posted 10 years ago
Most Fruit bearing trees require cross pollination to produce a crop.
This means that almost no seed from the parent tree's fruit would be true to the parent's flavor or texture as a rule. (Rules usually apply in a broad, general way in the orchardmans world)
The only way I know to make sure you get true to type fruit trees is by grafting.
There are some self pollinators out there and if you only had those trees in your orchard, then you probably would get true to type seeds.
The caveat there is that when these trees are cross pollinated they produce better quantities of fruit which is why every one of these trees bears a "better if planted with another variety" tag when bought from a nursery.
There are some (other than figs) that even when cross pollinated grow very similar "babies" from the seeds. The Arkansas Black Apple, The Golden Delicious, and a few others show this tendency.
Figs do not require pollination to produce figs, when you manage to grow a new tree, they are most always true to type and taste with the parent.
Peaches and nectarines are like the ABA, they tend to be very similar to the parent tree while plums are a hit or miss.
Avocado is another tree that is mostly true to type but texture is the usual variant.
Some citrus can not produce new trees from seed, even though they will have seeds in the fruits. Navel Oranges are a prime example.
Then you have the mango, pawpaw and papaya, which seem to always be very close to the parent type even though they have to be cross pollinated to produce fruit.