Hi there, I have collected, wintered and planted apricot, nectarine and plum seeds from trees in our garden. I think Ive prepared the seed well enough that it should germinate (Ive had a few volunteers in the compost heap so Im a bit confident). All the trees are massive producers (they are all old) very healthy and the friut is superb. Will they grow true from seed? Do I need to, should I and/or could I graft or bud material from the parent trees onto these seedlings (should they choose to appear of course). (see 'Have p.Trifoliata seed, now what' for details on my location). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Raphael in Australia
Will they grow true from seed? Do I need to, should I and/or could I graft or bud material from the parent trees onto these seedlings (should they choose to appear of course). Unless the parents were seedlings themselves or were cutting grown, the likelihood that the seedling offspring will be true to the parent in quality of the fruit is almost nil. Seedlings attained from grafted or budded parents will generally yield offspring closer in type to what the rootstock parent is, rather than the scion parent. As an example let's say a Rio Oso Freestone Peach is grafted onto Nemaguard rootstock. You can pretty well expect that most all of the seedlings raised from this parent tree will more closely resemble the Nemaguard rootstock than they will the Rio Oso Peach (there can be some exceptions but not enough to count on). This above scenario is truer for the Stone Fruits but does not hold true for many of the Pomes (Apples, Pears, Pomegranates) and the Nut Trees (Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts, Filberts) depending on what their rootstock parent is. To further things: let's say a Butte Almond is grafted onto Titan (which is an Almond rootstock) will yield offspring closer to what the Butte is but if the Butte is grafted onto Nemaguard (Peach) rootstock the seedlings will appear closer to the Nemaguard parent. Even a Chandler Walnut grafted onto Black Walnut rootstock can yield English Walnut offspring. True to type means that an Apricot will yield Apricot offspring but this will not hold true if the scion parent was not grafted also onto Apricot rootstock. If the Apricot was grafted onto Peach rootstock then the offspring will in most cases be a Peach or very similar to being a Peach rather being than an Apricot. Even with seedling grown parents, not grafted at all, a Nectarine seed can yield a Peach seedling. That is how my old Clingstone Peach came about as it came from a Nectarine we got from the late Fred Anderson from Le Grand, California, the renown plant breeder of Peaches, Plums and Nectarines. I suggest you graft wood from the parents onto the seedlings that do germinate for you. Jim
I will do just that then. Thanks for all the info Jim. Any links to how to graft stonefruits out here? I will look around myself, but while Im here.... Thanks again Raphael in Australia
Hi Raphael - What steps did you take to prepare the seeds? I'm interested in starting nectarines from seed. And, yes, I know grafting is quicker, it may not come out true to the parent, particularly if it was a graft. Fact is, I have seed and I want to do something with them. Any assistance is appreciated. -Taoist
I am new to this so please except my apologies if I am not good at it, I will learn lol I want to grow a Plum tree, I have seeds, I know you have to let them dry out, before opening them to germinate, but how long do I have to wait, I have had success at growing lemon trees, mango and Avacado trees, Please help me.
Plums do not produce trees true to the mother tree from which they came. Generally, seedling plums are inferior in quality. Plum seed are generally planted only to produce seedling trees to be used as under stock with quality varieties grafted upon them. My best advise is to save yourself many years of waiting and then disappointment. Go out and purchase a grafted plum tree of a known quality variety. - Millet
thanks Millet, Im just a home gardener and was going to try the black plum, but right now i dont have a place to plant my trees, we are in the process of looking for a house, is there a easy fruit tree that will yeild quickly that i could try.
So how about the Ambrosia peach tree? It was found growing from seed and the made commercial by grafting on a Nemaguard rootstock. A little hard to find! Could this plant be grown from seed from the grafted Ambrosia that I bought and then later that seedling be grafted with a scion from my bought Ambrosia of known quality. Grafts to the Rio Oso Gem tree, Nemaguard and on another seedlings peach tree produced fruit identical to the original parent. Whats so special about the Nemaguard rootstock, besides being a good rootstock.....why are they so hard to get for the everyday person.....Any sources for the seedlings or true type seeds? I basicly just want to multiply my tree into like 5 (mostly for the challange).
hi, I live in Taos, New Mexico, and my neighbor has a large old apricot tree. I took some seeds. Could you tell me how to germinate them so they will grow? Thanks. Sandra
You may be able to plant the seeds this fall and have them germinate in spring, otherwise you can give them moist chilling in the refrigerator; see http://osuextra.okstate.edu/pdfs/F-6211web.pdf
Sorry jim, but you are totaly wrong on this. Rootstock has no infulence on the seed of the cultivar. A seed from a peach grafted unto a plum will grow a peach tree and bear a peach. The source of the pollen is what infulences the genetics of the seed not the rootstock. http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/4dmg/VegFruit/Fruits/pits.htm
In subjective theory I am wrong but in applied practice I am not far out of bounds. A Peach seedling grafted onto a Plum will yield a Peach but somewhere, somehow, the resultant Peach will not be quite the same as the Peach seed bearing mother plant was. Sometimes the difference is quite subtle as in overall flavor or the amount of sugar produced in the fruit. Sometimes the difference is which tree is more or less susceptible to insect, mite, nematode and pathogen damage during a growing season. Results years ago in Citrus, various trials, concluded that even nutrient uptake into the host tree can be impacted by the rootstock parent of the same genus. The source of the pollen is what influences the genetics of the seed not the rootstock. The above does not take into account asexual activity which has been known to occur in the Pome fruits, Stone fruits and the Nut trees. Read up on the impact of dwarfing rootstocks on the varietal standard sized scion trees when seed taken from these put together trees are also grown on. When a 20 foot Apple is budded onto a certain Apple rootstock and the resultant seedlings from the fruit are grown on and all of the batch seedlings end up less than 15 feet tall in the same amount of time as the standard sized Apple, it will be diffident to suggest that the genetics of the rootstock did not affect the phenotype of the standard sized Apple. The resultant proof, certainly suggestive evidence of genomal change of the host plant, is in the seedling offspring. Jim
Plums have a pit, that should clue you in, and inside that pit there is a very delicate seed. However it might need that pit to grow, that pit might have hormones that make it grow. The seed is kind of like a very thin pinto bean, on the outside, the inside is kind of, well, you have to find out for yourself, and protect your eyes and all before you go cracking into one to see the seed. The pit is kind of hard, so you can try to soak it for a few hours in water first before going into it, it might be as soft as a nectarine pit if you do that, I have not yet tried it. If it's a pit from a store bought plum chances are you won't find viable seed, it might be because of product they might use to induce better blooming, I don't know. Happy experimenting.
