The mystery of peach/apricot/nectarine stones

[Mrpeach]

Hello fellow fruit enthusiasts, I have recently started growing nectarines and have some questions. I have been unable to find sufficient answers online. Please see my questions below:

1. Can peaches etc. grow from the stone WITHOUT having the seeds removed first? If so how does this happen, does the seed push its way through the stone? Does the stone crack?

2. If the seeds must be released from the stone, how would this happen in the wild? What mighty beast can crush the stone with its powerful jaws?

3. If you were a fruit, why would you want a stone? Why bother? Why not have little seeds like every other fruit?

Any suggestions or theories would be greatly appreciated. Together we can discover the secrets of the peach/apricot/nectarine!

[burnie]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...one_47038.html

[veggiechicken]

Hello Mr Peach and welcome.
I've found peach trees growing "wild" in the garden from discarded stones. When dug up you see that the stone has split into 2, down the join, and the seedling grows from the kernel in the centre.
The stone is there to protect the kernel, like a hazel nut or walnut. The difference is that the peach has a soft, thick skin.
Sorry to disappoint you but I don't think its a great mystery, just a difference sort of seedcase.

[Zelenina]

Peach seedlings keep popping up under the peach trees in my garden without any help from me. And there are no mighty beasts here. So presumably yes, they split themselves apart when they are ready. They seem to need a period of cold winter weather first.

I don't really know why they evolved those hard shells around their seeds, but I expect it's protective. It would help the seed part survive until spring and, when some animal carries away the fruit to eat it would prevent them eating the seed as well. Maybe it also stops them germinating too soon. The relatively big single seed would then help the young seedling get a fast strong start.

Another strategy is to have multiple smaller, less well-protected seeds, as in berries and core fruits, so that there's a chance that at least some will survive. They often actually benefit by being eaten by birds and animals and passing through their digestive systems and getting distributed far and wide.

Other plants do it by having wind-blown seeds, or explosive seed capsules, or sticky seeds that cling to passing animals etc. It's all part of biological diversity.

[Mrpeach]

Thanks for your replies everyone, I really appreciate it.

In regards to the trees growing from discarded stones, are you sure they weren't cracked when they were discarded? My dried stones showed no sign of splitting.

I actually have a theory regarding the stones: Many domesticated plants originate from prehistoric ancestors which would have been consumed by large, now extinct animals. I thought the stones may have required a big extinct animal to crunch them open and poop them out.

One interesting thing I notice about my nectarine stones is that they contain two seeds, why might this be?

I see that many of you are based in the uk - do your peaches etc. grow happily in our climate? I want to put my nectarine trees in the garden

Thanks once again, I often have fruit/veg related questions so it's nice to have found an outlet for them!

[burnie]

Thanks for your replies everyone, I really appreciate it.

In regards to the trees growing from discarded stones, are you sure they weren't cracked when they were discarded? My dried stones showed no sign of splitting.

I actually have a theory regarding the stones: Many domesticated plants originate from prehistoric ancestors which would have been consumed by large, now extinct animals. I thought the stones may have required a big extinct animal to crunch them open and poop them out.

One interesting thing I notice about my nectarine stones is that they contain two seeds, why might this be?

I see that many of you are based in the uk - do your peaches etc. grow happily in our climate? I want to put my nectarine trees in the garden

Thanks once again, I often have fruit/veg related questions so it's nice to have found an outlet for them!

It will help us answer if we know what county you are gardening in, it will make a difference to what you can grow and where.

[Zelenina]

In regards to the trees growing from discarded stones, are you sure they weren't cracked when they were discarded? My dried stones showed no sign of splitting.

They weren't discarded but the fruit fell from the trees and was eaten or rotted away, just leaving the uncracked stones. The stones are made from two halves which split open when they are under the right conditions and are ready to germinate. Exactly what the right conditions are I don't know, but probably a whole winter in the ground with varying weather and temperatures. Maybe even two winters and a summer. Maybe the joint between the halves eventually softens.

Peaches grow fine in my garden but I'm not in the UK. Summers here are hotter and winters colder. Last winter was even colder than usual. Peach trees are very hardy when they are dormant.

[veggiechicken]

I assure you that I don't crack peach stones before chucking them in the compost nor am I a big extinct animal who has digested them!
Peach trees grow OK outdoors in sunshiny South Wales but I grow them under cover because of the problem of peach leaf curl.
Here are some I picked last week

[BUFFS]

I too grow peaches here in Scotland, just finished the last of this years fruit, but they have to be kept under cover as we only get the odd day of sun, usually it's warm rain or cold rain, and peaches, nectarines do not like that much wetness, but the taste of just picked fruit is magic...

[Mrpeach]

Thanks once again everyone.

Zelenina I think you're right, perhaps the cold cracks them open? I opened mine with a hammer

Veggiechicken, those are massive! I'm in the midlands, I hope my trees will survive.

[Guest]

my peach and nectarines are growing well and I am in Norfolk. I have some that are in the ground outdoors all year round, some dwarf trees in pots that go undercover in winter and I have some stone grown ones http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1514101. Last year I sowed some 20 odd stones and only one came up. I just leave the stones out over winter and wait for them to pop up over spring.

Just some general info, incase you weren't aware:-
Peach and nectarines are the first to flower in the year so benefit from hand pollinating
Because they are early to flower the blossom/fruitlets need protecting from frosts.
Watch for peach leaf curl http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1526214
If growing from stone it will be several years before it fruits, also the finished size of tree and quality of fruit will be unknown.

[Guest]

Here are some pics for you:-

Dwarf potted peach (this is the second year I have had it)



Fan trained peach and nectarine on semi dwarfing rootstocks in need of a trim. Unfortunately they aborted their fruit this year because of the dry spring. I planted them out winter before last.



three donut peach tree grown from stones 2 years ago



donut nectarine from stone sown late last summer

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So all quite happy in Norfolk

[veggiechicken]

They look great NG

Think I found another seedling when I was weeding. Pulled it out before I thought about digging it up carefully



Its receiving a bit of tlc now and it can go in a little pot when its recovered.

[BUFFS]

you have started me off on the stones now, I have put 4 peach ,red haven, stones, into a pot, in topsoil, and it will stay in the lee of the greenhouse, and we will see how it develops from there, if it works I don't know where I can put them but will worry about that when it happens..

[nickdub]

I've grown several apricots, plums and the odd peach from stones - I usually keep them in a container then crack them and sow the seed in the Spring. No fruit from any of them so far, but the apricots which are in a small poly tunnel are looking v healthy.