i cant tell from the pic.. if its outdoors ... or ever exposed to sun ....

it must be hardened off to full sun ... and that could take weeks .. properly done ... you dont want to burn off all the leaves..

does it go dormant ...??? ... has it ever??? .. dormancy is the usual time to plant.. if for no other reason ... you dont burn off all the leaves ... and avoid all the other associated stresses when you unpot and shove it in the ground ...

would you be able to build a temporary structure .. once in the ground.. to shade it for a while???

ken

It's outdoors, it gets direct mid day sun about 2-3 hours a day depending on the time of year. It has gone dormant three times. By the middle of December it has not one single leaf on it. It's going into a front lawn, so it would not look good if I build something around it.

I would plant it now as long as you can keep it watered adequately once it's in the ground.

Why do you say that? Do you think it's crowded in the pot it's in? I just noticed yesterday that some of the lower leaves have turned yellow and fell off :(

they say.. a tree is twice as big underground.. in volume.. compared to what you see above ... so when i look at your tree.. and then the pot.. i think to myself ... yikes.. it needs to go in the ground ...

i would do it in dormancy.. leafless.. so i wouldnt have to worry about all the leaves falling off ... due to stress ...

btw.. all day sun.. is going to be a lot different than a couple hours ... but at least its partially hardened off ...

there is a container forum ... perhaps you could get some guidance there.. with trees in pots ....

ken

OK: i give.. whats all the caution tape for... lol..is it tree related????

I have successfully grown trees in pots... very large pots. I agree that the pot you have it in is way too small. I think I'd wait until next January to put it in the ground only because it is probably root bound and will need to have those roots spread out when planting. That will be a major stress on the plant.

One thing: you don't say what variety of Peach it is, but all fruiting trees - except citrus - need what is called "chill hours", that is: how many of hours there are of below freezing during its dormant period, which is specific to variety. If you don't have enough, or any in LA, you may has a nice tree but it will never fruit. FYI

Kate

I read about that, I hope it will fruit one day, I have no idea what kind of peach tree it is. I was eating a white peach one day, and it had a root coming out of the pit and I put it in there. I am almost certain it's from California as most of the peaches bought here are local which would mean no chill hours needed.

ken- no the caution tape is because the deck it's on is ready to fall down.

Plant it this winter when it's dormant

ALL peaches require chill hours to produce!! And most CA peaches come from the San Joaquin Valley, which has much wider temperature extremes than does LA. The SJ Valley chill hours are between 800-900.....most of the LA area has less than 400.

I have peaches that set fruit just fine in coastal San Diego. Babcock is a white peach that is quite productive in very low chill conditions, but there are others. I just thinned my yellow, Mid-Pride a few days ago.

Although it's fun to grow trees from seed, they won't grow true. it's probably going to be more productive to grow a low-chill, grafted tree that is suitable for your area. Most of the local nurseries still have potted trees available or you can wait and buy a bare root tree next winter.

If you are growing it for fun, great.
If you want good tasting peaches you will be disappointed.

Growing from seed takes years to fruit.

It almost certainly won't taste like the parent peach you were eating.

And 2-3 hours of sun will never be enough to make sugars even if the peach grows fruit, so it won't be a sweet peach.Sorry for the harsh news, but at least you have the accomplishment of getting it to grow!
Carla in Sac

I want to share my anecdote about growing from seed...though, not a peach. I was given a "plum tree" grown from seed. I didn't really want it so decided to keep it in a pot until it fruited. It didn't take many years, maybe 2 before it had fruit. And it wasn't a plum it turned out to be a white nectarine with super sweet delicious flavor, thin skin, and freestone pit. Loaded with fruit every year.

You can plant it now before we get summer heat. It's overcast today, so it would be the perfect day. Since it's already outdoors, don't worry too much about hardening off. My dad planted a peach pit long ago and when it was mature it produced delicious peaches (Costa Mesa). Yes, peaches can grow here but they need at least 6 hours of sunshine. More is better.

Don't plant it deeper than it is in the pot now, but dig the hole wider. If you leave it in the pot too long, the roots will grow in circles. If they're already curled, try to tease them out when you plant it.

I found this, which is encouraging - Peaches and apricots tend to come fairly true to seed, meaning a seedling tree will generally be very similar to the parent tree and bear similar fruit. Although commercial orchards plant grafted peach and apricot trees, a seedling tree is a fine option fro a yard or community garden orchard. Growing trees from seed is free and can also make a fun project for young orchardists! (Philadelphia Orchard Project)

One reason for grafting is that varieties that are grown for flavor are grafted onto rootstock that is known to be disease resistant.

Here's some more information: https://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/growing-fruits-and-nuts/planting-your-backyard-orchard

If you explore their website, you will find more, including videos about pruning.

Thank you everybody for the information. I have several possible places to plant it outside in sun. If I don't get fruit from it, it's not big deal. I like growing from seed, in the pic I have a Meyer Lemon tree growing in a pot and another one in the ground already. I feel I should wait till it goes dormant which is the general consensus. It's yellowing and losing some leaves, probably because it's really crowded in with water/nutrition problems. What's strange is after living here for 27 years I have never seen a peach tree. At one location I had Mexican plum trees and they never produced fruit, the flowers would just fall off. Only once one had two or three fantastic sweet fruit. Other location has a nectarine tree that had grown in the parkway from somebody tossing a pit. That one flowers amazing, the fruit develops to about golf ball size and then falls off. I tired watering it more and "thinning" but no luck.

I have a white-flesh variety peach that came from old west Texas homestead. Planted the seeds, in 3rd year I had several peaches on one tree. Vigorous tree, fruit quality is fairly good, but not great.

From my understanding, the seeds will produce true if they are not mixed with other varieties. The reason for grafting as mentioned above is for a better, disease resistant root system.

But most modern fruits are not pure strains so there is never any guarantee that the seed of any fruit you eat will produce the same thing. The reason for grafting.....in addition to any root stock issues, including controling size........is to insure the propagation of an exact clone. Asexual or nonseed propagation like grafting, growing from cuttings, layering, etc. is the ONLY way to guarantee that.