SSIA, Indian Free has small pits. It is difficult to recover seed whole, any suggestions welcome!
I’m wondering why you need to crack them. I’ve sprouted many without and Mother natures does it by the millions.
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Have you tried vise grips? It was suggested for cracking jujube pits in this thread and seems to work reasonably well. Certainly a lot better than normal pliers or a hammer…
I cracked 70 or so peach pits last fall with a block of steel and a hammer. They were small pits from a root stock tree. If you just tap it a couple of times it would crack open.
Yes, and I’m letting mother nature have it’s try too. I just want to grow some inside to look for unusual leaf formations and such. Culling out many, as I have about 60 seeds.These are not for rootstocks, although I should do that too! I want to germinate them after stratification, Not sure how long I should stratify? I could do it till they germinate which seems to happen to many. Thanks all for the tips too!
Are they much more difficult than almonds? A bench vice would give power and control. I have a huge pair of channel locks I like to use for hazelnuts and such. Vice grips should work well, I’d adjust them so that they are just a bit over center so that clamping them cracks the shell without crushing the seed.
A simple google search shows pictures of people employing various methods.
After a few weeks of cold stratification they crack open
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Thanks, I’ll try that first.
A small bench vise with the seed placed with the widest part against the jaws works perfectly. Lots of control from the vise. I’ve never ruined a kernel by using a bench vise.
I second the small vise!
These are the kernels I took out last fall with a hammer and block. I did damage a couple. This year I am going to leave some in a dry room temp cabinet until January, then put them in the fridge.
Yeah I want to wait too.
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I don’t think I will crack them open until I get them ready to stratify them. I think the shell will protect them and maybe keep them from drying out too much.
@Derby42 Interested to hear the results. I crack mine open with a hammer as well (against the concrete driveway). @Drew51 if you tap lightly, you can usually tell when the shell is cracked (I can usually hear the sound). Like Derby, I’ve damaged a few but most are fine and it’s pretty fast. Ones I did earlier have already started to germinate in the fridge so I’m planting them out in pots and will protect them during cold weather.
I cracked a few open, but lost a few too. A problem is Indian Free has small pits. About 1/2 the size of a regular peach. One had a seed very differently shaped. More round than oval, very curious if that is another species cross, an interspecific cross. I used Carmine Jewel, White Gold, Satsuma plum, Nadia, Flavor King, Flavor Supreme, and Arctic Glo pollen.
Any that take would be something I would want. Again Indian Free is not self fertile, so all the seeds are hybrids. Most are probably Arctic Glo nectarine which is the closest tree. And really all I need, and a cross a badly want. It should produce a peach that is earlier ripening, and bigger too.
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That photo was from last fall , I put them in the fridge and started potting them up as they sprouted. December throughout February. I did have a few mold , I suspect they had been nicked. I lost some to rot when I planted them in plastic seed trays. In the end I probably planted 30 or so seedlings.