Johnny Ware

Ok so I did end up buying a bunch of Ontario/NS grown peaches at various markets.  I labelled them clingstone and freestone (apparently freestone peaches tend to mature later in the season, does this mean they also bloom later?).
I bought and ate upwards  of 150 peaches.   This was fun.  I cleaned the pits with a wire brush and kept them in fridge to prevent from drying out.  Soaked them in hydrogen peroxide every couple weeks to prevent mold.  
Sometime in November I cracked all of the pits.  Ended up with about 80 clingstone and 30 freestone which looked viable.  I rinsed the seeds with hydrogen peroxide, and put them in a damp mix of peat moss and sand.  The first 2 months were important.  Lots of the seeds rotted away (this could be due to injury on the seeds from cracking the pits).
Most importantly, I was surprised to see some freestone germinating in late December.  I planted them in pots and they have now been growing 6 weeks.  I keep them in a south facing window and with a real cold blast we had here I thought I had killed them.  But after clipping them they grew back to what they are today (I have attached a picture of them in the window).
Otherwise, I haven't had many rot in the last 6 weeks, but they are really starting to germinate even though I keep my fridge at 36...
I can't complain.  The effort has paid off.  I'm a bit worried about having to start most of these trees in March and how much more I will have to spend on soil/pots.  I wonder how they will adjust to the frost when it comes, and if they will go dormant early.    If the trees do not do well I will try again, but next time I will keep the seeds in their pits, in an effort to delay germination until late spring.

Johnny

greg mosser wrote:i don’t know how they would do in your winter, but my standard tree-or shrub-seed winter stratification technique is to plant in large nursery pots and cover with something semi-permeable (could be mesh of some sort, could be some thickish plastic with slits cut in), water in, and leave in a semi-shady spot from whenever i collect them until things warm up the following spring. this has worked just fine for peaches for me in mountain north carolina (and many other things). it may be necessary to dig pots n a cover with mulch or something farther north?

This is certainly the direction I will be moving in for most tree seeds.  Let nature do its thing.  If it works for you it might work for me!  Mountain NC peaches sound nice.

I am going to collect (eat) maybe 50.  I will keep some in the fridge, some I will bury now and if they dry up before winter that could be ok.  I have read that many prunus seeds can be dried and rehydrated and remain viable... I just have no experience with it.

Hello fellow growers,

I live in Pictou County Nova Scotia and have become rather passionate about growing  trees from seed.  Giant sequoia, douglas fir, cedars, all sorts of oaks/hybrids, tulip trees, catalpas, pecans, bald cypress, etc etc. just about anything that I can plant and know with some authority it will not become invasive.  I'm now starting to focus on fruit/nut trees.

I'm very interested in the prunus genus because it is my understanding (everything on the internet is true right?) that many prunus grow relatively true to seed.  As I have a very limited budget, this works in my favour.   As far as nuts/fruits so far I have successfully germinated and planted pawpaw, butternut, japanese walnut, english walnut, manchurian apricot and a few chilean peaches I got from the grocery store.

Here's my question.  It's finally peach season in Ontario/NS.  I have collected and eaten some great peaches.  What now?  Will the seeds keep in their pits in the fridge?  What have you guys done?  I've purchased some seeds before that were still in their pit (almonds) and they were nearly all rotten from being kept in peat moss in the fridge.  The chilean peaches worked fine because I was able to crack the seed out immediately and after a short cold stratification they germinated.  Obviously I want to wait until early spring before I start these peaches.  I have about an acre of north-facing hill (I was told this would  benefit the peaches by keeping them from blooming early in the spring) to fill with these peaches.  

Let me know if you have any advice.  I have learned a lot from these forums.  I appreciate it.

-Johnny