Seed grown fruit trees

[LaurenRitz]

When I sold my old house, digging up all my trees and bringing them with me was unfortunately not an option.

I bought this house less than 2 years ago, three acres of grass with a house, and immediately started planting trees.

Not bare-root "varietal" grafted trees, but my own seeds. Most of the survivors went in the ground last spring.

What I'm looking for are not just trees with good fruit, but trees that actually thrive here. I want strong, locally adapted landraces that can adapt to local weather, local pests, and my own idiosyncracies.

Winter survivors were 5 peaches and 5 apricots--I thought 4 and 4, but two more sprouted this week. The first year is hardest for seedlings, so I don't expect a high survival rate.

Seeds from existing sweet cherry trees are so inbred that I get maybe 1 in 10 germination rate and many of those are mutated. Three survived to be put in the ground, and the one that survived last summer didn't make it through the winter.

This spring I replanted in a different area, with slightly different soil and water. Winners here appear to be apricots

And almonds.

So far, the trees that seem to be thriving look like small bushes, which is what I want. I think they'll survive the constant wind better.

About half the seedlings seem to have this form.

 

[tortoise]

So interesting! Please continue to update!

 

[CrealCritter]

I have 4 or 5 peach seedlings that have sprouted. I sowed them late last fall in a kiddie pool. The pits came from O’Henry peaches. Which is bonanza peach, possibly crossed with an unknown nectarine. O'Henry was released to commercial growers in 1968. I really liked the unique mild flavor of O'Henry peaches. But I don't expect an O'Henry peach to be produced from the pits. I am however interesting to see what peach the new trees will produce, after several years.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[R2elk]

I planted a row of Contender peach seeds in the garden last fall. None have come up yet. I had two peaches come up from store bought peaches last year. One got sent to a new home. The other got about 2' tall. At this point it does not appear to have survived the winter.

Here we can buy seedling trees through the county. The apricots they sell are true seedlings and not grafted. The American plum seedlings are also from seed. You never know until the first fruiting what kind of plums you will get from them.

I also have two apple tree seedlings from Cosmic Crisp seeds. They will not grow Cosmic Crisp apples but may grow cold hardy apple trees. With all of the new Honeycrisp crosses showing up on the markket, I have also planted seeds from a Honeycrisp apple. They have not germinated yet.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I planted a row of Contender peach seeds in the garden last fall. None have come up yet. I had two peaches come up from store bought peaches last year. One got sent to a new home. The other got about 2' tall. At this point it does not appear to have survived the winter.

Here we can buy seedling trees through the county. The apricots they sell are true seedlings and not grafted. The American plum seedlings are also from seed. You never know until the first fruiting what kind of plums you will get from them.

I also have two apple tree seedlings from Cosmic Crisp seeds. They will not grow Cosmic Crisp apples but may grow cold hardy apple trees. With all of the new Honeycrisp crosses showing up on the markket, I have also planted seeds from a Honeycrisp apple. They have not germinated yet.

I live in Kansas and this year's seedlings are just starting to come up. Also take into consideration whether you planted them bare or in-shell. In-shell will take longer, while bare has a possibility thst something else will happen before they germinate.

Watch closely at the base of your 1st year trees. They may come up from the root.

 

[LaurenRitz]

And my chickens got to my last grape vine. They are locked out of the garden for the duration.

I do have one more seedling in the house, and I should put more seeds in pots.

 

[R2elk]

I live in Kansas and this year's seedlings are just starting to come up. Also take into consideration whether you planted them bare or in-shell. In-shell will take longer, while bare has a possibility that something else will happen before they germinate.

In shell they don't tend to germinate here until late May, early June.

Watch closely at the base of your 1st year trees. They may come up from the root.

It may but it doesn't matter if it does when the whole top is dead. It isn't worth bothering with to have a tree that dies back to the root in what was a mild winter for us..

 

[R2elk]

And my chickens got to my last grape vine. They are locked out of the garden for the duration.

I do have one more seedling in the house, and I should put more seeds in pots.

3 of my from seed grape vines have broken dormancy in the greenhouse.

 

[LaurenRitz]

3 of my from seed grape vines have broken dormancy in the greenhouse.

Are they old enough to fruit?

 

[LaurenRitz]

In shell they don't tend to germinate here until late May, early June.

It may but it doesn't matter if it does when the whole top is dead. It isn't worth bothering with to have a tree that dies back to the root in what was a mild winter for us..

In my (limited) experience, they don't necessarily die back again the second winter. My experience with this is only apricots, but they were just fine the second year.