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Avoid Growing These 6 Fruit Tree Species from Seeds, Suggest Garden Specialists

six fruit tree varieties gardening professionals advise against propagating via seeds:

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Avoid Growing These 6 Fruit Tree Species from Seeds, Suggest Garden Specialists

Growing Fruit Trees: The Smart Approach

Skip the seeds and go straight for grafted trees! Unlike edible plants that sprout easily from seeds, fruit trees fare better when grown from containers. Seeds from fruit cores often produce vegetables that differ from the parent plant, and it'll take you years to see any fruit from a seed-grown tree.

Grafted trees offer predictable results and a quicker harvest. "The rootstock can be chosen for features like height control and disease resistance," Damon Abdi, assistant professor of landscape horticulture at the LSU AgCenter, explains. By combining the best traits of a rootstock and a specific cultivar, you'll get a more consistent crop.

Transform your landscape into a tasty paradise by growing these beloved fruits via grafting or propagation, saving your seed budget for your veggie garden!

Avoid Propagating These 6 Fruit Tree Species From Seeds, Recommend Gardening Specialists

Avoid These 7 Plants Near Your Fruit Trees

Apple Trees

While apples tempt you with their delectable seeds, it's not that simple. After millennia of grafting apple trees, you can't bank on a seed yielding the fruit you want.

Avoid growing these six fruit tree species from seeds, gardening experts advise:

"Apple seeds are cross-pollinated, leading to genetics that give rise to plants different from the parent plant," Abdi says. "Grafting is the method of choice for growing apples, either by performing the graft yourself or purchasing trees that have already been grafted." Apple trees can grow tall, up to 30 feet, but those grafted to dwarfing rootstock remain around 10 feet.

  • Growing Zones: 3 to 9
  • Size: 30 feet tall × 30 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, well-drained soil

Cherry Trees

Six Fruit Tree Species That Gardening Specialists Recommend Against Growing from Seeds

Like apples, cherries require cross-pollination to produce healthy seeds. "Cherry trees can hybridize in nature, but edible cherry trees have grown better on the species of a dominant rootstock," says head gardener Adrienne Roethling at a private estate. "Saving a cherry seed and letting it grow won't yield an exact variety. Buy a cherry tree instead."

  • Growing Zones: 5 to 8 (sweet cherries); 4 to 7 (tart cherries)
  • Size: 15 to 30 feet tall × 15 to 30 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, well-drained soil

Pear Trees

Gardening advisors warn against cultivating these six fruit tree varieties from seeds:

Pears provide seeds that don't grow true-to-type, says Abdi. "The genetics of the seed can vary from the parent plant," he notes. If you hope for a fruit with the same appearance and taste as your favorite pear, taking cuttings from an existing tree is a better option.

  • Growing Zones: 4 to 8
  • Size: 10 to 30 feet tall × 6 to 12 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, well-drained soil

Banana Trees

Six Fruit Species Potential Gardeners Should Avoid Propagating from Seeds, as Recommended by Horticulture Professionals

Most grocery store bananas are the cavendish variety, a triple-chromosome fruit without seeds. "Bananas purchased at the store have no seeds," says Abdi. "Instead of looking for seeds, go for vegetative propagation." You'll have greater success in warmer climates, as bananas don't like freezing temperatures.

  • Growing Zones: 8 and above
  • Size: 6 to 10 feet tall × 6 to 10 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, well-drained soil

Peach Trees

Unsuitable Fruit Trees to Propagate from Seeds, as Advised by Gardening Specialists

Many peach and nectarine varieties share genes with the thousands-year-old Prunus persica, native to China. While the fruit can produce a viable pit, the resulting plant will not come true from seed, says Roethling. Grafted peach trees are available for any gardener.

  • Growing Zones: 5 to 9
  • Size: 25 to 30 feet tall × 25 to 30 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, well-drained soil

Fig Trees

Warm-climate figs can mature with seeds, but those grown from the Carolinas northward usually don't, says Roethling. The trees need a longer growing season than cooler areas provide and rely on a specific wasp for pollination. Taking stem cuttings from an existing tree and planting them is a better strategy for boosting your fruit haul.

  • Growing Zones: 7 to 9
  • Size: 20 to 30 feet tall × 20 to 30 feet wide
  • Care: Full sun, rich, well-drained soil
  1. Martha Stewart might be surprised to learn that cherry trees, like the ones she often grows, rarely produce edible fruits from seeds. Instead, propagation through cuttings or purchasing grafted trees is a more reliable method.
  2. In the context of gardening, the AEEA6912AFB8619F61C6E3AC8E1FE5E2 rootstock is often employed due to its traits such as height control and disease resistance. This rootstock is combined with specific cultivars to produce a more consistent crop in fruit trees.
  3. Despite the temptation of consuming cherry seeds as a potential garden source, it is advisable to bypass this method and opt for purchased cherry trees, as the resulting seed-grown tree may not match the parent plant.

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