Super cheap perennial fruit plants by growing them from seed and cuttings!

Victor Johanson wrote:The "don't waste your time" perspective on growing fruit trees from seeds is based on the fact that only a tiny percentage of seedlings meet the numerous criteria important to industry (shipping, keeping, machine harvesting, narrow flavor profile, etc). This has translated itself into the conventional wisdom that it's a waste of time. However, my criteria are quite different from those of industry, and one of the most important is biodiversity. I don't want a bunch of identical clones; I want individuals. I don't care if all my apples are big, crisp, juicy, and sweet; I have a myriad of uses for other kinds of fruit (and frankly, I'm sick of the uniformity that has been imposed on us--what about apples with melting flesh that will never ship properly but taste awesome?). Besides, I live in Fairbanks, and no one breeds for us. I've embarked on a campaign to plant gobs of seeds and do my own selections. I don't care if what I get is competitive with commercial sources. I do care if they survive the winter and bear usable fruit. I know a guy up here who planted apple seed from a local orchard and so far the only one that has fruited is eminently usable. The reason we had so many fruit varieties in the past was the common practice of planting trees from seeds. There was a project done in Geneva in 1898-99 where intentional crosses were made between 10 parents. Of the resulting 148 seedlings, 106 had fruited by 1911. Of these, 13 were considered acceptable enough to name and release (Cortland was one of these), and 14 suitable for additional testing. Even though they were intentional crosses, those odds ain't that bad, and many of the fruits we enjoy today originated from open pollinated seedlings (like Red and Golden Delicious apples).

Check it out:

http://turkeysong.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/apple-breeding-part-1-everyone-knows-you-cant-do-it-right/

I think it's convenient to blame industry. But really, what is industry but a reflection of what people want in general. People don't want to save their seeds. People don't want to hand pollinate whatever. They want to be able to buy what they want, when they want it. Why would they buy an overly tart seedling apple, when they can buy a replicable product of grafting? That's a rhetorical question, they wouldn't and don't, in my experience. And it's not just industry - most people I know don't buy the less common varieties, when they buy an apple tree. They buy trees for the popular varieties you can often find in supermarkets.

Roadside trees are so common around here. Most are basically edible, if you're not picky. I drove along a highway yesterday an hour, and saw several apple trees, a few right on the roadside. No-one stops and picks them. There are railway-side trees in town, I stopped by three today. Two of them were basically edible if being a little generous, but no-one eats or picks them. People in general, just don't want them. There are perhaps 15 apple trees along the road from my house, none grafted, all either sown by throw from car window or windfall/birds. Again, most are basically edible if being a little generous, and no-one wants them. The only person who uses them is the hippy down by the gorge, who picks them to sell as organic apples (which they definitely not, given passing non-organic cattle poo, diesel dust or petrol fumes), and so whatever numpties buy an overly tart or moderately tasteless apple (this is what they actually taste like, I've tried them all) they would never buy in the supermarket, only buy them under false pretenses.

I think "don't waste your time" is good advice for the right audience. Unfortunately, it has come to cloud any general perception of the likelihood of good results, for the few that would otherwise wish to give it a shot.

Don't get me wrong, I look at the roadside and railway-side trees nearby that I've tried, and it's a good representation of how even unintentionally seed grown apples can not turn out as a complete waste of time. To me, added to the linked blog post, it reinforces that if one has the inclination and the patience, it is worth the effort. I've tried perhaps 20 of these accidental apple trees, and only two or three were inedible. Although perhaps this is representative of basically edible trees crossing with basically edible trees, and being more likely to result in more basically edible trees.

Roger, it is worth recognizing that industry does a great deal of defining what people want for them. Where the only options you have are provided by corporate sources whose sole concern is their bottom line you are not making much of a choice with your purchase.

And, as many have noted in this thread, we are not all looking to grow fruit to take to market to compete with grocery store commodity products. We are talking about growing for ourselves, friends, family and maybe those who are interested in having some choices in what they buy.

Seems to me if you would like people to open their minds to some more variety, then it makes sense to offer some more variety for them to try.

sometimes you push on something or question something, and then find out that it's not correct. sometimes when you question something and test it out, you find out theres a good reason why people say that, and it is correct. i think its good to have an open mind, not set one way or another.

