Apples
Apples are grown ALL over the world, but the countries that grow the most apples are China, and the United States. They grow best in countries that have a winter that lets them stay dormant during.
That’s kind of like the tree is asleep for the winter.
Apples were first grown in Europe and Asia. Until they
were brought over to NorthAmerica, there were only crabapples here, which are small and sour, and NOT very good to eat on their own.
There are over 7000 kind’s of apples, and like crab apples, NOT ALL of them are good to eat raw. Some of them are much better to use in cooking or for
making cider.
Some of the most
popular kinds of apples are granny smith, red delicious, golden delicious, gala, fuji, mcintosh, and honeycrisp.
Apples are grown in
places called orchards. They are different than many kind’s of fruits because they
don’t always grow the
same kind of apple from
their seeds. A gala apple
seed may not actually grow
a tree with gala apples. To make sure they are growingthe right kind of apples, lots of farmers do something called grafting.
They cut a branch from a tree that grows the right kind of apples, then they cut a hole in the tree and put in the branch they cut
off. Over time, the branch will grow together with the
new tree, and it will grow the kind of apples from the cut branch.
After an apple tree is
planted, it grows for 3-4 years without growing any apples, and then after that it starts growing apples.
Apple trees bloom in the spring, making white or pink flowers.
Then, the flower turns into an apple that keeps
growing, until they are
ready to be picked, between August and
October. Honey bees help apples to grow by
pollinating the flowers-
carrying pollen around
from one flower to the
next. Without bees, we
would have no apples.
Apple seeds have a kind of poison, called cyanide, inthem, but you could never eat ENOUGH seeds for them to actually hurt you- you’d have to eat half a cup of apple seeds at once to poison yourself.
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