Plants from pips/stones and kitchen scraps - a Challenge ;)

[veggiechicken]

How many of us eye up the Pips, Stones and Seeds from bought fruit and wonder whether they can be grown - and if they would actually grow into something edible. Put your hands up now
Some of you have already done it - like Mothhawk and her pineapple, and Swaine's strawberries.
This year, I'm going to save some pips & stones and try to grow them - and keep them growing long enough to bear fruit.
I know that there is a risk that the offspring will be nothing like the parent but if you don't try you won't know! Should have some interesting pot plants anyway.
Anyone want to join me on a challenge that may take 5 years to complete!

[Guest]

Strange you should say about this...........I have in the last week sown some peach stones from some aldi flat peaches

[scarey55]

I planted some lemon pips and apple pips, not sure how they will turn out but I have 4 tiny apple trees and 3 lemon trees. Now, If I can just get a black cherry pip to grow, I'll be a happy bunny!



Apple on the left, lemon on the right. If you look closely, you should just be able to see the third lemon poking out to the right of the pot. I would say it has taken at least 6 weeks to get to this stage so don't give up peeps

[Noosner]

Well... I planted Crown Prince seeds from a CP I bought in Waitrose last year and got several healthy plants and a smashing crop of Crown Prince squashes. My saved seeds came up better than the ones I bought from Sarah Raven. I've used the same seeds this year and again they came up better than the SR seeds and I now have a couple of healthy looking plants.

Emboldened by this I'm trying Butternut squashes this year from seeds from an Aldi butternut. They came up really well and I've got 6 plants.... we'll see what happens!

I know that squashes readily cross pollinate, but I imagine that supermarket squashes are grown in controlled conditions. And probably in vast quantities of the same squash so I am hopeful.

[kris1960]

Would love to contribute my tale of triumph but have just lost to slugs the last of 4 melons, lovingly raised from melons picked and carefully dried from the fields around Taize last year.
The plants looked fabulous, more vigorous than their seed packet neighbours, all settled happily in their polytunnel, I was very hopeful, busy planning their new trellis......................

[noviceveggrower]

My little boy likes saving the pips from his apples. So I can give them a try. 5 years is like a blink of an to a gardener.
Could you do anything with potato peelings?

[PyreneesPlot]

I've rescued two peach/nectarine trees from the compost where they must have germinated.
We also have a peach tree - one of those flat doughnut ones - which our neighbour gave us as he had loads from the fruit they never managed to eat before it dropped. A concept I struggle with
I shall sow some lemon pips this evening and then start work on a gin tree

[Scarlet]

I managed to germinate a mango stone in my compost bin one year, I rescued it but it only lasted about a year. When I first moved here I got talking to an old lady that had apparently lived in this house when she was younger. She was really interesting and I offered her a cup if tea and invited her in. She looked out the window to see a huge tree out the back and asked what it was - a walnut. She said she planted it more than 50 years ago it brought a tear to her eye.

[Knight of Albion]

Peanuts (not the salted variety) are very easy to grow from the nut. You'll get a really lovely little plant, and you can have a good chuckle to yourself because it will bamboozle everyone who sees it and tries to identify it!

[Knight of Albion]

I managed to germinate a mango stone in my compost bin one year, I rescued it but it only lasted about a year. When I first moved here I got talking to an old lady that had apparently lived in this house when she was younger. She was really interesting and I offered her a cup if tea and invited her in. She looked out the window to see a huge tree out the back and asked what it was - a walnut. She said she planted it more than 50 years ago it brought a tear to her eye.

That's a lovely story.

[noviceveggrower]

Peanuts (not the salted variety) are very easy to grow from the nut. You'll get a really lovely little plant, and you can have a good chuckle to yourself because it will bamboozle everyone who sees it and tries to identify it!

That's a good one to do. Think I heard somewhere that they aren't nuts they are a type of legume as they are in a pod. Like coffee beans aren't beans they are a seed.

[BUFFS]

I dug up a seedling from between a Victoria plum and greengage and potted it on, now 3-4yrs on it has grown in a standard form, the top is about 4ft out of the tub, spread of about 30-36ins and the stem about 3ft long and is carrying about 70-80 fruit which are now about 1ins/25mm across, swelling nicely and looking very promising. so its fingers crossed, all we need now is for the rain to stop and the sun to come out for more than a few hours at a time and the temp to get near what the guestimate the forecasters give out..

[noviceveggrower]

I hope you realise you've started something in this household VC. I have just planted some apple pips and the kids want me to phone grandma and granddad to see if they have any pips, seeds or stones that they can plant.

[stewartkirk]

Orange seeds planted, lets see what happens,

You have started something here, results should be very interesting.

[veggiechicken]

Welcome to all of you who have accepted the challenge or who anticipated that I would ask you to do this and have started already I'll have to watch you mind-readers

Don't forget to post your progress, with piccies, of course.

I have a 3 year-old Kiwiberry clambering up the staging in the GH http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ight=kiwiberry which is my only success so far.
A peach stone and a handful of blueberries are about to be sown.