IMO, there is a reason people say what they say, but ONLY about a certain very limited kinds of fruit trees. somehow this mistakingly gets mistranslated to ALL FRUIT, where some fruit is just fine, even better in many ways, to be grown from seed. then theres the ways and qualities that commercial fruit producers would value, and the different ways people would grow them.

i dont think it is accurate to say that even all apples ( a known one to be difficult) from random seed are going to be all bad, and its not accurate at all to say that all apricots grown from seed will be bad, just because apples have "unreliable" genetic tendancies. Even with citrus, which is reliable...if you grow citrus seeds from a good citrus fruit you will 9 out of ten times (or 10 out of 10!) get as a good quality fruit from the tree. But the tree will be larger, more thorny, and will take longer than grafted known cloned variety. this is the issue that commercial growers would frown on, which to me sound totally ok. the thing is that the issues dont always have to be about taste and hardiness...commercial fruit growers also have other qualities, long shelf life, ease of picking, shippable, etc that are of no concern to me.

re: apple and pear seeds - they need two to three months of cold strat in the fridge, or outside in pots over winter. put them in a damp paper towel,i use coffee filters usually, or peat moss, in a baggie/container in the fridge for a few months, then plant.

I know when I was shopping for peach trees I stumbled upon a website that had 30-50 varieties for sale (sorry, don't remember what it was). I have to confess I was overwhelmed by all the choices, and perhaps the lack of information I would have found useful like which would be best in MY yard (which growers can't answer, really). So I can see how the consumers are actually the ones pushing the market to offer a few "reliable" choices instead of a great variety.

It might be different if we got to taste the fruit and then decide which tree(s) we wanted to plant. There's a fruit-grower's club in Lancaster, PA where they have an annual apple-tasting and members bring in samples from their trees, all labeled, for others to taste. They announce which is the winner for the year, and members are able to use scion wood for grafting from the varieties they like. So then, to develop local, delicious new varieties, you'd need community, to grow out the trees, and vote on which has the most mass appeal, with feedback from the grower on which are the most disease-resistant, etc. They do this for other fruit, like paw-paws too, and you can plant the seeds of the pawpaws you like.

We've got lots of volunteer apricot trees. People sitting on the roof terrace eating apricots and throwing the pits down into the garden. The ones in the middle of the garden got weeded out but the ones around the edge grew big. Some are delicious fresh, the rest are good for jam, and actually people here have different opinions about which ones are good fresh. And with worst cases we can always graft some better variety on them.

We have several apple trees that I think are seedlings but the only two producing substantial amounts of fruit so far are very good -- one small, numerous, juicy and sweet, enough for everyone; and the other hard, large and flavorful, but a terrible alternate bearer and it chose both of the last two years to hold back. We have lots of other apple trees that have only set five or ten fruit that somehow disappear before they get ripe, but if any are healthy trees that taste bad, well, we can always just graft onto them.

Growing trees from seed with children is it's own reward. My kids and I have grown, oranges, lemons, avocado, mango,apple pear, hazelnut, plum, and nectarine. Maybe one day we will eat something tasty?
I can't say how many times, I have been warned not to grow tree from seed. So far, nothing bad has happened.

"i have also had to debate this with people...who think maybe i am a newbie and dont know what i am doing and give me the whole - you cant do that, the fruit will suck- argument."

Heh. I get that sort of thing all the time. Then I absolutely blow them away with my plant knowledge.

If ya got it... flaunt it!

Seriously, though... every once in a while you'll change someone's mind. Many people just parrot back what they've heard without digging deeper. Then there are those of us that need to know "why," and if we can't find out, will test and try and experiment and try again until we're burnt out or satisfied.

Both types have their uses. I give talks all the time and I've gotten some of the "parrot" group to start parroting permaculture ideas rather than conventional ideas. They're still not really interested in experimentation, but they will follow what you teach them once their eyes are opened to the possibilities. It's a start...

Hi Renate,
We have a club like that in Portland-NW ORegon/SW Washington. It's called the Home Orchard Society.
John S
PDX OR

leila hamaya wrote:
re: apple and pear seeds - they need two to three months of cold strat in the fridge, or outside in pots over winter. put them in a damp paper towel,i use coffee filters usually, or peat moss, in a baggie/container in the fridge for a few months, then plant.

Would apples being sold in the store this time of year have been kept in a cold storage for a few months? All the apples I bought where labled grown it the USA and I was thinking they where probably picked here and held at 40 degrees or something until they where shipped in a refrigerated truck. Should I chance it? I'm feeling like planting stuff.

Should I chance it? I'm feeling like planting stuff.

