If your family went apple picking in West Virginia this fall, you may have noticed thinner bins than usual. Back in the spring, hot April days were followed by freezing nights, and Eastern Panhandle growers told WV MetroNews that two nights did the most damage: April 8, when temperatures dropped into the 20s, and April 21, when they fell to about 21–22°F. One grower said only a small percentage of his orchard's crop survived the second freeze.
Here's the science question hiding in that story: the trees didn't die, so why did the apples disappear? And if an orchard wants more trees of a favorite variety, why can't it just plant apple seeds? West Virginia has a famous answer to that one. The Golden Delicious, our state fruit, was found on a Clay County farm in 1905, and every Golden Delicious tree since then has been grown from a piece of another tree, not from a seed.
This week, your kids can investigate both mysteries at the kitchen table.
What your kids will learn
Grades K–5
- How a blossom turns into an apple, and why a hard freeze during bloom can stop fruit from forming
- That some plants can grow from a piece of a parent plant, not only from seeds
- How to find the nodes and buds on a cutting
- What a cutting needs to grow roots: moisture, warmth and time
- How to observe, draw and record changes over several weeks
Grades 6–12
- Sexual (seed) vs. asexual (cutting) reproduction, and why apple seeds don't grow true to their parent
- How plant hormones called auxins trigger root formation
- Cloning and grafting in agriculture, and why orchards propagate varieties like Golden Delicious this way
- Experimental design: tracking moisture, temperature and light, then analyzing what affects rooting success
This week's activity: Seeds vs. Clones
You can do this with a few apples from the store or a local orchard. Grab at least two different varieties if you can.
- Predict. Ask: "If we plant a seed from this apple, will the tree grow the same kind of apple?" Have kids write or draw their guess.
- Cut and count. An adult slices each apple across the middle (not top to bottom) to reveal the star-shaped seed chambers. Kids count the seeds in each apple and record them in a simple table. Remind everyone that apple seeds are for science, not snacking.
- Compare. Do different varieties have different numbers or colors of seeds? Older kids can calculate an average seed count per variety.
- Find the flower. Look at the bottom of the apple for the dried remains of the blossom. Talk about why a freeze that kills blossoms in April means no apples in October.
- Reveal the answer. Apple seeds are the product of pollination between two parents, so a seedling tree usually grows fruit that's different from the apple it came from. To get the exact same variety, growers clone it from a cutting or graft.
- Record and discuss. Save the results page. It's the perfect setup for the next step: trying to grow a clone yourself.
Take it further with a real cutting. Our Plant Propagation Science Kit – Root an Apple Cutting puts the whole experiment in one box: a fresh apple cutting (scion wood) with several growth nodes, a rooting hormone packet, a moisture wrap and printed rooting instructions. You choose K–5 or 6–12 at checkout, and the grade-level curriculum and observation worksheets are emailed to you after purchase, including a cutting diagram to label and a weekly log for moisture, temperature and light.
An honest note: rooting fruit-tree cuttings is a real experiment, and results vary with conditions. That's part of the lesson. Whether roots appear or not, your kids will collect data and work out why, just like a grower would.
Join the growing community
Every kit purchase includes an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private support group for families using our kits. After your order, request to join and we'll add you. Members share progress photos, ask questions and troubleshoot experiments together.
Young growers from the Eastern Panhandle to the southern coalfields, along with families in Arkansas and Arizona, are running experiments this fall. Post a picture of your seed-count table or your first sign of new growth. Other kids love seeing what's happening in a West Virginia kitchen.
Start your own apple experiment
A tough year for orchards is a great year to learn how orchards work. Give your kids a cutting, a question and a notebook, and let them find out what it takes to grow a new apple tree.
