If you are going to germinate a stone fruit seed, would you store it indoors during the summer, in a humidor, in a freezer, or outside?
Storing it in the fridge last year was a disaster. They all germinated in October. And they all died subsequently due to starting growing just as winter was starting.
Thanks
I did it as nature does it. I leave them outside in a pot with some peat over top and a screen so that nobody steals them…then put more peat in late fall and a bunch of leaves and let them overwinter outside. I pull the leaves off in spring and they all sprouted but a couple…i probably shouldve float tested them in the Fall though. So basically like a critter eats a peach then then some leaves fall on it then it overwinters and sprouts in the spring is how i do it.
Im doing the same thing with some indian clings now.
I planted them outside in the fall for fun. Some actually sprouted in the spring. I pulled them because I would rather have a exact variety but I can see why some would experiment if they have a lot of land.
You actually don’t have to have much land if you do it how luther Burbank did it. He didn’t grow whole trees but first year seedlings, then took the 1 year growth and grafted it to the tips of mature trees. That way he could test hundreds of cultivars on a single mature tree. He expected them to fruit the next year and if they didn’t, they got pruned out. So everything went from seed to fruit in 3 years or it didn’t make the cut.
Thanks everyone for the ideas. I definitely have found the natural way works best but i did this with anya apricot seeds, and San Diego is not cold enough for great germination. They will be stored naturally in the summer, then put in the fridge in October, then planted in March.
Some people dont agree with this guy…but i did his method and it worked for me.
None of mine outside ever sprouted. So I start to germinate soon after harvest. Many if just left at room temp completely dried out. So I start to germinate in the late summer while in the fridge. As soon as they sprout I plant them. This year I only had one it sprouted, but I dropped the plant and it broke in half, very low and died. I’ll try again this year. Anyway once potted I keep them under lights till spring then plant out. Currently I have 4 seedling peach trees. They will be used for rootstock for multiple grafts on one tree. I will leave a seedling scaffold to see how it is. But mostly want them to hold other cultivars for trial. I plan to grow out some pluots. I’m mostly interested in the Dapple series of pluots as they have traits I like. Excellent flavor, large size, winter hardiness, and excellent productivity.
The peach seedlings are third leaf, and this winter I cut them down to form scaffolds. Each scaffold will be grafted to so that each variety has a full scaffold to itself on an open vase style tree.
Don’t they die when it gets cold 2 months later? That’s what happened to mine.
Interestingly when I refrigerated the seeds for one month and then planted in ground, the germination the following March was better. Maybe that is just luck. But it seemed to really work.
I discovered this about a week ago. These were the only ones that worked for me last year.
Mine were in ground, they should have been fine. I prefer more control so I like to do it inside. Last year in late August I germinated 7 fig seeds. One passed for unknown reason. I brought them in and grew all winter. They were too young to go dormant in the garage. Now I’m getting ready to shuffle them outside during the day. That way I can free up some of my lights. I have peppers and soon tomatoes that need it.
The figs will be up potted once they acclimate to outside, and I can leave them there.
I had to prune some twice to keep them small.
