trees from seeds???

[canesisters]

This had been discussed somewhere before.. but I can't find it.
I know that most fruit trees are grafted, so if you plant the seeds, you will probably not get what you think. BUT - if I want to try it - what do I do? I've got some apple and some orange seeds from lunches this past week.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i know citrus seeds you need to clean them by soaking and washing off the coating that likes to stick on them. then keep the seed moist by placing between a moist paper towel placed in a plastic bag and put in a warm location till they sprout. once they sprout you can plant in soil. i've had luck getting lemon seeds to sprout this way but it can take some time for them to show signs of life.

apple and pear seeds you can plant anytime but it seems they sprout better when the whole fruit is left to rot with the seeds still in them after a nice cool winter to help stratify them. seems they need that constant moisture to get them growing. starting them from seed could take about 10 years before they will start giving you fruit.

peach pits and other stone fruit will grow but i've read to have ones that are hardy the pits need to be planted some time late August.

i'm sure someone else will have much better info than me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only trees I’ve purposely started from seeds are crabapples (same as apples) and some nuts.


I cleaned the crabapple seeds in water and put them in the refrigerator over winter. Real early in spring, I put them in the ground where I wanted them to grow. Bury them maybe 3 times their diameter. Spring is wet enough here that I didn’t have to sorry about watering until after they were up. I did not get great germination, but I got some. I have no idea if they need cold stratification or not, or how much. It’s just what I did.


With hickory nuts and walnuts, I gather the nuts before the coating dries up and soak them in water a few days. Never let them dry out. Then I freeze them over winter. Again in the spring bury them maybe 1-1/2” to 2”. Again they were up before I had to water. I actually got 8 out of 8 walnuts to sprout, but the hickory nuts were more like 50%. Don’t use light-weight nuts. Those didn’t mature.

 

[Nyboy]

Even if you don't get a good eating apple, spring flowers are worth it alone.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i admit they are really beautiful when in bloom and it is nice if they don't produce any fruit that taste good they still make for great wildlife attractants! the birds and deer will love you for giving them something to nibble on during fall and winter months.

 

[canesisters]

Well... guess I've flubbed that already. The apple seeds are in the fridge - but dry as a bone sitting on a bit of paper towel. The orange seeds are sitting next to the scale reader - also dry, dry, dry. But there will be more next week
I didn't really expect to get any fruit, but like others said, I thought that maybe they would be pretty little trees and add some nice height to the gardens (other than oak and pine trees.....)

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't think it would hurt the apple seeds to dry out but it does the nuts. I tried to separate the two when I wrote it up.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i don't think it would hurt the apple seeds either. after all Johnny 'Appleseed' Chapman got those apples planted everywhere and i'm sure he wasn't running around with them all as grafted plants! or he would have a different nickname.

 

[canesisters]

I decided to try it - just to see what happens.
Planted 10 little apple seeds.......

GOT ONE SPROUT!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nyboy]

You should be proud, that is so cool. I tryed and failed with apple seeds.