The process of initiating growth in an apple seed, enabling it to develop into a seedling, involves creating specific environmental conditions. This typically requires a period of cold stratification, followed by exposure to suitable moisture and temperature levels to stimulate radicle and plumule emergence. Successfully executing this procedure allows one to propagate new apple trees from seed.
Germinating an apple seed offers the potential to cultivate unique apple varieties, contributing to biodiversity and genetic variation within apple cultivars. Historically, seed propagation was a primary method of developing new fruit tree types, although modern commercial apple production primarily relies on grafting to maintain desirable characteristics of existing cultivars.