The pip inside a ripe apple contains everything genetically necessary to grow into a tree. The question is not whether it will grow, but what it will grow into. Apple pips are the product of cross-pollination between two parent trees, which means the genetic material they carry is a combination of both parents rather than a copy of either. Plant a pip from a Granny Smith, and what emerges is not a Granny Smith. It is a unique genetic individual that shares some characteristics with its parents but may produce fruit that is entirely different in size, flavour and quality.

The unpredictability of seed-grown apples

This genetic variability is not a defect. It is how Apple’s diversity has expanded over centuries, and the occasional outstanding chance variety has emerged from exactly this process. The folk hero Johnny Appleseed built an entire economic model around it in early nineteenth-century America, travelling extensively and planting orchards of seed-grown trees on unoccupied land. His trees were not grown for eating apples, which require grafted varieties for consistency, but for cider apple production and for the practical business of establishing a claim to land.

The honest assessment for a home gardener is this: a pip-grown apple is an experiment. It will almost certainly not produce the same fruit as the apple you collected the seed from. At best, it might produce something interesting and usable, possibly even exceptional. At worst, it will grow into a vigorous tree that fruits after many years and produces fruit that is small, sour and useful only for cider. The tree itself may also be significantly larger than the grafted varieties widely available, since the dwarfing rootstocks used in commercial propagation are only achieved through grafting.

Growing conditions for apples in South Africa

Apples require a period of winter cold to break dormancy and produce flowers the following season. This requirement, measured in chill hours accumulated below 7 degrees Celsius, means they are only reliably productive in specific South African regions. The Western Cape’s higher-altitude areas, including Elgin, Grabouw, Villiersdorp and Ceres, provide reliable chill hours and are where most commercial apple production is concentrated. Parts of the Eastern Cape highlands and the central Highveld can also provide sufficient winter cold. Warmer coastal regions and the Lowveld generally do not.

How to grow a pip if you want to try

Collect pips from ripe fruit and allow them to dry for a few days. Apple seeds require a period of cold stratification to break dormancy before they will germinate: wrap them in a damp paper towel, seal in a container and refrigerate for six to eight weeks. After stratification, sow in a well-draining seedling mix, place in a warm position, and keep consistently moist. Germination takes two to four weeks. The seedling will grow steadily, and in an ideal climate may take eight to ten years to produce its first flowers and fruit.

The more reliable option

For anyone who wants to grow apples for eating rather than as a long-term horticultural experiment, a grafted tree from a reputable nursery is the practical choice. Grafted trees grow on dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstocks that keep the tree to a manageable size, begin producing fruit considerably sooner than seed-grown trees, and produce fruit true to the named variety. July and August, when deciduous trees are still dormant, is the optimal window to plant bare-rooted specimens, which establish more vigorously than container-grown trees planted at other times of year. Visit a nursery that specialises in fruit trees, choose a variety suited to your region’s chill hours, and plant before the first warm days of spring arrive.

The pip is worth planting if you enjoy the process and the uncertainty of what it might become. But if you are planting for a harvest, start with a graft.

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