average apple tree produces hundreds of apples every year and in this video I'm going to show you how to grow one from this tiny pip. To grow apples from pips we need to start with ripe apple. That way we know that the pips, which are just the seeds inside, are fully developed and ready to go. Before we sow our pips they first need period of chilling. Now apples need some cold weather in order to set flowers and fruits for the next season and it's exactly the same with our pips here. They need period of chilling in order to kind of make them viable and spark into life once the cold period is over. Now the posh term for this is 'cold stratification' and it's just nature's way of ensuring that the seeds do not germinate until winter is definitely over. Now you could just sow them directly outside so they get the winter chill but more controlled and perhaps more accurate way of doing this is simply to refrigerate them. Now to do that, simply wash off any bits of flesh from your pips and then pop them on some nicely dampened kitchen towel. You probably only want one or two seedlings, but would treat maybe 20 or 30 pips or so just to make absolutely sure you get some seedlings 'cause germination can be bit patchy. So lay them out like that and then just fold over your paper towel few times to cover them over like that. And I'm just going to put them into sealable plastic bag like that. I'm going to seal it most of the way up but just leave little bit open for air exchange. Now this can go into the refrigerator and I'll keep it there for between 6 to 8 weeks. will check it every now and then to check that the paper the towel is still damp and give it little moisten if it isn't and then once that period's up they can come out. Once the chilling period is up you're good to sow. So let me show you how to do that. Now I'm going to use pot roughly this size for the number of seeds have and then I'm filling with potting mix. I'm just using damp seed starting mix. So fill most of the way to the top, firm it down and then just sow your seeds over the top, your stratified pips. And then once they're all sowed I'm going to cover them over with about half an inch or 1 cm more of the mix. Now once I've given these good water these are going to go somewhere nice and warm and cozy, kind of the same conditions that you would have for your warm season crops like tomatoes, so something in the mid 70s Fahrenheit or around 23° Celsius and at that temperature they'll germinate really quickly, as soon as 2 weeks. Grow these seedlings on until they're about 4 in or 10 cm tall then just carefully separate them apart and put them up into their own individual pots. Now keep them in the relative warmth until the temperatures outside are consistently warm and then they can be planted. I've come to my local community orchard to seek inspiration today. Now growing an apple just makes good sense. mature tree can yield literally hundreds of apples each and every every season. There are varieties to choose from that store really well, you can freeze the flesh and of course juice your apples. Just imagine having even one tree like this, how many apples you would get. It's just so exciting! Growing apples from seeds works and it's certainly cheap as pips, but this method isn't perfect. Let me explain why and then show you what you can do about it. Growing from pips is fun project but the results can be very unpredictable because there's strong chance that the fruits your seedlings produce will be nothing like the parent plant that they came from. It's bit like playing the Lottery. Yes you might strike it lucky, but more often than not you won't get the apples you are hoping for and they're likely to be lot smaller and less impressive. That's because you can't be sure where the pollen that fertilized the flower that produced the fruit came from. It's likely to be from completely different variety to the tree that bore the fruit, giving rise to this unpredictability. And then there's the eventual size of the tree. Now most trees that you buy ready to plant are comprised of two separate parts: there's the top part the scion, that's the variety that you're looking to grow and enjoy, but then down here is the root stock onto which it is grafted. Now what the root stock does is usually limit the eventual size of the tree lot more than it would eventually grow into without that root stock. Dwarfing root stocks like this allow you to grow trees in much smaller space, even up against wall or fence. Without the benefit of root stock, apples from pips are likely to grow into great big sprawling things, anywhere up to 30 ft or 10 tall and wide. That's big. And then there is the time you will have to wait to actually start harvesting your apples. Growing from pip takes long time and it could be up to decade before you are picking your first apples, whereas part-grown grafted sapling could be cropping within 2 to 4 years depending on its size. If you want to give yourself head start and guarantee solid results then grab yourself grafted tree like this. Yes, there is the initial cost but on the flip side you will be enjoying your own delicious apples lot sooner. want to make life as easy easy as possible for myself so I've chosen self-fertile variety. That just means it will pollinate itself and isn't reliant on nearby trees being in flower at the same time. Now the top part, the scion is grafted onto semi- dwarfing root stock which will limit the final tree size to about this high, little over head height and that's nice and manageable. You can get different root stocks and each will limit the final size of the tree to some degree. am planting container grown tree. Now autumn is the best time of year to plant trees but container grown like this you can plant them at any time of the year so long as the ground isn't frozen solid. Now our planting hole ideally needs to be about three times the diameter of the root ball, so the easiest way to measure that out is to use the pot itself and then just make little impressions like this to mark out the area we're going to dig out. Now this nice width here will give plenty of room for those roots to kind of grow out and for the depth I'm aiming for the same depth here as this root bowl. Let's get digging. Okay that's our hole dug and now what I'm going to do is I'm going to use the fork here spear the sides of the hole like this just to loosen it up up even further and I'm going to just spike along the floor of our pit as well and this means that I'm giving the roots every chance to get both out and down into the soil and help it establish. It's been really wet here and this root bowl is well and truly soaked but if your root bowl is in any way dry, just take the pot off and soak it in bucket of water for at least an hour to get it really kind of saturated. Now to pop it into the hole here. So we want the soil level to be the same as the level of the potting mix here. And good way to get the levels right is to use cane or stake something like that just to kind of put across to straddle the hole and then you can kind of raise or drop the ground as appropriate. Now this is lovely sunny spot and the soil's pretty good but if your soil isn't ideal now it's your chance to incorporate plenty of compost into it before we start filling back the hole. Well one thing will do is just tease out these roots from the side of the root ball which will encourage them to grow into the native soil here to kind of establish that much quicker. Right we've got it well placed, it's upright and now it's time to fill back with our soil and I'm just going to, as fill, kind of press it down with my feet like that just to make sure there are no air pockets which wouldn't be great. There we are, firm it down. Don't be - don't be shy. There we are. think we're pretty much there. Now it's easy with containerized fruit tree to keep this graft union where the root stock and the scion meet well above the soil level. You don't ever want to cover that. Now if it was dry in any way would give this really thorough water which would also help to settle the soil but as said it's been incredibly wet so you can see here there's no problem with moisture, so that's all good to go. But first some finishing touches. I'm going to start with the stake and that's just to kind of give it bit of kind of extra support. It's nice and sheltered here, it gets plenty of sunshine but there's no harm in doing this just to give it the best start. There we go, I've hammered in my stake at 45° angle so I'm not spearing the root ball there and now I'm going to tie it on with this soft tie here in kind of figure of eight arrangement. Now this will let the top part move around but it's going to keep the root nice and steady and in place. So you kind of want the top to move around bit because that will actually ultimately create stronger tree but you want the roots to stay kind of nice and firm so this should achieve that. I'm using this kind of flexible soft tie here which has got wire in the middle of it. It's nice and flexible compared to traditional tree tie. can always adjust it as necessary as the tree grows. Now the final touch is lovely carpet of wood chips. You can use any organic matter that you have, good garden compost would be fantastic, but just keep it clear of the stem here to avoid any kind of rot which might happen if it sits against it. Now later on in the year I'll be visiting fruit nursery to plant bare root fruit tree so if you don't want to miss that do make sure you are subscribed and have turned on notifications. For advice on fruit of completely different scale, strawberries, why not download the abridged and completely free version of my book. Now it's yours simply for signing up to our video newsletter. Just scan here or follow the link to secure yours. I'll catch you next time.