Peach pits

[blueadzuki]

Don't know as I said I have yet to get an apricot to live long enough to put outside. The "mother" tree I have is a PEACH tree, a Hiawatha (one of those red leafed kinds usually used for ornamental/rootstock, not so much fruit. I don't know how many chill days it takes. It's outside all winter and makes fruit each spring that ripens each autumn (or would if the critters would stop yanking them all off the tree). So however many days it takes, my winter is sufficient.

The apricots I am trying come from the pits of some I can buy by the bag at some of the Indian grocery stores. They're smaller than conventional apricots, and quite possibly paler (since I've only ever seen them dried, I'm not sure, but dried (and unsulphered) they're a sort of pale tan) I THINK they are the same sort as the Huza apricots that were being sold as a "superfood" a few years back, but am not sure (actually that should be I HOPE they are the same, since that assumption is the one I am basing the edibility of the kernels on. If I ever do try to eat any, I'm and going to start VERY slowly and in VERY limited quantities)

I assume that that kind takes no chill days to set, since it's seed need no chill to germinate. And I'll be happy to send you some pits the next time I go back and pick up another bag to try again. Bear in mind though, that since these are being sold in an Indian grocery store and I think are grown in India (or the Middle east, don't think I've ever read the bag) They may be fully tropical apricots and while they may need no chill for fruit set. they may also have no cold tolerance. I have no way of knowing.

I didn't say the greengages weren't self fertile, I just said I did not KNOW if they were self fertile. For all I know all of them ARE, it's just something I never bothered to look up. Now that my mind turns to it the Mirabelles probably are self fertile as well. Based on the amount of fruit that shows up each year, I don't think the farm who stand I buy from has much more than one tree (I bought four pounds of fruit this year and that was 1. all they had that day and 2. all the got that season (there were none the week after) so unless the farm does a bang-up business with them locally (or at the session on Saturdays)I don't think there was that much more fruit available.) There was also that plum tree back when I was at college that grew in a planter at the corner of the street above me between two bars. That was a sort of Mirabelle too, I think (its fruit was that funny apricot color only some mirabelles get.) Fruit was absolutely terrible, but it must have been a super tough tree to survive and fruit in a small planter surrounded by concrete, (especially between two bars, where it was constantly "fertilized" with student vomit.)

[glenn10]

Ok to answer a few questions from my experiences, I have had zero luck with dried stone fruit pits be it peach, plum,apricot or cherry. Since I had no peaches this year I got the next best thing which is Ontario peaches form the store(Ontario has a similar climate to mine)which really amazes me as any north American knows we took a real crap kicking in the cold department last winter. So I basically do the same thing I do every year eat a peach or what ever and put the pit directly into a plastic baggie on the counter, no refrigeration involved. The pits become moldy and ferment and occasionally star smelling like alcohol but it does not seem to impact germination. I have seen some very long delay in germination, I had quit a few peach take 2 years and amazingly this year I had an apricot sprout up from my old compost pile which has not been added to or used since 2009!
I am putting a few pictures up because I know how much everyone including myself likes pictures, so hopefully they are in the right order. the first one is just a coffee cup cut on one side to go around the branch. the branch had about a half inch of bark cut around the circumference then the top 2 inches or so was scarred/ slit the root hormone added then packed with potting soil and then taped up.
The second photo is of a second brach on the same limb wich snapped off in a wind storm about 3 weeks ago it had started to callus and form roots and I have it sitting in a bucket of water currently hoping it will last and go dormant then planmt out in the spring.
the third photo is a picture comparing the size of one of last years pits beside a lawn chair, usually they grow a bit more than this in a single season but it has been a strange year here climate wise.

[copse]

I've only ever grown two stone fruit from seed, two apricots. Both germinated, and I have one in a pot as a seedling, and the other died through neglect. The former was the saved kernel from a ground dropped fruit, and the latter was the stone from a some fruit bought somewhere I do not recall. I figure both got stratified, the first from sitting on the ground through winter, the second in whatever coolers the fruit sellers used.

[kazedwards]

It gets below freezing for 1-3 week periods through the winter. We get days in the 40-50s mixed in between the cold snaps and normally a few days in the 60-70s. It goes up and down. I would think it is cold enough here in north west Missouri. I always kinda thought it might be too cold for them. We will see what happens if it/they get too big. I only have room for 2-3 in the yard and that would be crowded. I could always just plant it somewhere that I could get fruit even if we move. Park/nature area maybe? They have dried from sitting on the counter for about a week now. Should I put them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel? It might be a week of so until I can plant them.

