Peaches from seed

[gerrybhoy]

A long shot this one folks, but has anyone successfully grown anything from the seeds of a peach?
I have cracked open the hard pit in the middle, and have got the seeds.
I want to plant them and see what happens. Just looking for some tips on what is best for them.
Thanks

[Marcher]

A long shot this one folks, but has anyone successfully grown anything from the seeds of a peach?
I have cracked open the hard pit in the middle, and have got the seeds.
I want to plant them and see what happens. Just looking for some tips on what is best for them.
Thanks

Yes.

In September I thought I'd have a go and so cracked a few peach stones open with a hammer. I planted them in a window box and left it under the shed from September until late November (I was forcing bulbs in it and they need cold dormancy). I brought it in in November and noticed a week ago that there were these unidentified plants growing. I pulled one up and found the peach seed attached. I'd completely forgotten / given up on them.
I can't remember what variety they were, they were grown in Spain though. So they're probably not a hardy variety, but I was going to grow them on and see which fruited best in our climate and get rid of those that performed poorly. However, peaches often come true from seed, so one doesn't necessarily get a new variety.
They're in my window inside at the moment. They look a bit wilted (probably the 24c heat and lack of humidity). I may move them somewhere else, but I think they'll likely fail before they reach a substantial size.
Now that I've done it successfully, I may try again whilst we're still in winter, and by the time they emerge this time it should be spring and they should be fine outside. I'll look in supermarkets to see if I can find and recognisable varieties or ones grown further north in places like France.

I have actually thought about buying a peach tree - one of the English varieties like Peregrine or Rochester. I'll wait for bare root tree season before I decide whether or not to buy one I think.

So it is possible, but you'll be waiting a good few months for the seeds to germinate. I've heard that peaches take 3 years to have fruit - I'm not sure if it applies to grafted only or bare root as well, but it sounds good.




The sticks are there to stop them growing towards the light. The bulbs are Hyacinths.

[Marcher]

Here's are some pictures from the internet:


Peaches and plums from seed at 4 months - peaches on the right (notice the leaves are the same as on my seedlings.


Peach tree from seed at 1 1/2 years old. Not a bad rate of growth really.

Not all fruit seeds will grow, so get a few varieties and look for countries with a climate closer to ours if possible (i.e. choose French over Spanish peaches). Hopefully mine grow and prosper. Good luck if you decide to grow from seed.

[Marcher]

A peach tree at 3 years old:



and another one:

[veggiechicken]

I had 2 Peregrine peach trees in my last house - the size of the ones above but grown against a wall. They fruited every year but you had to be very quick to pick or net against the squirrels. Nice treat though!

[starloc]

We have some peach trees in Bulgara that have self seeded from a large tree , very small about 5 foot high and dont look that healthy ( due to lack of water ) i am not sure how old they are but they were not there on a video taken about 5 years ago ,the fruit on them was nice but not identical to the parent tree , not even close but realy nice to eat....and cook we had pans and pans of stewed peaches and made rakia with the rest

The parent tree has 3 inch diam. peaches with yellow flesh and a red/yellow skin and red around the stone , these still nice though smaller and more like an apricot to look at , pale yellow white flesh with red stone, the bigger ones were a bit sweeter but not as strong taste

I have an old book from the 40s were they say that if you grow a peach in a certain location a peach stone from the tree will do better as its used to it.

[Marcher]

the fruit on them was nice but not identical to the parent tree , not even close but realy nice to eat....and cook we had pans and pans of stewed peaches and made rakia with the rest

Have they been pollinated by another peach tree? They're self fertile and should be basically the same as the one parent tree if they've self pollinated.

I have an old book from the 40s were they say that if you grow a peach in a certain location a peach stone from the tree will do better as its used to it.

Makes sense, I suppose it adapts slightly to the conditions.

I might actually buy a peach tree, dwarf if possible. I'd like to try and grow these seedlings on, but also have something growing next year. I have a sunny wall I can put them against - in I can feel the heat coming off the wall well into the night from about a foot away.

[starloc]

They will have been cross pollinated, Some are self fertile but im not sure if that means they are true to type, a lot of fruit trees are not true to type even if self pollinated.

Every garden in Bulgaria is full of fruit trees and the area is also full of fruit orchards including peach , plums, nectarine, apricot, almond trees so they will most probably have cross pollinated with something

Some fruit trees even if kept in sterile conditions self pollinated do not grow true to type, some also i have been told revert back to older parents every second generation ( not sure how true it is with peaches though )

But there are many wild trees as well , most very small ungrafted trees and all with nice fruit, all different but all nice, nothing nasty like you get with some of the wild crab apple trees

We had a lot of damage from leaf curl in Bulgaria this year, never has it been necessary to spray before according to the locals

In the UK ive had no problems with peach trees ( apart from leaf curl, that is controlled as long as i spray them with something ) ,
I have them up against a sunny wall, one of them its about 5 years since i planted it as a 2 year old tree in a 1 foot square pot just in front of the wall (but not touching it) ,
I get more fruit every year , this year I had so many peaches on it ( perigrine ) the branches were snapping off , next year i may remember to thin the fruit out....I never have had to before.