Contents
It is possible to grow a peach from a stone, but whether an adult tree will bring a crop is the first important question. Culture is considered thermophilic. To wait for delicious fruits, you need to choose the right variety. The second important question is where to get suitable planting material, because not every stone extracted from a peach can germinate.
Is it possible to grow a peach from a stone
Theoretically, peach propagation by bone is allowed. The culture is grown in the same way as an apricot. However, for many people, the lack of seedlings after immersing the seeds in the ground remains an issue. The problem is the wrong planting material. The stones of all store-bought peaches are unsuitable for propagation. Fruits for sale are plucked at the stage of technical maturity. Their nucleolus has not yet formed, and will not give seedlings.
Even if you manage to germinate the seed of the purchased fruit, the tree will not bear fruit or will freeze out in the first winter. For shops, fruits of southern varieties are imported, most often hybrids that do not give offspring.
How to grow a fruit tree from a peach seed
If you really want to grow a tree from a peach seed at home, and even a fruit-bearing one, you need to choose the right planting material, follow the technology of germination and seedling care.
Selection of planting material
If you want to grow a crop, it is important to understand that a peach will bear fruit from the stone only when the planting material belongs to a variety adapted to the local climate. For the fruits they go to the market, to friends or neighbors. A bone taken from a fruit-bearing tree is guaranteed to germinate and over time, the culture will bring a harvest.
Even if you managed to find the owner of a growing peach, you should not rejoice. We need to ask about the origin of the tree. From the seed material of the grafted fruit, a fruit crop can grow with completely different characteristics that do not correspond to the mother variety. Seeds from own rooted trees are suitable for propagation. The grown peach will retain all varietal characteristics.
How to grow peach from seed
A peach is planted from a stone at home in three ways:
- Cold. So the method is called by the people, but in fact it is called stratification. Seed material is subjected to imitation to natural conditions. A hardened sprout is grown from the seed.
- Иextraction of the core. The seed is taken out of the split shell. Germination of the kernel is faster, but the seedling grows less prepared for bad weather conditions.
- Warm germination. The seedling is grown in a flower pot. The tree is thermophilic, as it grows at room temperature. It will take a long time to accustom culture to street conditions.
It is better and easier to grow a peach from a seed at home, following the cold method.
Do I need to stratify planting material
Seeds are stratified at low temperature, but not negative. A prerequisite is the maintenance of high humidity, free access of oxygen. Optimal conditions for the procedure in the cellar, basement, on the lower shelves of the refrigerator.
Stratification involves the following steps:
- Prepare a wide shallow container. The bottom of a plastic bottle will do. For filling, take peat or well-washed river sand.
- The seeds are immersed in the filler to a depth of 7 cm. The container with the crops is wrapped in a bag, ventilation slots are cut with a knife, and stored until spring in a cold place.
- Care of crops requires rare watering. The filler is constantly kept moist.
- In March, sprouts will sprout from the seeds. For their transplantation, other containers are prepared, filled with a mixture of the same proportions of compost, peat, forest chernozem.
- Transplanted seedlings are placed on a window in a cool room. It is impossible to bring a peach sharply into heat.
- For about a week, sprouts are grown on a balcony window at temperatures up to +10оC. During this time, the above-ground part adapts to the heat, and the pots are transferred inside the house.
A stratified peach pit gives a strong sprout. The culture will grow resistant to poor conditions, it will be easier to endure winter frosts.
How to plant a peach seed at home
In pots, a step-by-step instruction will help you grow a peach from a stone, providing for simple steps.
Tank and soil preparation
It is most convenient to plant a peach from a stone in plastic flower pots. The container is taken wide, but shallow, with a capacity of about 2 liters. The bottom is drilled to drain water, otherwise the rhizome of the seedling will rot.
The bottom of the landing tank is covered with a small stone. After arranging the drainage layer, the remaining volume of the pot is filled with a soil mixture consisting of equal parts of sand, peat and forest black soil.
