# Why aren't there fruit trees everywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360 "2015-08-30T01:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/1 "2015-08-30T01:39:34Z")
I remember when I was younger, I’d have no hesitation tossing an apple core into a nearby bush if I was walking and neither did any of my friends. Same with peach pits, orange pips, grape seeds and the like. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fruit tree germinating in the wild like a weed. Given how many fruit seeds must be discarded in such a way every year, why aren’t we overrun with fruit trees? Even given how non-ideal most situations are, just based on the sheer number of fruit seeds discarded every year, it seems like surely some would turn into trees. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/2 "2015-08-30T01:42:55Z")
People mow their yards. Also, specific disturbed-area plants like blackberries, etc. grow faster, and outcompete fruit tree seedlings that may sprout up. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/3 "2015-08-30T01:43:49Z")
Birds ate some of the seeds. Some of the trees tried to come up and got mown down. Some just died. A fruit tree wants some amount of space, and takes years to mature. So if it’s in a thicket, it doesn’t do so well. If it’s out in a clearing, it depends on someone who tends that field wanting it and not just mowing it down. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/4 "2015-08-30T01:44:37Z")
And I know of several fruit trees that probably came from discarded seeds. There’s one in my parent’s backyard that grew out of their compost pile, and there are wild mangoes everywhere in Costa Rica. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/5 "2015-08-30T01:54:01Z")
I have a number of “volunteer” citrus trees growing under my mature trees. I even let one grow to the point where it set fruit, to see if I had discovered a new, wonderful variety. Alas, it’s sour orange (as was to be expected - citrus are almost always grafted, and the seeds usually reflect the root stock). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/6 "2015-08-30T02:57:28Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I have a number of “volunteer” citrus trees growing under my mature trees. I even let one grow to the point where it set fruit, to see if I had discovered a new, wonderful variety. Alas, it’s sour orange (as was to be expected - citrus are almost always grafted, **and the seeds usually reflect the root stock** ). Why does this happen? ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/7 "2015-08-30T02:58:36Z")
Thank heaven the vast majority do not become fruit bearing trees. Unless someone is truly dedicated to picking the fruit when it is ripe, fruit trees can be very messy. And often times the only creatures eating the fallen fruit are rats. I’m a landscaper and here in southern California lots of people have all kinds of fruit trees from stone fruits to citrus, but most of the time the fruit is not picked and it ends up on the ground for the ants, flies and rats. Seems people would rather go to the store to buy fruit. The romantic notion of growing ones own fruit in the backyard just isn’t worth the effort for a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/8 "2015-08-30T03:03:51Z")
Yeah, I mostly like apple trees, but my neighbors’ big apple tree produces a lot of fruit and it seems like it can get a little stinky. Tart cherry trees are pretty cool, though. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/9 "2015-08-30T03:15:18Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why does this happen? I’m not a botanist, but my guess is “reversion to the mean.” The citrus varieties we all know and love are unique - they are like the Saint Bernard of the citrus world. When the flower from this tree is pollinated, the genes get all mixed up, so what you end up with is much closer to the “generic” citrus, which is sour orange. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/10 "2015-08-30T03:23:23Z")
I had apple trees in my front yard up until last year. For 8 years I mostly let the apples fall and I mowed over them. Some years didn’t have any apples and I think one year I raked them up. I’m guessing there were many digested by deer and many carried away by squirrels. I never saw a peep of an apple tree in my grass, but I did get little chutes in the mulch. I suspect those were from the roots not the fruits. I also have a black walnut in my front yard, and now I have 2 black walnuts growing up through the day lillies in the back yard. Stupid squirrels carried the nuts there and forgot about them :-/ ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/11 "2015-08-30T03:36:57Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’m not a botanist, but my guess is “reversion to the mean.” The citrus varieties we all know and love are unique - they are like the Saint Bernard of the citrus world. When the flower from this tree is pollinated, the genes get all mixed up, so what you end up with is much closer to the “generic” citrus, which is sour orange. I don’t know how it works but grafts and their seeds take on characteristics of the rootstock. This is one way that fruit trees are grown out of their original environment, by grafting a shoot onto a variety that is hardy in the local climate. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/12 "2015-08-30T03:41:26Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Yeah, I mostly like apple trees, but my neighbors’ big apple tree produces a lot of fruit and it seems like it can get a little stinky. Tart cherry trees are pretty cool, though. When I was a kid, we had several fruit trees in our yard, including a Montmorency cherry tree; this is the sour pie cherry. Most years, we got very little fruit from any of them, but one year, the cherry tree produced a bumper crop and after we gave away all we could, we sold over 100 pounds of cherries to a fruit stand that bought people’s produce. Those branches were literally bending over to the ground! I’ll also never forget the warm spell we had in late fall that made our apricot trees bloom. A blizzard put the kibosh on that. Most fruit seeds of all species are probably eaten by animals, assuming they don’t decay first or never germinate. Many also will not produce a “true” fruit, either, and apples are probably the most notorious for this. Most of those are grafted too. Johnny Appleseed planted those trees to make apple jack. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/13 "2015-08-30T04:29:27Z")
