Apple seed germination

This is what you'll get

An easy way to germinate apple seeds

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In this post I'll teach you the procedure I followed to easily germinate apple seeds at home. You can also try strawberry seed germination, pineapple seed germination, tomato seed germination, cotton seed germination, finally lemon seed germination and now ginger germination. More to come next spring!

I started with an already germinated apple seed I found inside an apple (I was collecting seeds for this project). I planted it, and let the others (non-germinated) stay in a sealed plastic bag inside a wet paper towel. But they didn't germinate, so I tried another approach with the next apple. I took 5 seeds and put them in the fridge, in a sealed bag with wet paper towel also, for two weeks. After that, one morning I took them to a hot place (where I have my plants). By the night 2 of them had already germinated! I let them stay there for 4 days, this way the roots grew quite a bit (about 5 centimeters for the two first to germinate, about 2 inches) and even had dug the paper towel, as if it was soil. All of them had germinated by this time, sadly I had to toss 2 of them.

Beware:

• The first tree died, I think because its root system was too weak. I had 4 small apple trees, all in the same place, and watered at the same time but when I came back from the weekend only the first (which had the smallest set of roots, as the others had been kept longer to grow them) had died, I think excess heat and lack of water.
• Do not remove the seed cover until it is not completely necessary, by that time it will fall just touching it. Also if you keep them longer in the bag, they will grow longer and break it.
• For the first days after planting, water just a little every day (one or two teaspoons). After that, wait for the soil to dry completely before watering it again.
• By the way, the first leaves to appear (which have the shape of the seed, more or less) are called cotyledons, and will eventually fall. Real leaves of the tree don't look like them (take a look at the last picture).

Finally, here are some pictures, from the first germinated seed, the growing process (after planting out) and you can see how they look a month after in the beginning of the post. Good luck!

After 4 days and after 2 weeks

If you enjoyed this post, or was lucky and got a nice and cute apple tree, leave a comment or picture, digg, stumble, share with friends or whatever you feel like doing. Thanks a lot!

Related posts:
Strawberry seed germination
Lemon seed germination
Earth day give-away project: lemon trees from seed to save the planet
Pineapple seed germination