Apple Woes (and Hope?)—Part 2

So we were eventually reduced to one reasonably productive cherry tree and two pear trees that the local non-human mammals felt they owned. We’d pretty much thrown in the fruit towel and had turned to alternatives such as strawberries.

Then I read Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire. He describes the origin of apples to be Kazakhstan, where they still grow wild and bear large, tasty fruits. In contrast, America’s wild apples are usually crabby, little, nearly inedible things. Pollan also described a research program being conducted by Cornell University in Geneva, New York, in which Kazakh apples and their seeds are being introduced to an American environment, allowing them to cross pollinate with native varieties.

A peculiar quality of the apple is that it strongly exhibits a botanical quality called heterozygosity. (Hetero = different; zygote = a cell born from the union of two adult cells, i.e., cell sexual reproduction.) Heterozygosity means that every seed in an apple will bear a tree that is genetically different from either of its parents. So the only way to plant an orchard of identical apple trees (such as millions of Red Delicious) is to clone them.

This genetic variability is what has allowed the apple tree to mutate into so many varieties in America so quickly. Thus, if you plant some seeds the offspring will create wide variations—and some of those saplings will possess the qualities to prosper in that location. It’s a fine example of Darwin’s survival of the fittest. So if apples deliciously thrive in the wilds in Kazakhstan, why not some of their grandchildren in my backyard?

Maybe this was another chance for us to get fruit! I contacted Cornell and they were happy to send me a couple dozen Kazakh scions (of proven high-quality apples) to graft to my wild apple trees and 125 Kazakh seeds, from which I could try creating my own homegrown varieties. I carefully sprouted the seeds (getting 120 seedlings!) and grafted the scions. Just maybe this would lead some day to healthy, hardy apple trees that would provide the harvest I’ve been hoping for all these years—trees that could withstand the assaults of frost, bugs, and disease; if not marauding mammals.

As Mother Nature would have it, there’s no facile solution to my apple woes. Of the original 24 grafts I’m down to eight survivors. It’ll be another few years before they grow large and robust enough to bear fruit. I cross my fingers. Of the 120 seedlings I planted, I’m now down to 43, thanks to repeated attacks from voles and deer. Voles burrow underground and nibble off the roots, until the poor, rootless sapling topples over. Deer nibble leaves and branches—not killing the sapling as a vole does, but performing an overly enthusiastic pruning job. It will be several years before these saplings bear fruit—if I can hold the voles and deer at bay.

I hope to live long enough to see a hardy, tasty apple come from my experiments. I sure hope I’m not old and toothless by the time a fantastic, crisp apple grows in my backyard. In that case, maybe my grandkids will enjoy them.