Native Plants
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Wednesday - May 07, 2008
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Edible Plants
Title: Fruit trees from seeds
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
Will fruit trees (primarily peach) produce fruit if grown from a seed?ANSWER:
Good question. The short answer is yes. The long answer is a little more complicated. The fruits you buy in the store are from cultivated plants that have been selected for their superior qualities - size, flavor, color, shipping and holding characteristics being among the most notable. All of these qualities are determined partially by the skill of the fruit growers, but primarily by the fruits' genetic blueprint. The seed within the fruit, however, has a different set of potential characteristics owing to the union of the genes from both the female and male parents. In practical terms, it means that most seedling fruit trees grown from commercially grown fruit is often vastly inferior in size, flavor, color and other characteristics to both its maternal and paternal parent trees. In other words, you have to grow a lot of tree seedlings, as a rule, to find a winning fruit producer. This is exactly what some commercial and many amateur fruit growers do; always looking for a superior cultivar to produce and market. Most peach seedlings produce very small, hard and knotty fruit that is scarcely useful, if edible at all. Occasionally, a chance seedling from a discarded fruit pit or core will produce a special and commercially successful tree. The McIntosh apple is a good example of such a cultivar. The McIntosh apple is among the most well-known and produced apples in production today. But all McIntosh apples are direct descendants of a single chance seedling found on an Ontario farm in 1811.More Edible Plants Questions
Native edible plants
September 24, 2005 - Hello,
I would like some resources for identifying native edible plants in
Central Oregon. Good clear images will be very helpful in links or
books.
We do alot of hiking and would like to...
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Use of cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens) for tea
February 20, 2006 - Back in the 50's when I spent the summers with my grandmother south of Hondo, Texas, she use to pick leaves from the cenizo (purple sage) bushes, dry them and then brew them for tea. I asked one of m...
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Information about Citrus mitis
June 26, 2008 - I was given a Citrus Mitis plant. It has beautiful white flowers and delicious looking tiny oranges.everyone in my office is asking if they're edible?
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Is cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens) edible?
December 21, 2012 - I found a post here about cenizo leaves being used for tea, but I'm wondering if the leaves of the cenizo are edible? I have found many recipes for 'brown butter sage' leaves (sauteed often with on...
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Information on herbs for Northeast Ohio
May 03, 2006 - Hello there,
I am writing you seeking some information on Northeast Ohio's native plants. This has been rather difficult to find—specific native plants that can be used as herbs.
If you could h...
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