I just wanted to ask if anyone has any infromation about seeding and starting fruit trees from the pits? Specifically peach, apricot and plum? Thank you for any info or even a good reference to find out more.

On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 20:51:48 GMT, Christina
wrote:

I just wanted to ask if anyone has any infromation about seeding and
starting fruit trees from the pits? Specifically peach, apricot and
plum? Thank you for any info or even a good reference to find out more.

Since most fruit trees are 'grafted' (two plants are
combined together) to combine good qualities of more than
one parent, it seems that you would not be likely to get
very good results this way.

Pat

Pat,
I would add a bit to your reply. Because peaches are
self-pollinating,
the chances of introducing an unknown strain are much less than say an
apple tree, which usually requires another tree to do the job.
One dissadvantage of growing such a seedling is you don't have any
control on the size of the resulting tree. For peaches, you will get a
full size tree, unless the seed comes from one of these mutant miniature
peach trees. By using a dwarfing rootstock and grafting the peach scion
on to it, you will get a reduced sized tree (usually equivalent to a
semi-dwarf for peaches).

Sherwin Dubren
MidFEx (Midwest Fruit Explorers)

I just wanted to ask if anyone has any infromation about seeding and
starting fruit trees from the pits? Specifically peach, apricot and
plum? Thank you for any info or even a good reference to find out more.
--
Christina
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

It is very easy to do at least in the mid Atlantic US. Just pop the pits into
good soil, I still stick a few in a flower bed from time. They will emerg the
following spring. Note however that any resembalnce between the cultivar from
which the pit was taken and the resulting seedling will be purely coincidental.
Most commercial varieties are either hybrids or "sports" that have been
propogated by grafting. I have gotten lots of cling stone peaches and miniature
fruits from seedlings , some very good others not worth the space, but it is an
interesting adventure.

In article m,
Christina wrote:

I just wanted to ask if anyone has any infromation about seeding and
starting fruit trees from the pits? Specifically peach, apricot and
plum? Thank you for any info or even a good reference to find out more.
--
Christina
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


Growing the trees from grafts gives control: if you graft an Elberta
peach, you get an Elberta peach. If you plant the seed from that tree,
you get a new variety. It could be the juiciest, most flavorful peach on
Earth, or it could be bland and flavorless. Whether you're happy with
your results or not is a complete crapshoot. How easy is it to do? I
bought a plum tree that a peach sprang up next to, and the only thing I
can figure is that somebody threw a peach pit into the pot at the store
and it sprouted. Now, I can't allow it to live, because it will be a
full-size tree growing under power lines. But you get the idea.

dementia13 wrote:
...the only thing I can figure is that somebody threw a peach pit
into the pot at the store and it sprouted. Now, I can't allow it to
live, because it will be a full-size tree growing under power lines.
But you get the idea.


How high are the power lines? Peach trees do not get all that tall --
less than 20 feet. When I lived in Texas and had a bunch of peach
trees, I *think* they topped out about 12 feet.

Bob

--
"Stealing a Rhinoceros should not be attempted lightly" --Kehlog Albran

How high are the power lines? Peach trees do not get all that tall --
less than 20 feet. When I lived in Texas and had a bunch of peach
trees, I *think* they topped out about 12 feet.

not to mention, most trees can be trimed to avoid the lines. the
power company will probably even do it for you.

On the other hand, how tall do you want a fruit tree to get? prune it
yourself. I wish someone had done that with the apple tree I
inheritaed with the house... sucker is 30 feet tall, and I lose most
of the fruit due to not able to reach it.

while we are talking about it... anyone know how to prune an apple
tree?


Central IL small garden, but do my best!

email: daveallyn at bwsys dot net
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!

An earlier poster had mentioned grafting on to dwarfing rootstock. Dwarfing
rootstock will produce a tree that is about 8 - 12 ft tall. Stardard rootstock
produces a tree about 20-25 ft tall, semi-dwarf rootstock will get you a 10-20
foot tree. All of these are round about figures your mileage may vary. I have a
neighbor with a 30 foot pear tree. I been grafting on to mini rootstock which
will give me trees about 6 feet tall. But without pruning it could ge bigger
than that.


Marty

On 7/12/2003 7:35 PM, Dave Allyn (Dave Allyn) wrote:
How high are the power lines? Peach trees do not get all that tall --
less than 20 feet. When I lived in Texas and had a bunch of peach
trees, I *think* they topped out about 12 feet.


not to mention, most trees can be trimed to avoid the lines. the
power company will probably even do it for you.

On the other hand, how tall do you want a fruit tree to get? prune it
yourself. I wish someone had done that with the apple tree I
inheritaed with the house... sucker is 30 feet tall, and I lose most
of the fruit due to not able to reach it.

while we are talking about it... anyone know how to prune an apple
tree?


Central IL small garden, but do my best!

email: daveallyn at bwsys dot net
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!