You are probably going to eat the apples anyways.
If you didn't plant the seeds, they'd probably just go to the compost pile.
What have you got to lose? Nothing - it's not like you bought the seeds.

True dat. Great perspective. Here's hoping a few of um grow!

Natalie McVander wrote:

Just trying to give a heads-up to people who may think that they will be able to propagate an entire fruit orchard by collecting seeds from the store.
It was from experience of my own - I am a huge experimenter and like to learn from my mistakes and share what I've learned with others.

You can do this with some, but not all.

Awesome, I am new to this site and this is my first ever post (yaayy)!
Anyway, I totally agree with you about being wary of grocery story produce seeds.
First of all, BEWARE that you do not unknowingly not put any GMO seeds into your garden/farm/forest. You never know what you are getting, and grocery stores will not be able to tell you the "ingredients" in growing their peppers. An organic store would be better, but even organic certified growers are allowed to use certain sprays and things that may not be "permaculture" friendly. For example, if a peach has been sprayed with copper soloutions (allowed by most organic certifiers) than it is probably not resisnant to peach leaf curl, which is pretty hard to get rid of naturally, and more than likely the seedling from that fruit will not become a super resisnant variety either.
(I have been doing alot of research to find an all natural and safe way to cure my poor neighbours peach tree so if anyone has any suggestions please please let me know!!!)

Secondly, if anyone's into seed saving and plant breeding, you would know that hybrid seeds are relatively unstable, and fruit seeds in general are not always true to parent, and again with grocery stores you just don't know how that plant has been grown. It might not even be hardy in your climate. I recommend you get heirloom seeds from a reputable grower if you want to collect your seeds year after year and get the same plant.

HOWEVER, with all that being said, this is a really great idea that has its merits. First of all it's FREE. And it is a great learning experience.
And just as much as it could go wrong, it could also go great. Who knows, one of your trees might be the next macintosh or red delicious.
There are a few things to consider when deciding where to get plants from. Money, time, type of planting scheme, and resources. It is important to take variety into consideration, if you have the finances for it, I reccomend that you do a little reaserch to find a variety that is not only hardy in your climate, but also resistant to diseases in your area, as this will save you alot of effort in the long run, especially if you want to plant a perennial food forest. If you are a full time farmer, you might have more time to play around with new varieties to find better flavour, and to find the best disease/pest deturrants; if you are a single parent you probably dont have time for all this goofy stuff and need something that will just take care of itself.

While fruits may be a bit finakey, things that would be worth a try are root crops, like potatoes, sweet potatoes (super healthy!) onions, garlic, even ginger. These should be more reliable than seeds, since they are actually roots. Just make sure you get them from an organic store if possible. All you have to do is save a few when you're making your next meal, prepare them accordingly, and you got yourself some free plants.
Last year I got a whole bunch of shallots for really cheap and planted them and they all grew. I also got some organic purple potatoes which i left to sprout and the sprouts got so long now im not sure what to do with them.

TIP: ask the staff if they have any older produce (number two). Not only will they give you a discount, but sometimes it's sprouting already.

But don't let me discourage you from experimenting with all types of grocery store seeds.
Hope this helps you make a good decision for your plant sourcing.
Happy growing!

Keep in mind with root crops like potatoes and ginger that they may be holding disease that doesn't affect the eating quality but might infect your soil and contaminate it for a long time. In Hawaii there's a pathogen of ginger that has ruined the soil for growing seed stock but is ok for food-grade. To grow the seedstock they have to grow the ginger in bags with sterilized soil. (I went to a ginger-growing workshop yesterday!). Also with ginger most of it has been treated to make it not grow, so plant it and you just get rotten ginger. She said if you look through the ginger in the health food store (organic) you might get lucky and find some that is starting to sprout - snatch that up! It has a long growing season (9-11 months) but if you start it indoors and use hoops with plastic to extend your season you can grow it even in zone 6.

Potatoes also can carry a lot of disease if you buy them in the grocery store. I do it, but I only use the bed for potatoes once then plant something else there. The way I grow potatoes, under deep mulch, is a great way to start a new bed because by the end of summer the worms have pretty much devoured the mulch so the bed is full of worm castings and worm tunnels.

As far as I know sunchokes aka Jerusalem artichokes are ok to plant right from the store.

And garlic and horseradish seem to always grow when I plant them. Once you plant garlic you get it forever if you keep some to replant every year. Does that make it perennial?

I've bought seeds of multiple varieties of blueberries and blackberries. On a package there was an instruction to cold-stratify for 45 days. I have placed the seeds in a fridge for that period of time, in a zip lock bags, on moist paper towels.

