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Gardeners are experiencing a shortage of quality plum planting material. When buying a seedling from a private seller or through a nursery, one can never know with certainty whether it will fit the variety. After another disappointment, the idea of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbgrowing seedlings on their own comes. Plum from the stone grows faster than it seems at first.
Is it possible to grow a plum from a stone
From the seeds remaining after eating or processing the fruit, it is quite possible to grow a plum tree. But here some rules are required, which will be listed below.
Propagation of plums by seeds
A strong seedling grows from a plum stone already in 1 year. If it is immediately grown in the place where the plum will subsequently be and will grow, this will be a great advantage. On the contrary, after frequent transplants, the root system of the plant is injured, it has to adapt to new conditions each time. This takes from 2 weeks to several months. Precious time can be used for plum development.
Growing plums from the stone must begin with the choice of variety. Another important aspect is the question of where the seedling will grow. This may be a permanent or temporary location. As a temporary shelter, you can use a school, a shady place or an ordinary flower pot.
After the location is determined, a rootstock variety should be selected. This is important from the point of view of winter hardiness of the seedling. The stones should be of local varieties that are adapted to the conditions of the region where the tree will grow in the future. It is on this seedling that the desired variety will be grafted.
A rootstock for a plum can be not only a plum.
Can be used:
- plum;
- cherry plum;
- prickly pear;
- tern.
The most suitable rootstocks are listed here, although plums can be grafted onto other stone fruits: peach, apricot. But they do not grow well in all regions. The turn is also rarely used for growing from seeds, despite its unpretentiousness and winter hardiness.
Will a plum from the stone bear fruit
Plum from the stone will definitely bear fruit. The question is different: what fruits will it give and when will it bear fruit. When grown by seed, maternal qualities are not transmitted (there are exceptions, but they are rare).
That is, to obtain a full-fledged, regular harvest, you need to graft a varietal plum onto a rootstock grown from a seed. How to do this, the video will tell:
Of course, there are cases of obtaining a successful combination of yield and fruit taste. But this is more the exception than the rule. Usually a seedling grown from a stone does not begin to bear fruit early enough and has fruits that are unlike those from which the seeds were planted.
How to grow a plum from the stone at home
Where it is better to grow a seedling: on a plot or at home, everyone decides for himself. It has long been noticed that when growing plums with seeds on a plot before winter, all planting material is destroyed by rodents. This does not always happen, especially if appropriate measures are taken. But the safest option is to grow rootstock at home.
Is it possible to grow a plum from a stone at home
A plum grown at home has several advantages over an open field seedling:
- planting material will not be eaten by mice;
- the root system will be formed by spring;
- constant monitoring of the growth and formation of the seedling;
- the ability to feed on time;
- the root system in a pot will not be injured when transplanted to a permanent place.
In order to grow a plum, you need to prepare planting material in advance. It is better to do this in advance, taking local unpretentious varieties. Seeds must be thoroughly cleaned of pulp by rinsing in water, do not remove the hard shell. Then dry and store in a cool place until planting.
How to grow a plum in a pot from a seed
Planting is best done no earlier than February, as the plants need sunlight. Before this, it is necessary to carry out stratification and preferably scarification. The stratification procedure involves keeping the seeds for a long time at sub-zero temperatures, which increases their germination.
Under natural conditions, the seeds of fruits that have fallen from a tree germinate naturally by spring. In an apartment or house, conditions are created artificially by placing a pot of seeds in a refrigerator or freezer. Scarification – helping the plant to get rid of the hard shell. Sometimes the bones are rubbed with sand, even with a file, to make it thinner.
What does a plum sprout look like?
Watching the germination of seeds is always entertaining. Cotyledon leaves appear first. They are round and similar in all plants. Two cotyledons are followed by true leaves. Plum leaves have the shape of an ellipse, that is, an oval. The edges are finely serrated, the surface of the leaf plate is shiny.
Growing plums at home
Cultivation takes place in several stages:
- Soil and pot preparation. The pot for planting is taken small so that the earth does not sour. The soil for germination is mixed with river sand 1:1.
