How to Grow Apple Trees
Apples make great backyard trees. They are one of the oldest domesticated fruit types. They have a history that goes back at least 10,000 years to their origins in Kazakhstan.
Apples have been one of the most-loved fruit trees for a very long time, and for good reason. The trees and the fruit are quite robust, making them easy to grow and a reliable cropper.
There is a huge range of apple varieties available that ripen at different times. This makes it possible to plan for a very long harvest. Apples grow well in a wide range of climates, especially with the new low-chill varieties.
The fruit is versatile. It is delicious and very high in vitamins and minerals. Apples store well if they are picked at the right time and stored properly. They are also easy to preserved in many different ways, including bottling, drying, sauce, chutney, juice, vinegar, and cider.
Growing apples the organic way
Apple trees require a bit of specialist knowledge, particularly when it comes to pruning and preventing pests like codling moth and fruit fly. But most gardeners would prefer to grow (and eat) food without chemicals—after all, it’s one of the main benefits of growing food at home.
Luckily, there are organic solutions to the common apple tree problems. In many ways, apples are less vulnerable and a bit tougher than stone fruit. And because they store so well, they’re a key player in providing year-round fruit from your garden if that’s your aim.
Choose the right apple tree for your garden
How many apples does your family eat each year? Do they have any favourite varieties?
Replacing the fruit you’d usually buy with home-grown is a great starting point for choosing trees. Being able to pick your weekly supply rather than buying them can have a dramatic effect on your budget.
If you’re not familiar with different varieties, a great starting point is to browse our fruit tree database.
Can you grow an apple tree from seed?
This is a very common question from enthusiastic gardeners excited to grow their own trees. The answer is very simple—yes. Apple trees grow easily from seed, but the resulting trees may not grow tasty apples unless they’re grafted with a known variety.
The seeds inside an apple are a genetic mix of its parents (just like people). The fruit they grow will be a random genetic mixture of the tree it grew on and whichever apple tree pollinised it.
Just like children in a family may be completely different from each other, every seedling apple tree will vary. Some may bear delicious fruit, while others may be inedible. Rather than risk wasting several years waiting to find out if a seedling tree will have worthwhile fruit, most gardeners prefer to buy grafted trees.
Growing heritage and heirloom apples
Would you like to become part of the global movement to maintain heritage varieties? By planting an heirloom variety in your garden, you can help preserve varieties that might otherwise be lost.
Other great reasons to plant heirloom apples are to increase the diversity in your garden and your diet. Growing many varieties also gives you the chance to add apples that are best suited to eating fresh, cooking, or making cider.
There are hundreds of different varieties in various collections around the world, including a very special one in Tasmania.
It’s great to have antique varieties in collections, but it’s much better to grow them in ordinary gardens. That way, the apples will be eaten, appreciated, and shared. The more people that get to know and love a variety, the better chance it has of surviving into the future.
How to prune your apple tree
Pruning apple trees takes a little more specialist knowledge than other fruit types, but your trees will reward you with ample crops. One of the most common and effective shapes for backyard apple trees is the vase shape, which maximises light and air into the heart of the tree. It’s a simple system to learn and easy to maintain once your tree is established.
Pruning is one of the most important jobs in caring for an apple tree—it helps shape the tree, encourages healthy growth, improves airflow and sunlight penetration, and ultimately boosts the quantity and quality of your fruit.
Apple trees respond well to regular pruning, and learning how to prune confidently gives you more control over the size, shape, and productivity of your tree. Whether you’re working with a young tree or an older tree needing a bit of renewal, a good pruning session sets your tree up for success.
Apple trees also lend themselves beautifully to espalier. This is partly because apple trees come in many different sizes, depending on the dwarfingness of the rootstock, and also because of the ease with which they form spurs.
Pollination for apple trees
By getting to know your apple blossom and taking note of when your apple trees flower, you can solve pollination problems in your garden, which might be causing a lack of fruit.
Once you start paying attention, you’ll notice that different varieties can flower at slightly different times, even within the same season. Even if two trees have compatible blossom, if they don’t overlap in flowering time, they can’t pollinate each other — which means fewer apples on your trees.
The good news is that once you know when each variety blossoms, you can choose pollination partners that line up perfectly. That way, the bees and other pollinators can do their job, and you’ll enjoy baskets of fruit instead of bare branches.
