Knowledgebase
Second Season Apple #867649
Asked May 08, 2024, 6:19 PM EDT
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
Fruit trees grown from seed will usually have different traits than their parents, so fruit quality, plant resistance to disease, final mature size, and other features that were known for the parent plant(s) will be pot-luck in a seedling. Apple trees tend to be grown on dwarfing rootstocks, for example, so seedling trees not being grafted will likely mature quite larger than those counterparts, so harvesting (once it ages enough to begin fruiting, which will also take longer since it's not grafted) and applying a pesticide treatment might be challenging several years from now when the canopy is large.
For now, it may help to familiarize yourself with typical apple ailments, if you aren't already aware of them, by browsing the Growing Apple and Pear Trees page linked above. For preventative pesticide applications (organic or otherwise), options are presented in the Virginia Tech Pest Management Guide publication, which you can search for "apple" to reach the applicable entries. Fungicides cannot cure existing infections, but they can help prevent severe outbreaks; insecticides should only be used once a pest ID is confirmed, though sometimes they too need to be applied preventatively since using a treatment after damage has occurred might ruin a year's crop.
Miri