- The plum stone deepens by 3-4 cm, watered, sprinkled with earth. It is better to plant several pieces at once for reliability.
- The pot is placed in the freezer for 4 months.
- After the pot is taken out, put it in a bright place and make sure that the soil does not dry out.
- After the emergence of sprouts, you need to make sure that the seedlings do not stretch. In the first month they need sufficient watering and good lighting.
- If several sprouts have appeared, the strongest one is left, the rest are removed by cutting them with scissors (without pulling them out).
- After a month, you can start feeding the plum. Of the mineral fertilizers, the best is ammofoska, which combines 3 components: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. Before planting outside, you need to regularly fertilize the seedling.
Transplanting plum seedlings in open ground
Before planting in open ground, the plant needs to be hardened. Gradually, the seedling gets used to the change in night and day temperatures, wind, air humidity, and precipitation. You need to start hardening from a few minutes, gradually bringing the time up to 24 hours. It is necessary to ensure that direct sunlight does not fall on the plant.
How to grow a plum from a stone in the country
If conditions do not allow at home, you can grow a plum from a stone in the country. To do this, you need to choose the time, place and method of sowing.
When and where to plant plum pits
The stone can be planted immediately in the place allotted for planting plums in late September – October. In this case, you need to plant at least 10 pieces at once, prudently protecting yourself from mice. For example, bury paper soaked in tar around the perimeter around the landing site. You can also put it in the landing pit.
A hole is dug in advance, measuring 60 * 60 * 60 cm. Manure, branches, then a small layer of sand and humus or compost are placed on the bottom. In a month, the earth settles, and if necessary, it is poured. Bones are planted to a depth of no more than 10 cm. It is not necessary to water from above, it is enough to cover it with earth. The landing site is marked with pegs.
How to sprout a plum seed
On the street, the bone sprouts on its own, undergoing the process of scarification and stratification naturally. To do this, it is planted in the fall, in mid – late October. If there are a lot of seeds, then they dig a trench 10 cm deep. The pit is not filled with any fertilizers.
The bones are laid out at a distance of 20–30 cm. If they are planted immediately in a permanent place, it must first be fertilized. Some release the bone from a dense shell. But this is not necessary, but for autumn planting it is disastrous. This method is only suitable for landing in the spring.
How to plant a plum from the stone
Plum is planted in autumn or spring. If the planting is postponed to spring, then the bones must be stratified in the freezer, in the refrigerator or on the street, in the cold. In the spring, as soon as the snow thaws, they can be planted in a prepared place.
A year later, the plum is ready for grafting, which must be carried out with any variety you like. Without grafting, a tree can give out any unfortunate progenitor qualities. By grafting a seedling, the gardener protects himself from all sorts of risks of inconsistency with the variety and brings the time of fruiting closer.
How to grow a seedling from a plum seed
In the country, it is better to grow a seedling for a stock immediately in the place where the plum will grow. This culture is shade-tolerant, but the shade should not be permanent. For abundant fruiting, the plum is planted in the sun. When choosing a place, take into account that the plum loves loose fertile soil.
If the planting is single, then you need to dig a planting hole 50 * 50 * 50 cm in advance. You can dig more, depending on the future variety. The pit is filled with completely rotted compost or humus, ash and sand for looseness.
If everyone sprouts, then the weakest ones need to be pinched, but in no case should they be pulled out of the ground, damaging the root system. In good room conditions, a grafting seedling can be grown by early summer.
Is it necessary to graft a plum grown from a stone
To get a full-fledged tree, a seedling grown from a seed must be grafted. Plum from the stone retains the variety very rarely. It is better not to hope for this, but to plant it only for stock. You need to graft a quality variety that has decent characteristics and suits your taste.
You can graft in spring, summer and autumn. If the seedling grows at home until spring, then it may be ready (depending on the intensity of growth) for grafting already in the middle or end of summer. It is better to sow several plums so that you can then choose the most successful vaccination.
Conclusion
Plum from the stone can be obtained at home or on the site. You can grow a full-fledged fruit tree on your own: the stock and the graft will reliably correspond to the variety in the future.