Most of the information that I've read, advises planting trees that are grafted onto hardy root stock. The rationale being that they will be much hardier than seedlings grown from parent plant.

However, I have an apricot tree that is 30 feet tall, producing large amounts of fruit each summer. It was a seedling from a tree that was uprooted during construction on neighboring property. I let it grow - but also planted another nearby-just in case.

Also - I accidentally planted an avocado seed from my compost pile in one of my vegetable growing boxes. It really loved the nice rich soil, and is thriving - making much better growth than a Haas avocado that I planted a few years ago.

Several macadamia trees have also been planted (squirrels?) but there is no room for them - so will pull out.

In some cases, if your soil has nematodes, it is advisable to have root stock grafted to fruit trees - in our location, it is usually apricot root - that is used by nurseries.

So yes - you can. But I wouldn't let the seeds wait too long, or the germ plasm will die before you get it planted.

Bejay

Do you have suggestions on how to plant the seeds. The particular farmer earlier told me that he has planted several peach trees from those seeds and the trees have florished.

I was planning on putting the seeds in a large box planter and covering them with a few inches of potting soil and letting nature take it's course. But I didn't know if there were any other special techniques such as covering the seeds with leave or mulch, etc...

You can plant in potting soil. If I were to do it, I'd start with a small pot, until the roots start to outgrow the container, then repot to a bigger size. Keep the seed and pot in a warm place. Most seeds like around 70+ degrees or so. A plastic cover over the top might be to the seeds liking. Once it sprouts, remove the cover, but keep warm until it is stronger.

Once you reach a 2 gallon or so size, you could plant outside - if your climate permits - or plant in an even larger size and kept in a greenhouse. You didn't mention your growing zone. I can grow persimmons in my zone 10 in California, but not sure where you live. To my thinking, the chestnut is an eastern tree and the peach should be fine if you have the chill hours to keep it happy. I do grow peaches too, but they are "low-chill" types.

If you use a large box planter, potting soil (compost, peat, vermiculite, combination) is usually the best. Covering with mulch will hold in moisture.

Someone else might advise regarding the chestnut - whether it would outgrow the box or not is my thought.

Once your seedling starts to grow, you should give it some fertilizer - compost tea, fish emulsion, Miracle Grow, etc., starting with a weak solution to begin with.

Bejay

Your persimmon seeds are probably no longer viable, if they've been sitting out dry, at room temperature for very long. You could *try* soaking them to rehydrate, then stratifying them in the refrigerator - they need cold, moist stratification for at least a couple of months - but you may get a very low germination rate, if any at all sprout.

I would crack the peach seed open very carefully with a bench vise, if it is fat it should be viable.But if it is at all shriveled it is dead-A dry seed is a dead seed!That's how I germ peach,crack them with a vise and put them in the fridge with slightly and I mean slightly moist potting soil so they don't rot.In my area I get my pits into the fridge by early September and they usually start to break dormancy in the fridge around Christmas (I have a few peach,apricot, and plum seedlings under a grow light as I write this).So the moral behind the whole story is don't let the seeds dry out and they need a cold period before they will germinate.The nuts should be fine outside under a little bit of leaf matter and a screen to keep the critters from eating them. But I can't speak about the persimmons because I have no experience with them.

Glenn

I've always taken the seed, after drying for some time, and wrapped them in wet paper towel and threw them in the refrigerator...come late FEb/March i usually find a bunch of roots growing.

I just checked my seeds..peaches/apricots are already sprouting

{{gwi:59594}}

Posted a link to an article, on how to stratify your seeds. My sour cherry seeds have already sprouted. You may want to check your fridge.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2000/8-11-2000/germtreeseed.html

They might not be true to original flavor, but itÂs still fun and you can always plant three or four and keep the best one, or use it for grafting.

That is why i do it... I've done apples, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots (above), kiwis, pears.... Its fun and a very cheap way to raise a lot of rootstock/trees...

Some peaches come fairly true to parent fruit. Walnuts OK too. Persimmons I personally wouldn't mess with, because I am too impatient to wait for the fruit to get past the astringency stage, and then it is just mush. I would just plant a Fuyu, but then I guess you have to worry about the cold. Your zone is not evident from your avatar.

You don't need to mess with grafting to a rootstock unless you want to imbue a dwarfing quality to the tree or something. Contrary to previous post the main reason for fruit tree grafting is to maintain the fruiting quality of the parent. Sometimes disease or soil considerations come into play.
Have fun

Frantank232-- were those the full pits or did you crack them open as previous post indicated?

I have several peach pits I'd like to experiment with and am not sure whether to break them open first or not. Any other suggestions for growing peach trees from pits? I got a whip (at a yard sale) from a gentleman who started his own trees a few years ago and it is a 15 foot tree with tons of clingstone peaches. Not sure how he started his.

Thanks!

Don't crack them. They'll do it on their own. Just clean them well or you'll get mold growing.

Just have some gallon pots ready to go in Jan/Feb... My apricot seedlings are around 3ft tall now.

This is a good thread! I just got those wild mystery plum seeds from Joan, and I put them in the fridge, but now I will take them out, and wrap in a damp paper towel, with foil to keep them damp, and let them stay there for a while. Fingers crossed they grow.

I would not have wrapped them in damp paper towels if you guys hadn't mentioned it.

Thanks!
Suzi