After 45 days there was no sign of germination. I have put some seeds into a special potting mix in a mini greenhouse on window sill, leaving the rest in a fridge. Time is passing by, and neither seeds in a mini greenhouse, not those in a fridge are sprouting. In a meantime, in the same conditions, lavender seeds are sprouting nicely.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or these seed quality is simply poor (although they came from a seller with a lot of positive feedback).

Great post everybody...

Here on the land, we have a lot of ¨wild¨appletrees. SOme have great apples nice taste, and other not that good and like everybody know, the last third almost disgusting taste. but I notice that those one often (not always) but often make great apple sauce with a bit of sugar and vanilla. So I would suggest...try it. Yes though it is a long wait...

I like to try also to take a branch and plant it and try to have roots. I did this with PImbina 2 years ago. And black currents last year and rasberries also. Instead of trowing the branches when I have to cut them, I plant them...and wait I normally do like Seep is doing and plant them in the garden tranches. Again, seems to work. That way you save a couple of years.

I tryed avocadot. very difficuklt for me to have something. I had roots, put it in soil and...nothing is happening right now.

I have some lemon seedlings right now, 1 clementine and 5 pommegrenate. A frined of mine (don't forget I am in quebec..loooooot of snow...and looooooot of cold) have Kumkat seedlings right now. We will make an exchange. But nothing outside for now. I will try to put them when I will have a good wind barrier that will protect them. We will see.

Richard: I thing the only problem would be that you put the seeds in a humid substract in the fridge if I understood right? The stratification is just to put the seeds in the fridge, like if they wre spending the winter on the ground....just like that...no water involve. Well, my opinion.

Isabelle

Richard Gorny wrote:I've bought seeds of multiple varieties of blueberries and blackberries. On a package there was an instruction to cold-stratify for 45 days. I have placed the seeds in a fridge for that period of time, in a zip lock bags, on moist paper towels.

After 45 days there was no sign of germination. I have put some seeds into a special potting mix in a mini greenhouse on window sill, leaving the rest in a fridge. Time is passing by, and neither seeds in a mini greenhouse, not those in a fridge are sprouting. In a meantime, in the same conditions, lavender seeds are sprouting nicely.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or these seed quality is simply poor (although they came from a seller with a lot of positive feedback).

Richard - as I understand it stratifying seeds is like simulating a winter dormancy period. They only actually germinate after the stratification.

Michael,

Yes, you are right. Some seeds after a given period of cold stratification start sprouting while still in a fridge (that's for example how my lavender seeds behave this year). But I know that other seeds behave differently, they need more time in higher temperatures after stratification, that's why I have placed some of them in a mini greenhouse. None of these sprouted for weeks.

blueberry and blackberry, raspberry too, are particularly difficult to start.

they are positively photoblastic, they need light to germinate, so you have to sow them right on the surface of the soil so they get sunlight to sprout. even still they take a long time, you dont get that many to sprout, and yes, they need a cold period first.
the way i start these kinds of light sensitive seeds is in a glass of water on a windowsill or sunny spot.
you can also cover them with saran wrap, i just check on them and add more water as needed.
i soak them for a few days like this, if not a week, then plant them by pouring them on to ALREADY wet soil/pots...so they dont sink down too deep.
seeds of chamomile, sage, mugwort, tobacco, lettuce, strawberry, kiwi, among others are also like this.

Cat Fate wrote:

Natalie McVander wrote:

Just trying to give a heads-up to people who may think that they will be able to propagate an entire fruit orchard by collecting seeds from the store.
It was from experience of my own - I am a huge experimenter and like to learn from my mistakes and share what I've learned with others.

You can do this with some, but not all.

Awesome, I am new to this site and this is my first ever post (yaayy)!
Anyway, I totally agree with you about being wary of grocery story produce seeds.
First of all, BEWARE that you do not unknowingly not put any GMO seeds into your garden/farm/forest. You never know what you are getting, and grocery stores will not be able to tell you the "ingredients" in growing their peppers. An organic store would be better, but even organic certified growers are allowed to use certain sprays and things that may not be "permaculture" friendly.

there is not much GMO available as raw produce, if any.
where gmos are hiding out - in most all big brand pre processed food, frozen meals, meals in a box or can, etc.
there will though be hybrids, and unstable ones at that, among other heirloom varieties. its true, it s better to use a better quality store, or best- the farmer's market.

how they were grown as far as chemicals shouldnt effect the genetics. BUT a couple of common things that are done to fruit that will affect the seeds, picking before they are ripe, and using wild versions of the fruit as pollinators- eg crab apples are used to pollinate commercial apple orchards. meaning its more likely that your store apple seeds have a crab apple daddy =)
though not all commercial fruit growers use this method.

