Any detriment to starting peach seedlings late summer/fall and growing through winter indoors? Id like to get the 6 month head start on growing. I hope the seedlings will grow into good fruit-bearing trees.
I saved some seeds/stones and am going to bury them in ground for seeding grow next spring. Grow tree indoor is challenge. The lights is not sufficient, and mites, aphis , scale on leaves… besides too little or too much water cause root rot… lot more problem to deal with.
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I have tried with dismal results. Plant in January to give it a 2 month jump works better.
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I’ll 100% echo the responses above. When I was new to fruit growing I tried many times to do what you are proposing in order to speed things along. And with a heating pad and a moisture “tent” I was even able to get some seeds to sprout indoors. But they all either ended up dying or were so unhealthy (leggy, pale,etc) that the few that made it to spring were too pitiful to graft to, and even if they had taken a graft they were so sickly that I’m sure it would have taken then longer to recover and start growing than it would have taken to just graft to a healthy seedling in early summer. Where I live, seedling peaches that start from pits left under trees grow like weeds and are suitable for grafting in no time.
Short answer is its either impossible or won’t save time unless you have some kind of incredible, souped up grow-room with superlights and fans and humidity and temp controls and so on. And if you do, the power company may ask your local police to check in on you from time to time! haha.
Plant your puts in good soil outside and let them do their thing. Easier, cheaper, and probably faster overall. That’s my experience and, it seems, that of at least 2 others.
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Thanks for the replies.
I may still try a few, but I will wait on the dozens until spring. ( Unfortunately, spring in my area doesn’t reliably arrive until Mid May-June ( leaving me about 3 months? to achieve growth for a new seedling that may be damaged by random freezing weather ). Ive tried in the past but all died early due to fungus gnats. I figured now that I know how to manage them they’d stand a chance.
How many cold stratify hours do peach seeds require? In the past I left them for months, but id like to start a few as early as possible.
I don’t plan to use them to graft onto. Id like to see if I can get any good fresh-eating peaches. which is another reason Id would have liked a head-start.
Like everyone is saying. Doing what you plan to do if more work that may yield little result. However, you could look at it as a learning experience.
For me, I buried peach and nectarine pits in ground about 2-3 ” deep in ground in the fall. If squirrels did not steal them, I always have a several seedlings in the spring.
These are from the pits buried last fall. I had more but I killed off a bunch. I could bud a few now and graft some next year. I really do not have space and don’t know where I will keep them.
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I grew a couple through the winter, in a window sill in potting soil. They did fine.
Before planting, I stratified them in the fridge for a few months. If I recall correctly, I cracked the seeds open before planting. Based on other replies, I guess that wasn’t necessary.
About 6 years later, this is about 1/10 of the crop on my tree. It started bearing at 3 or 4 years old.
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