I also read this Atlas Obscura article-Alan Bean did not carry apple seeds to the moon. All Astronauts have a list of what they personally took on the mission (flags, jewelry, military insignia). Apple seeds was not part of Alan Bean's list. In addition I am unaware of any apple seeds carried as part of an Apollo 12 NASA experiment. ALSEP, Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package contained the Apollo 12 science experiments. There is a chance Alan Bean conducted an experiment with apple seeds on board Skylab, although I do not remember one. There were many Skylab experiments and apple seeds could have been part of one of those experiments. That fact could be verified using the Skylab II mission documentation. Amy Bean
I do not. I've been emailing back and forth with the USDA folks and none of us have been able to find any reference to the seeds outside of the Atlas Obscura article. The only special thing I can find information on Bean taking up was a camera timer.
They said they'll keep looking to see if they can find anything. I'm curious to know where the author of the book got this information.