Secondly, if anyone's into seed saving and plant breeding, you would know that hybrid seeds are relatively unstable, and fruit seeds in general are not always true to parent, and again with grocery stores you just don't know how that plant has been grown. It might not even be hardy in your climate. I recommend you get heirloom seeds from a reputable grower if you want to collect your seeds year after year and get the same plant.

see thats the thing- "fruit seeds in general are not always true to parent" is IMO incorrect. if we were to say something more like- commonly grown fruit in the narrow awareness of the general public have been messed with for so long by human interference that chances are higher they will not breed true to type, then maybe i could agree easier. theres really only a few fruit types, pears, cherries and apples, that this is often the case...out of hundreds , if not thousands of fruit varieties, many of which ARE true to type - citrus and stone fruits almost universally are true to type, or will come very close to type. most things that have not been messed with, things outside of common cultivation by mega corps, will come out true to type, as well.

HOWEVER, with all that being said, this is a really great idea that has its merits. First of all it's FREE. And it is a great learning experience.
And just as much as it could go wrong, it could also go great. Who knows, one of your trees might be the next macintosh or red delicious.
There are a few things to consider when deciding where to get plants from. Money, time, type of planting scheme, and resources. It is important to take variety into consideration, if you have the finances for it, I reccomend that you do a little reaserch to find a variety that is not only hardy in your climate, but also resistant to diseases in your area, as this will save you alot of effort in the long run, especially if you want to plant a perennial food forest. If you are a full time farmer, you might have more time to play around with new varieties to find better flavour, and to find the best disease/pest deturrants; if you are a single parent you probably dont have time for all this goofy stuff and need something that will just take care of itself.

and its true you have to pay attention to your climate. its also possible that some of the general idea of fruit trees not being able to be grown from seeds has as much to do with people who dont know much about the growing of that variety and dont get enough chill hours, sun, heat, cold, etc that this particular variety needs to set fruit properly...which may be mistakingly seen as being bad genetics....

Hey Leila,

Thanks for sharing all the great information garnered from your personal experience. I bit down all the way to the core of an apple this morning and a sprouting seed fell out! It's a sign!!

leila hamaya wrote:blueberry and blackberry, raspberry too, are particularly difficult to start.

they are positively photoblastic, they need light to germinate, so you have to sow them right on the surface of the soil so they get sunlight to sprout. even still they take a long time, you dont get that many to sprout, and yes, they need a cold period first.
the way i start these kinds of light sensitive seeds is in a glass of water on a windowsill or sunny spot.
you can also cover them with saran wrap, i just check on them and add more water as needed.
i soak them for a few days like this, if not a week, then plant them by pouring them on to ALREADY wet soil/pots...so they dont sink down too deep.
seeds of chamomile, sage, mugwort, tobacco, lettuce, strawberry, kiwi, among others are also like this.

Many thanks for this information, I will try that with the remaining seeds.

Richard Gorny wrote:

leila hamaya wrote:blueberry and blackberry, raspberry too, are particularly difficult to start.

they are positively photoblastic, they need light to germinate, so you have to sow them right on the surface of the soil so they get sunlight to sprout. even still they take a long time, you dont get that many to sprout, and yes, they need a cold period first.
the way i start these kinds of light sensitive seeds is in a glass of water on a windowsill or sunny spot.
you can also cover them with saran wrap, i just check on them and add more water as needed.
i soak them for a few days like this, if not a week, then plant them by pouring them on to ALREADY wet soil/pots...so they dont sink down too deep.
seeds of chamomile, sage, mugwort, tobacco, lettuce, strawberry, kiwi, among others are also like this.

Many thanks for this information, I will try that with the remaining seeds.

even with the ones you have it pots you might still get some to sprout as long as you didnt plant them too deep. it takes a long time.

the light does get down into the soil a bit, but to give them the best chance they should be on top of the soil and not covered. they eventually work their way down getting more rooted in the soil, but its hard for a lot of seeds to be planted too deeply. though a few seeds have the exact opposite response and wont germinate unless in total darkness.
you might also take the pots you have and dump them on the ground, which would spread out the soil and then they would get the light wake up call. the trick is its hard to have them on top of the soil and still damp, not drying out. sometimes if something doesnt sprout for a while i give up on it and throw it on the garden, only to find that then it finally sprouts.....

