I saved 6 seeds from a Granny Smith. I dried then, then a few weeks ago I planted then in side In one of those windowsill green houses. I now have 4 little buds. My questions Will this produce a granny smith tree. Also I read that you need to cross polinate With what type of tree? Also Can I do the same thing just buy that apple and save the seeds?
Only grafts of a 'Granny Smith' can be counted on to produce trees with the same traits. It is characteristic for apple trees to vary wildly when raised from seed. However, there are a small number of old kinds that have been grown as seed strains. So, if it happens that 'Granny Smith' is also one that tends to give off similar seedlings, you may get a proportion of seedlings that resemble it. You will have to grow the seedlings for some years in order for them to become old enough to begin fruiting - and reveal whether or not any are like 'Granny Smith'. Seedlings do not have the sexual maturity of grafted trees, which unlike seedlings (genetically unique specimens raised from seed) are made using vegetative fragments of the stock plants and therefore bear when small - the sexual maturity of the stock plants is carried by the scions (budwood) to the new grafted combination (scion + rootstock).
So if you buy a granny smith tree from a nursery it would most likely be grafted, or is there no guarantee there either?
Ordinarily grafts are all that is sold unless it is specified that a given batch actually consists of seedlings. Since it is not usual for apple tree cultivars to come true from seed seedlings would not be expected to be offered, except where there might be a special reason for raising a particular kind that way - like it being thought good for use as rootstock. With most kinds the stock is only entitled to be sold as that kind ('Granny Smith', in this case) if it is clonal (grafted, in the case of orchard apple trees). If a cultivar has been kept clonal (without additional similar clones being introduced along the way, under the same name) then every true-to-name specimen everywhere will have been made using fragments (scions) that trace back to the original seedling or branch sport.
Wow thanks for your response. Will the cross pollination change the apples. if i plant a red delicious , would it be different taste if I planted something different?
Pollination results in the fruits of that variety forming. The mixing of the genes of the parental trees is carried by the seeds within the fruits, and does not affect the rest of the fruit. It's the same as when people have kids - the combining of genes is shown by the children, without the genetically based physical characteristics of the parents being changed.
