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Fruit & Orchards

Warm stratification for prunus seeds,how do you guys do it

10 years ago

Do any of you do a period of warm stratification while trying to sprout peach /nectarine,apricot and plum seeds

I've read interesting articles on percentage of sprouting goes way up if you do a period of warm stratification before you do a cold one.
I've also read this is the only way to sprout plum seeds.

I'd love to hear stories on how anybody is doing it and or tips on doing it .

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Comments (3)

canadianplant
10 years ago
Simple. Put them in deep pots or in sandwitch baggies and put them outside. Even better, plant them in the ground. Both stratification requirents done, as well as spring conditions
mattpf (zone4)
Original Author
10 years ago
I plan on sprouting them very soon and grow them indoors throughout winter under a grow light and possibly have them 12" tall before next spring starts.
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Jane, your window display is lovely, with the red tulips and 2nd yr amaryllis and also the lavender. I'm not really surprised that amaryllis can survive and bloom for more than one year. Supposedly they are a perennial, native to Africa. If mine can survive until Memorial Day, I think I'll plant it out in one of my gardens for the summer, then in fall cut off the top and bring it in and dry and store it like a gladiola bulb (corm) until winter, then try forcing it again. That's my plan at least. I'm right with you and Prairiemoon on cheap, disposable tulip (and crocus) bulbs! How wretched it must have been to watch the squirrels unearth them to snack on! Mine are always eaten surreptitiously, by burrowing rodents I suppose. Better to just toss the bulbs into the weeds and save the futile effort of planting them. Whatever wants them can come enjoy a free meal! Prairiemoon, yes I believe the metal dog is supposed to be a St Bernard, presumably carrying supplies in his pack to skiers lost in a blizzard. It struck a chord with me since my old collie used to carry light items in a backpack on our hikes and skiing expeditions. And one can never have too many vintage metal horses and dogs! The window collection is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid. My blown glass balls stuck into the wine bottles, although colorful, are nothing so grand as Chihuly sculptures. They were just mass-produced novelties intended to be filled with water and stuck into potted plants. The promotional claim "You can't over-water! You can't under-water!" isn't true! Don't believe it! Ha! And Diggerdee, no the plants haven't been nipping on the Grand Marnier! It's an empty bottle, and the one for human use is in the kitchen! How many growing days we have is something I haven't computed. We are supposed to be zone 4, but I think we verge on zone 3. Plants aren't really safe to go out into the gardens until the very last day of May and I think our first frost is usually around Sept 20th.
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itheweatherman
10 years ago
This is how I do it:

Dry the pit for 24 hrs, then crack the seed and soak the kernel for about an hour. Then, in a sandwich bag add indoor plant potting soil and add a little bit of water---the soil should be moist but not wet. After that, place the seeds inside, and then store the bags in the fridge---you could also wrap the bags with newspaper to prevent the potting soil from spilling.

Every three to four days open the bag a minute or two so the seeds would get some oxygen. If you follow this process, the seeds will germinate in less than 3 monthsÃ¯Â¿Â½"they will actually root inside the bag, when this happens it means that they are ready to be planted in a pot. The seedlings should get morning sun and afternoon shade. Since the seedlings wonÃ¢ÂÂt have enough time to develop they will not survive the winter, therefore, the best thing to do is to take them inside your house for the rest of winter.

This is very fun project to do with the family however, the trees wonÃ¢ÂÂt produce fruits identical to the parentÃ¯Â¿Â½"true from seed; a couple years ago I planted an elberta peach seed, the seed germinated, grew into a tree then it produced fruit, but the fruit was not very good, it had a big pit with little flesh. Thus, the best thing to do is just buy a peach tree from your local Home depot. All of them are grafted (clones from the same mother tree) this guarantees that the fruit will come true to the fruit.

IÃ¢ÂÂm currently doing this process that I explained to you above, but this is for my breeding program. I have heirloom stone fruit seeds in the fridge; and some apricots seeds that I placed in the freezer in June have already germinated. I have some peach seeds that I hand pollinated (when they used to be flowers) with plum and apricot pollen; and plum seeds that were pollinated with peach and apricot pollen; and almond seeds (when they used to be flowers) with peach pollen.

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