One thing I never realized is that apple varieties can't be grown from seeds. "This is because seedling apples are 'extreme heterozygotes'. Rather than resembl

One thing I never realized is that apple varieties can't be grown from seeds. "This is because seedling apples are 'extreme heterozygotes'. Rather than resembling their parents, seedlings are all different from each other and from their parents." [1] "To propagate a cultivar [variety], material from the original tree (scion) is joined to a rootstock. The rootstock provides the roots for the new plant and the scion forms the top part of the new plant, which produces the fruit. The rootstock comes from another cultivar selected specifically for its ability to grow well in the soil and induce desirable growth habits of the scion (such as dwarfing)." "The scion is introduced to the rootstock by either grafting or budding. In grafting, a length of dormant wood from the original tree is notched into the rootstock. In budding, small buds are notched into the rootstock. Budding produces more trees from the same amount of wood than grafting." [2] So when you read "cultivation", it's not like breeding green beans or corn, where you can crossbreed plants and come up with a new type that will "breed true" and then you can make a bunch of seeds to distribute. Cultivation is basically growing a bunch of trees, finding the right combo, then creating a bunch of them So commercial growers with orchards will buy trees from breeders who create that type of tree by managing the grafting/budding process. Apparently, though we don't know when breeding started, it's been going on for thousands of years. Also, Johnny Appleseed wasn't doing anyone favors by spreading apple seeds everywhere because the trees would produce mostly inedible apples. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple#Breeding https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple#Breeding 2. https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/844-breeding-a-new-apple-cultivar https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/844-breeding-a-new...