What Gardeners Get Wrong About Fruit Seeds
December 12, 2022
Many new gardeners mistakenly believe that fruit trees come from seeds. The seed is a product of the pollen (a male source) and also of a flower ovule, a female source. In other words, the seeds are a combination of the original 'parent', along with whichever pollen donor fertilised its flower. The fruit will therefore have a mixture of the two parent's characteristics.
Since the characteristics of the seeds come from the parent and pollen donor, seeds from a fruit actually produce a new variety that is a hybrid of two plants. The new plant will be the same kind of plant, but its fruit and vegetative portions may not look the same as the parent.
Aside from seeds, fruit trees must be vegetatively propagated by either grafting or budding methods. Many fruit growers often like to experiment and grow tree fruit from seed. A tree grown from seed will not produce fruit exactly like the fruit they saw or consumed though!