How to germinate peach pit at home
In order to properly grow a peach from a stone, one of three methods is used: stratification, warm germination, or kernel extraction. You can go the simpler way by combining warm and cold methods:
- for accelerated stratification, the bones are kept in the refrigerator for up to 10 days;
- after hardening, the seeds are soaked for 3 hours in a solution of any drug that stimulates growth;
- the bones that have passed all the stages of preparation, 3 pieces each, are planted in two-liter pots to a depth of 8 cm;
- from above, the crops are covered with a transparent film or glass, put on the windowsill.
Grow peach in a pot at room temperature. The shelter is opened daily for a short time for ventilation. When sprouts appear for 4 months, the shelter is removed. The pot is placed on a window where there is a lot of light, but there is no burning sunlight.
Growing peach from seed at home
In the future, in order to grow a peach tree from a stone, the crops are provided with proper care. During the day, the plants will have enough natural light, in the evening they turn on the phytolamp. As the soil dries, watering is carried out.
A year later, next spring, the seedling can be planted in open ground. If the peach continues to be grown in a pot, in winter the tree is given a dormant period at a temperature of +2оC. From March to September, after 2 weeks, regular top dressing of mineral complexes is introduced. From organic culture, an infusion of humus is useful.
With the growth of the crown, the root system proportionally increases. In spring or autumn, the plant is transplanted into a larger pot. When the height of the tree reaches 70 cm, they begin to form a crown. The fruits of the peach are tied on the side branches. When shaping, they try to pinch the top and long, strongly growing branches.
The video talks about the germination of bones:
How to plant a peach seed in the ground
When growing in open ground, it is important to properly plant a peach seed and not delay the timing so that the sprout has time to get stronger by frost. The last date for sowing seeds is the end of June. Shoots will appear in the last days of August. By winter, the seedlings should have time to form a brown bark, otherwise they will not overwinter. Before the onset of cold weather, watering and fertilizing are stopped. Pinch off the top of the tree.
It is allowed to plant a peach with a stone in autumn in September. Seeds will undergo natural hardening during the winter and will sprout for the next season. The disadvantage of autumn planting is a decrease in the percentage of seed germination.
Site selection and preparation of soil
When grown in open ground, a sunny place is chosen for sowing peach seeds. Avoid shaded areas. In spring, during the flowering of an adult tree in the shade during return frosts, the temperature can drop by 1оFrom below zero and destroy the inflorescence.
The soil on the site for culture is suitable for any. The tree is unpretentious in cultivation. It is only important to ensure good drainage at the bottom of the landing pit. If the site is located on clay, peat, sand, compost are mixed. Sandstones are bad for growing peach because moisture quickly leaves. To bring the soil to normal, mix in a lot of organic matter.
Planting peach pits in open ground
The seeds are planted to a depth of 8 cm. A distance of up to 3 m is maintained between each sowing, so that later the seedlings are not transplanted. During the season, the sprouts that have appeared are able to stretch up to 1,3 m. In the fall, they begin to form a crown. Powerful side shoots are left on the peach, everything else is cut under the ring.
How to grow a peach from a stone in the country
It is easier to grow a peach in the country by immediately sowing in open ground. Most often, summer residents prefer autumn planting. The seeds are soaked before sowing. However, the hard shell may not always succumb to the sprout. For reliability of seedlings, the stone is slightly pricked with a hammer or sawn with a file. In this procedure, it is important not to damage the nucleolus.
Between growing crops, a distance of 3 m is standardly maintained. A variant of growing a meadow garden is possible. Peaches are arranged in rows. A gap of 50 cm is left between each plant. The row spacing is 2 m. When growing a meadow garden, each crop produces about 15 fruits.
Transplanting peach seedlings to a permanent place
Growing seedlings in pots lasts 1 season. From the second year of life, it is advisable to transplant peaches to a permanent place. A similar procedure is resorted to if dense crops were originally grown in open ground. The best transplant time is early spring. The hole is dug with a margin so that the root system fits freely. For backfilling, soil mixed with earth, peat and compost is used. The root neck is left not buried – at ground level. After backfilling, the seedling is watered, tied to a peg. The soil around the trunk is covered with mulch.
Conclusion
Growing a peach from a seed is not always possible the first time. The most common cause is improper seed preparation or poor seed quality. If the first attempt to grow is unsuccessful, the process must be repeated.
