plum stones

[janeyo]

Hi this may be a really daft question but can I grow or attempt to grow plum trees from stones? If so what do I have to do in terms of stone preparation?

Thanks

janeyo

[veg4681]

I would not have thought so. It's something to do with the fact that most fruit trees don't produce good strong roots and so they're grafted onto a rootstock of another plant. This is how fruit trees are propagated by nurseries. Even if you're able to grow a plum tree from stone, chances are it won't grow to bear fruits. Having said that, nursery can also sell you fruit rootstock so that you can do the grafting bit yourself, a bit too technical for me. I rather buy one done up for me .

[Carl]

Hi, my understanding is that there would be no problem growing from a stone, but what kind of plum you get couldn't be guaranteed as it depends on the ancestry of the fruit bearing tree and the pollinating tree, so it could be great or rubbish, also it may not like the climate or other conditions (which is why rootstocks are used - they control hardiness and size etc with only a moderate influence on the fruit) How long it would take to fruit, I don't know, but I've grown some sloes from stones (as they're wild I just threw the stones on a spare patch and selected the seedlings after the winter), the've had two full years of growth and no sign of any fruit - I suspect it'll take 5 years or so in total - another reason for using rootstock, if it is mature, the grafted wood fruits much sooner.

I would clean the stones and sow them in a pot of sandy potting compost outside so they get a good dose of winter cold, make sure they don't dry out, and then hope for the best! But I'm sure there are others with much more experience than me.

[pigletwillie]

I have seen a plum tree grown from a stone that was about 7' across but only 6" high, very strange indeed.

To get the fruit to come true, all fruit trees are grafted onto a rootstock. It is the rootstock that controls the vigour or size of the tree and the graft that determines its fruiting characteristics.

You may get lucky but personally, I would only persevere with named, grafted stock.

[Palustris]

We have one which was grown from a plum stones by my M.i.l. It took about 7 years to produce fruit. The fruit is medium sized and mid season and very tasty, but it is very very prone to Brown rot. Worst of all with trees grown this way is that the sucker very badly. One of our hedges is made of of plum suckers from a wild one in the hedge row. They come up everywhere!

[rustylady]

I get loads of saplings growing from plum stones, but they never amount to good fruitful trees. They are also really hard to pull up.