Content
It is possible to grow a peach from a stone, but whether an adult tree will yield a harvest is the first important question. The culture is considered to be thermophilic. To wait for delicious fruits, you need to choose the right variety. The second important question is where to get the suitable planting material, because not every stone extracted from a peach is capable of germinating.
Is it possible to grow a peach from a stone
Theoretically, peach seed propagation is allowed. The culture is grown similarly to apricot. However, for many people, the lack of germination after the seeds are immersed in the ground remains a question. Incorrectly selected planting material is a problem. The seeds of all store-bought peaches are not suitable for reproduction. Fruits for sale are harvested at the stage of technical maturity. Their nucleolus has not yet formed, and will not germinate.
Even if it is possible 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 brought in, most often - hybrids that do not give offspring.
How to grow a fruit-bearing tree from a peach seed
If you really want to grow a tree from a peach seed at home, and even fruitful, you need to choose the right planting material, observe the technology of germination and care of the seedling.
The choice of planting material
If you want to grow a crop, it is important to understand that a peach will bear fruit from a stone only when the planting material belongs to a variety adapted to the local climate. For fruits they go to the market, to friends or neighbors. A seed taken from a fruit-bearing tree is guaranteed to germinate and, over time, the crop will yield a harvest.
Even if you managed to find the owner of a growing peach, you should not rejoice. We must inquire 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 parent variety. For propagation, seeds are suitable only from a self-rooted tree. A grown peach will retain all varietal characteristics.
Methods for growing a peach from a stone
Planting a peach at home from a stone is carried out in three ways:
- Cold. This is how the people call the method, but in fact it is called stratification. Seed material is imitated to natural conditions. A hardened sprout is grown from the seed.
- ANDpulling the core. The seed is taken from the split shell. Kernel germination 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 stone at home, adhering to the cold method.
Do I need to stratify the planting material
Seeds are stratified at a low temperature, but not negative. A prerequisite is maintaining high humidity, free access of oxygen. Optimal conditions for the procedure are in the cellar, basement, on the lower shelves of the refrigerator.
Stratification involves the following steps:
- A wide, shallow container is prepared. The bottom of a plastic bottle will do. For filling, take peat or river well-washed sand.
- The seeds are immersed in the filler to a depth of 7 cm. The container with the crops is wrapped in a bag, the ventilation slots are cut with a knife, and sent for storage until spring in a cold place.
- Crop maintenance requires occasional watering. The filler is kept moist at all times.
- In March, sprouts will sprout from the seeds. For their transplant, prepare other containers filled with a mixture of the same proportions of compost, peat, forest chernozem.
- The transplanted seedlings are placed on a window in a cool room. It is impossible to bring a peach into the heat sharply.
- For about a week, sprouts are grown on a balcony window at temperatures up to +10aboutC. During this time, the aboveground part adapts to the heat, and the pots are transferred inside the house.
The stratified peach seed gives a strong sprout. The culture will grow resistant to bad conditions, it will be easier to endure winter frosts.
How to plant a peach seed at home
In pots, step-by-step instructions will help you grow a peach from a stone, which includes 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 rootstock of the seedling will rot.
The bottom of the planting container 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 chernozem.
How to germinate a peach seed at home
To properly grow a peach from a stone, one of three methods is used: stratification, warm germination, or extraction of the kernel. You can take an easier path by combining the 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 transparent film or glass, placed on the windowsill.
Grow a peach in a pot at room temperature. The shelter is opened daily for a short time for ventilation. When sprouts appear at 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 a peach from a stone at home
In the future, in order to grow a peach tree from a seed, 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 up, 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 dormant at a temperature of +2aboutC. From March to September, after 2 weeks, regular fertilizing of mineral complexes is introduced. From organic matter to culture, humus infusion is useful.
With the growth of the crown, the root system increases proportionally. 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. Peach fruits are tied on lateral branches.When forming, they try to pinch the top and long, strongly growing branches.
The video tells about seed sprouting:
How to plant a peach seed in the ground
When growing in open ground, it is important to plant the peach pit correctly and not to tighten it over time, so that the sprout has time to get stronger by the frost. The last date for sowing seeds is the end of June. Seedlings 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 feeding are stopped. The top of the tree is pinched.
It is allowed to plant a peach with a stone in autumn in September. During the winter, the seeds will undergo natural hardening and will sprout for the next season. The disadvantage of planting in autumn is a decrease in the percentage of seed germination.
Site selection and soil preparation
When grown in the open field, the place for sowing peach seeds is chosen sunny. It is better to refuse shaded areas. In spring, during the flowering of an adult tree in the shade with recurrent frosts, the temperature can drop by 1aboutFrom below zero and destroy the inflorescences.
Any soil on the site is suitable for culture. The tree is unpretentious to grow. It is only important to provide good drainage at the bottom of the planting pit. If the site is located on clay, peat, sand, compost are mixed. Sandstones are bad for growing peaches because moisture is quickly lost. To bring the soil to normal, a lot of organic matter is mixed.
Planting peach pits outdoors
The seeds are planted to a depth of 8 cm. A distance of up to 3 m is maintained between each sowing, so that the seedlings are not transplanted later. During the season, the sprouts that appear can stretch up to 1.3 m.In the fall, they begin to form the crown. Powerful lateral shoots are left on the peach, everything else is cut off under the ring.
How to grow a peach from a stone in the country
It is easier to grow a peach in the country immediately by sowing it 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 germ. For the reliability of obtaining seedlings, the bone is slightly punctured with a hammer or sawn off with a file. With this procedure, it is important not to damage the nucleolus.
A distance of 3 m is standardly maintained between the growing crops. The option 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 bears 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 time to transplant is early spring. The hole is dug with a margin so that the root system can fit freely. For backfilling, use soil mixed with earth, peat and compost. The root collar is left not buried - at ground level. After filling, the seedling is watered, tied to a peg. The soil around the trunk is covered with mulch.
Conclusion
It is not always possible to grow a peach from a stone the first time. The most common cause is improper seed preparation or poor quality. If the first attempt at growing is unsuccessful, the process must be repeated.
