North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hello,

It is my experience that a misshapen apple usually has unfertilized seeds
in the area of the depression.  Apples of the proper shape have all of their
seeds pollinated..  If a pome fruit was seedless, wouldn't it be misshapen
all over, and not a full sized fruit?

It would seem to be a function of nature not to put a lot of plant resources
into a fruit, or portion of a fruit, where the seeds are not pollinated (let
the runts die off).  I have no explanation for seedless oranges, other than
if it wasn't for man, they would have died out too.

My guess would be that a fertilized seed gives off hormones in the growing
fruit, that stimulates fruit flesh development around it.  An unfertilized
seed  would not inspire fruit flesh growth and the fruit would be misshapen
(or abort).

Later,
Tom

Mark Lee wrote:
> Parthenocarpic means the ability to set fruit without pollination.
> Conference is a pear variety that has this ability.  The parthenocarpic
> fruits are seedless and are smaller than fruit of the same variety that
> is successfully fertilized, at least for pears.  I have Conference and
> Flemish Beauty pears in my backyard, but only Conference set fruit this
> year.  I think the fruit that did set are not the result of pollination.
> I will know for sure in the fall when I cut into them and look at the
> seeds.
>
> I had a thought this morning that one could make seedless pears on
> purpose, just like seedless oranges.  After thinking about this I
> realized that although the pears would be seedless, they still would
> have the papery pieces in the core that normally surround the seeds
> (endocarp).  I don't see anything desirable about seedless pears other
> than !
>  the ability to have a pear harvest even when spring conditions
> prevent pollination from occurring.  That often comes in handy here in
> the wet Pacific Northwest.
>
> -Mark Lee, Seattle 
>
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