I have both Mexican Palm (ugly!) and maple trees trying to grow up. Is every seed in the grocery store fertile? I can’t imagine a professional orchard going to any trouble/expense to pollinate their trees, so are these trees all self-pollinating? Yes, I did get bored a lot in grade school… ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/14 "2015-08-30T11:22:14Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I don’t know how it works but grafts and their seeds take on characteristics of the rootstock. This is one way that fruit trees are grown out of their original environment, by grafting a shoot onto a variety that is hardy in the local climate. Amazing as it may seem, but it appears the graft and rootstock exchange genes- a kind of horizontal gene transfer. These people grafted a GM plant that fluoresced yellow onto a GM plant that fluoresced green; result; seeds that produced plants that fluoresced green and yellow. > **[Unintentional genetic engineering - grafted plants trade genes | ScienceBlogs](https://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/05/01/unintentional-genetic-engineering-grafted-plants-trade-gen)** > > For centuries, farmers have been genetically modifying their plants without even knowing it. That's the message from German scientists who found that grafting, a common technique used to fuse parts of two plants together, causes the two halves to... > [@](#): > > This marker sequence turned up in all the cells where genes had been swapped, which means that the plants were trading in very large chunks of DNA, or even their entire chloroplast genomes. The genes from the main nuclear genome, however, showed no signs of movement. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/15 "2015-08-30T14:17:22Z")
Some fruit trees have been very successful in colonizing roadsides/“waste” areas. For example, [Callery pears](http://invasivore.org/2014/04/species-profile-bradford-or-callery-pear/). ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/16 "2015-08-30T15:29:43Z")
Some seeds need a prolonged cold spell in order to sprout in spring, so if you throw out your apple core in Alabama, the seeds might never sprout. Citrus is one family that doesn’t need this period. Another problem is that certain diseases are endemic to certain areas. For example, we are riddled with fireblight, and any apple or pear must have resistance bred into its genetics. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/17 "2015-08-30T16:34:44Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Amazing as it may seem, but it appears the graft and rootstock exchange genes- a kind of horizontal gene transfer. These people grafted a GM plant that fluoresced yellow onto a GM plant that fluoresced green; result; seeds that produced plants that fluoresced green and yellow. > > [http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/05/01/unintentional-genetic-engineering-grafted-plants-trade-gen/](http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/05/01/unintentional-genetic-engineering-grafted-plants-trade-gen/) That’s not what the article says. The genetic transfer was only in the cells immediately adjacent to the graft site. No mixed gene seeds were produced, the scientists grew mixed gene plants directly from cells. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/18 "2015-08-30T20:18:42Z")
Ah - thanks. Not so impressive, then- and no nuclear DNA was exchanged. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/19 "2015-08-30T20:22:16Z")
_Most_ seeds of all types don’t get to grow into mature plants - consider that a single oak tree produces thousands of acorns in a single year, and perhaps millions during its entire lifespan, and yet the number of oak trees in the world isn’t dramatically on the increase. There is tremendous competition for space and resources to germinate; seeds and juvenile plants are attacked and eaten by other organisms; plants typically produce many seeds in order to stay in the competition. So your discarded apple core has the odds stacked against it anyway. Despite that, feral fruit trees are out there if you look. Feral apples that bear some resemblance to their cultivated parents can be found in the hedgerows near me (I gathered enough to make cider year before last - [here](http://atomicshrimp.com/post/2007/09/04/Feral-Appleshttp://atomicshrimp.com/post/2007/09/04/Feral-Apples)- and I’ll be doing so again soon). I have picked some marvellous feral cherries alongside roadside laybys on country roads where someone must once have eaten a picnic including cherries. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360/20 "2015-08-30T21:05:31Z")
I’ve often wondered why my yard isn’t completely filled with bing cherry sprouts, if not trees. I go through a bag a week or so during the season. The pits are easy to find when planting in the spring since the ground cover is just starting and I’m playing in the dirt. I’ve never seen one that looked like it germinated in any season. They’re almost always intact. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-there-fruit-trees-everywhere/729360.md?page=2)