Germinating Peach Pits

[Troppo]

I have recently collected 7 peach pits off a tree from the side of a local road, no idea as to what variety of peach it is. The tree had quite large, yellow-fleshed free-stone fruit that were quite juicy and sweet. I also took some cuttings to try and strike also.

As a locally adapted 'wild' tree with good characteristics  I'd like to see how it goes as a rootstock for some cuttings from a really good white fleshed peach my parents have and as a scion tree on some commercial rootstock.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get the pits to germinate? I only have 7 and want to get as many to germinate as possible.

Thanks

[Adrian]

Hello you can see this video.
You have a beatiful tree in 65 days.
https://youtu.be/cug3Jlmn500

[William Schlegel]

I was flipping through a random copy of Mother Earth News years ago and came to an interesting article where the author carefully cracked the shells and removed them with a vice. Then they germinated well.

[Walk]

Do not let the pits dry out. Plant them soon after harvest. One year we had bushels of siberian peach fruits from our seed grown trees. I carefully put several trays in damp sand into our root cellar to stratify and sprout out the following spring. Still had lots of pits left and some were dumped in the compost pile. The trays only yielded one sprout out of hundreds, while the compost pile had a forest of sprouts in the spring. After talking to David Cavagnaro of Seed Savers Exchange I found out that lining them out in the fall is the best method and that's what I've done ever since. If you only have a few pits, you can give yourself some insurance by putting them in clay pots with a screen on top that can be removed in the spring so rodents don't have access.

[Diane Whitehead]

I haven't deliberately sown peach pits, but used to buy boxes of peaches to bottle, and put the pits in the compost where some germinated. They would never have been dried - straight from the fruit to the compost.

I've kept one of the trees that resulted and it produces well, while several named peach trees that I bought only lasted a few years before dying.

[whwoz]

Troppo lives in the NSW/QLD border region where winter days are mild and possibly frost free.  We have several clones of Peaches suitable for this area but variety is limited.  How would people adapt there advice for someone living in a frost free zone.  Is vernalising necessary?

[Adrian]

Afrer to have exit the almond,a a few days at the fridge between two humid cottons  can help at the germination.

[William Schlegel]

Troppo lives in the NSW/QLD border region where winter days are mild and possibly frost free.  We have several clones of Peaches suitable for this area but variety is limited.  How would people adapt there advice for someone living in a frost free zone.  Is vernalising necessary?

To paraphrase my dimly remembered knowledge of Baskin and Baskin's work at the university of Kentucky. Germination ecology can vary within species and in general should be consistent with the ecology of a plant. Unless in peaches this is out of sync it would follow that a subtropical peach cultivars seed would need less stratification than the seed of a temperate one.

[Troppo]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I should have listed my location, I'm SE Qld Australia so pretty subtropical but still get about month of light frosts in July.

I have placed the pits into moist soil in a container and placed them in the fridge to see how they go. Fingers crossed I at least get one to germinate

[Lauren]

I ran a test last year, planted 7 nectarine seeds without shells and 7 with (both outside) and also 4 in moss in the refrigerator. Got good germination on all three tests (7, 6, and 3), and the set without shells outside germinated first. I ended up with three of the trees without shells, two with shells, and one from inside, but the low survival rate was my own fault.