Subject: Re: Trees from the seeds??

From: [email-masked] (John Tusciuk)
Date: 9 Mar 1995 23:07:12 -0500

Bill Weaver ([email-masked]) wrote:

: I have been trying, unsuccessfully to start various fruit trees from the
: seeds of their fruit.

You might want to mention what kinds of fruit you are trying to start,
but realize that while you may get nice trees, the fruit probably
won't be quite what you started with.  Most fruit trees are heavily
hybridized and propagated vegetatively.  If you are, for example,
starting apples from seed you are likely to get fruit that is quite
small and perhaps even unappetizing.  With that warning...

Many fruit seeds have better germination if cold stratified (kept in
moist sand or peat in the refrigerator for a couple of months).  I
know apples and pears in particular are this way.  If you are trying
to start a stone fruit (peach, plum, cherry) you will want to file the
hard seed coat down a ways to allow moisture in.  As long as you don't
damage the inner seed it will still sprout.  It's also possible you
simply are giving up too soon;  tree seeds (especially large ones)
tend to take longer to sprout than, say, garden seeds.

Notable exceptions to most of this are citrus.  Fresh (right out of
the fruit and still moist when planted) seeds will sprout in a couple
of weeks and grow rather quickly.  I don't know what kind of fruit you
would get from these, but I've grown several lemon and tangerine seeds
and they make nice house/patio plants (here in Michigan where citrus
would never survive an autumn, let alone a winter outdoors).

John Tusciuk
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (John Tusciuk)
Date: 9 Mar 1995 23:16:22 -0500

Bill Weaver ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Bewing relatively new to this newsgroup I apologize if this subject has
: been discussed or if there is a FAQ (can some one point me to it).

: I have been trying, unsuccessfully to start various fruit trees from the
: seeds of their fruit.  This may seem really ignorant but I had never seen
: or read anything on the subject of tree starting.

: Can anyone help.  Is it even possible?  

I also just remembered that I have a book that describes methods for
starting many seeds:

The New Seed-Starters Handbook
by Nancy Bubel
Rodale Press
$14.95 list

This book mentions apples, pears, Prunus spp. (cherry, plum, almond),
as well as nut trees, blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes, etc.  The
author is much more optimistic about the fruit from the trees than I
was in my previous post.  The book also describes methods for saving
and sowing seeds for a large number of vegetables, flowers, trees, and
shrubs and is just chock full of general advice as well.

John