I got my first honeycrisp apple the other day. Is it true that it won't come true from seed?

Thanks,
Phillip

I know of no apples that come true from seed... Look at the bright side, at least you can grow apples there.

Phillip I'm not really familiar with apples as I can't grow them here. I would assume that as your using them as rootstock it really doesn't matter. The scion is what is important as far as quality & taste go. The seed used for rootstock will be pretty similar and may be bred for disease resistance or growth habit such as dwarfing.

It is estimated that the chance of an apple seed even producing a good tasting apple is one in a hundred thousand. But don't give up, your still young. BTW the Red Delicious apple was a 1 in a 100,000 survivor of the odds. - Millet

I too tasted my first Honeycrisp apple recently. Millet was right!
I'm hoping I can get some budwood from Joe next spring & graft it to our 5 in one.

Apple plant breeders are over-rating their work about the odds of getting a good apple cultivar out of 100,000. That is not statistically correct information. The greatest proof that can't be disputed is that we have more than ten thousand apple cultivars, a testament to the fact that good apple cultivars do often come from seeds, it may not be frequent, but far from the odds of one in 100,000. It is more likely to be one out of a hundred. The same can be said for peaches and other stone fruits.

One thing about apples, the first few fruits are in the same way similar to citruses in that you can forget the scrawny first few crops after the seedlings bloom. But a few years, the quality of the fruits improved, and by the time they would be propagated asexually.

Joe, isn't December too soon for budwood? The tree will be dormant & prolly full of snow. I was thinking Spring when the bark is slipping & both trees are starting to grow. If you send in Dec., isn't that a long time to store it? Till Spring? I'd be scared I would just be more confident with a fresh cutting in Spring.

Laaz, why can't you grow apples there? Phillip is in zone 10 & he can grow them. You are in zone 7-8?? I'm in zone 5. You should have more chilling hours than him which they need. I missed something?

Thanks Joe....good explanation.
I'll email you in Dec.

You can grow apples there, the low chill ones. They are pretty good as well. I don't grow them here in SE Texas as they require lots of spraying. The chances of getting another HoneyCrisp nationally recognized apple or any other fruit not coming true from seed is pretty remote. However, getting a good tasting fruit from seed is not so remote, but the waiting to get fruit and thorniness like 50 years I hear for pears, etc make grafting a know variety a better choice. A friend crosses citrus all the time and asks his friends to grow them out. Some of his crosses are good but not "HoneyCrisp" good.