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Fruit & Orchards

Best way to germinate a peach seed?

10 years ago

A sweet friend gave me some peach pits from an old heirloom variety peach tree. I only have a few seeds so every one counts. I need to know the most reliable way to get them to germinate and get off to a solid start.

What would you advise? I have a greenhouse. Thanks!

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Comments (5)

franktank232
10 years ago
2 ways i use...1 being removing the seed (carefully crack it open//i use a nut cracker) and then put that seed in some moist paper towel and put in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator...in about 2 months or so (keep an eye on it...you don't want a ton of roots growing into the paper towel because it becomes annoying and you end up ripping them off)...another option is to put the whole seed in a bag with a wet paper towel and wait for them to germinate. The problem there (that i've had) is mold... Actually..i've had mold both ways. I guess a third option is to just dig a hole in the garden and throw it in and watch for it next spring...

My problem here is i've got stuff sprouting in Jan when i can't put anything out until at least late March.
fireduck
10 years ago
R...do not waste your time. Unless you have a grafted tree, the resulting tree will always be different from the mother tree. It almost always is an inferior model, as well. This is why all professional nurseries only carry grafted fruit trees.
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marknmt
10 years ago
Some fruit trees do seem to come true, or nearly true, from seed, and stone fruit in particular may be successful from seed. And I have read that Winesap apples come true from seed.

I may be misinformed, so take it with a grain of salt. Fireduck makes a good point- you might not get what you are expecting here. To be certain get a cutting right now of this year's growth and slip a bud into an existing peach rootstock. (There are professional services and volunteers who can do this for you.)

Stone fruit are more difficult to graft/bud than pomme fruit, and if you'd like to do this yourself you'll want to start practicing at once ... now is just the right time to be budding. There are many people here and online sources if you want help.
alexander3_gw
10 years ago
I think that peaches are worth growing from seed. Compared to apples for example, peaches are pretty reliable form seed. Seedlings won't be identical to the parent, but they are likely to be quite good, and they can bear fruit in their third year. I base this on my own experience with a single seedling peach, and anecdotal evidence from gardenweb and some fruit growing mailing lists.

If you know where you want the trees to be, I would say plant the pits in the ground now, and cover them with hardware cloth or a cage to prevent any critters form digging them up. They will germinate in the spring. IME, rabbits don't bother the seedlings, but it's probably worth keeping a cage around them for the first year. After that, they should be OK, since they grow quite fast. I have a couple first year seedling in my yard that are 50" and 70" tall.

If you need to start them in pots, keep the seeds moist, like in damp peat moss, and put them in the fridge until late winter. Given their potential for fast growth, I'd use the biggest pot you can handle.

Alex
franktank232
10 years ago
Peaches come very true to seed...at least the one's i've grown out... I have numerous seedling peaches out there right now (10?) and some of them are nectarines... The best thing is if it doesn't work out...so what! Chop it back early int he spring, get a bunch of vigorous growth and graft away...peach is a perfect rootstock for everything...apricots, pluots, jap plums, nectarines, peentos, etc etc...

Now if you have a ton of flowering stonefruit all at the same time, i'm guessing that trueness to seed may not happen 100% of the time. I've got about a dozen Tangos seeds i plan on growing out...we'll see what the look like in a couple years.

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