[copse]

I wouldn't, but if they don't germinate are you going to wonder if it would have made a difference?

My theory, completely unbacked by any evidence, except anecdotes about the one apricot I still have growing, is that the kernel will be fine inside a sealed pit. Much the same way that according to my haphazard research, apple seeds once taken out of the core, shouldn't be left to dry.

When I gathered apricot pits to plant, I cracked them all open and the kernels were obviously okay and looked like what I imagine fresh almonds should look like.  Or they were mouldy, or they were dried husks.  All the pits were sitting on top of well draining soil, and would I expect have been dry most of the time when the weather wasn't wet.

[reed]

Sept 8, 2014 5:40:04 GMT -5 rowan said:

Just put them in a pot outside and ignore them. They will sprout when ready, maybe after 2 years if your winters are mild like mine (I don't know your climate), but they will sprout.

That has been my experience with peaches too, just stick them in a pot or the ground and be patient. One time I potted some and they didn't come up I dumped them in the garden. The next spring I had peaches all over the place.

kazedwards: If you are planning on moving just put things in large nursery pots and bury them in the ground. People are always throwing them away so they are free. I use two with the inside one turned so the drain holes don't match up, that keeps them from rooting to the ground as much. I'v done that a lot with peaches, pecans, walnuts, hickory nuts and acorns. For the nuts, two foot sections of that black drain pipe work good too, cause a lot of them have a long tap root that is better transplanted in tact if you can. I do it cause almost all that I grow I sell or more often give away. 

[YoungAllotmenteer]

Sept 11, 2014 22:24:53 GMT -5 glenn10 said:

Word of warning with peaches. They grow like weeds and in one season are 4-5 feet tall! From pit to fruit for me has been 4 years. My trees are really big at 16 feet tall wit 4 to 6 inch trunks. I am sure if you pruned then well you could keep the size down substantially, but if you plan on taking them with you I would try and root a branch through air layering. I will take a few pics of two branches from one of our best trees and post tomorrow. Here are some fruit pics from last year of

Awwwww man, I wish my weeds produced Peaches They look amazing, I have to manage with 'Peaches' harvested when rock like, trucked across from Spain, displayed & purchased when still rock-like, 'ripe' (aka Senesced) maybe after a week at home on the counter. Let me tell you, I have never had a fresh off the tree ripe peach, but I can damn well tell you these taste like soggy cardboard at best.

[steev]

I'm so sorry. Since the trees on my farm started bearing, I graze the trees in season, triaging the good parts of bird- and bug-raddled fruit with my pocket-knife; tree-ripened peaches are so good, I don't even mind the fuzz.

[kazedwards]

I hope to try tree ripped peaches some day. I think I am going to put a few in the yard and start the rest in pots. I figure the ones in pots I will transplant to a place I can visit if we do move. Maybe even get a few pits to plant at the new house!

[steev]

So much to be said for seeing future possibilities, so much hope and potential.

[glenn10]

kazedwards, potting is ok just remember to bury the pots outside in the fall(which is right now for me ) so the get they required chill to break dormancy. I have a big plastic baggie going into the ground tomorrow And then we wait till it snows ...then it sticks around till March/April and then it melts....ugh I am dreading winter already!

[kazedwards]

I have a little while until fall. I haven't had a frost yet but I'm sure it coming. I was planning on pots but I wasn't going to burry them. Do I need to?

[reed]

Yes you need to burry them. If you use fairly large ones, I usually use three gallon ones fill to about an inch and a half from the top with your soil or potting mix, I usually just use dirt with maybe a little mix or compost. Put the top of the pot just about even with the top of the ground and put in your seeds. Two or three per pot. If you use the two pot method make sure and fill the space between the bottoms also. Burying in the ground protects from temperature extremes and keeps them from drying out through the drain holes especially in summer. When they come up you can just leave them there for a few years and then pull the pot up and take it with you when you move. Unless, I guess you are moving too far. And it doesn't matter what time of year. You might have to cut a root or two that has found its way out the drain holes into the ground.



Here are a couple that are two or three years old. I pulled them out of the ground this spring cause someone was supposed to come take them and they haven't showed up yet. Even though I have that stuff piled around the bottoms I have had to water them this summer, if I had left them in the ground that would not have been a problem.

[kazedwards]

Will do then. Thanks for the help!

[reed]

Little correction, you probably already know anyway. Didn't mean you don't have to water at all, just not near as much. My spot where I start them is also in a little bit of shade. That helps on watering too and maybe helps slow them down a little so they don't get too big too quick and I don't feed either. Now if I can just pull this off with apples and pears I'll be a happy camper.