I have planted the seeds on the surface, but as you have said, watering could have moved them deeper. They are sitting in soil for well over a month now, I will give them some more time. Then, if noting happens, I will throw them in the garden simply, spreading on a surface.

I found some shriveled up plums still on the tree. Some of them where rotted through. Others not so much. Any tips on telling weather or not a stone fruit seed is viable?

A really nice way to do that is to graft one main branch of the seedling tree and let the seedling grow out on the other. Many varieties are ok but not great, but some are quite good. Also grafted varieties fruit in 3-5 years, as opposed to 8-9 years for seedlings, which is a long time to wait for fruit that you end up not liking. If you graft half the tree, you will automatically have a tree that can pollinate itself now in most cases. BOth American and Asian persimmons end up being quite variable, and I'm sure that Asian pears are too. They are not the same species as European pears. It is true that most seedling fruit will have some redeeming qualities, but even for something as narrow as paw paws, I have found that I greatly prefer the flavor of some varieties over others, but some will have useful attributes, such as dwarfing size. Therefore , I think a balanced approach of grafting half of each seedling tree works best. Grafting is particularly useful if you live in a city or a suburb, and you don't have acres and years to waste on pig food as "experiments". I don't have pigs to feed for example, even though my children do eat a lot, I don't call them pigs.
John S
PDX OR

Landon Sunrich wrote:I found some shriveled up plums still on the tree. Some of them where rotted through. Others not so much. Any tips on telling weather or not a stone fruit seed is viable?

If the seed inside the stone looks healthy, then it should be viable. I scrounged rotted mouldy apricot stones and managed to find one with a healthy seed inside. It grew no problems. Took a seed from a "fresh" store bought skaha apricot, it also grew no problems.

If the seed inside the stone does not look healthy, then do not bother. If you don't know what a healthy seed looks like, then buy or get a "fresh" fruit and find out. Or google.

Landon - "rich brown spore water" I want to know more! Can you really use this to grow mushrooms? What medium do you use? sawdust, straw? Educate me please.

Don't forget transplants of wild and feral fruit trees. This is a good time of year to find them; the apples and pears are in blossom and stand out like white beacons. Likewise the wild plumbs of many varieties.

Hey all, great thread!

I live in Salt Lake City which has a fairly deep, cold winter from November through March. Would I take all of the cold strat seeds that I want to grow and pot them up outside in November? If I keep them outside they will freeze and thaw many times before the next spring. Thanks!!!

Rootstocks are paired with the scion to create the optimal fruit tree for that area. Disease resistance is one advantage. There are different diseases in different regions, and the rootstocks have been selected to resist for example apple scab where I live, or fireblight in another area where it is a big problem, which it is not in mine. It's also selected for size of tree. Some don't want to get on ladders, and others want trees tall enough that they can be pruned so deer don't eat the fruit, for example. A seedling is just much more variable. We dont know. A rootstock is known. It might have great factors we dont know about, or it might have problems we don't know about. Also seedling trees take much longer to produce fruit. There have been instances where they have fewer disease, especially on stone fruit.
John S
PDX OR

just looked up this thread and figured i would bump it up.

in some happy small miracle, i got a minneola tangelo the other day that had over a dozen seeds in it ! =)

this is actually rare, a long while back i bought a bunch of them hoping for at least a few seeds, but its rare to find even one seed in them. apparently this means it was probably grown around other tangerines/ tangelos or something like that. so it could be an interesting cross, i am hoping they sprout =) fingers crossed.

This is so interesting and exciting. I would love to see more writing on the how-to of it all. I feel like a lot of the propagation is pretty self explanatory and sometimes the fruit plants itself. (we have a volunteer Peach Tree in our back yard with yummy peaches) The one I'm puzzled over is blueberries? How do you get this to grow from the fruit?



You all amaze me with your knowledge!!

Just to boost this tread a bit, yesterday I had to cut branches on my fruit tress because some had been damage with winter. Instead of throwing them, I planted them in the field. Maybe they will start and grow, maybe not...we will see, but that made my day :p 18 little trees to grow.

Isabelle

I've got an apple tree with lovely sweet apples that I grew from seed.

I'm also delighted with a recent success (Well, there's no fruit yet but I hope to see some in a few years !) with a Chinese quince Pseudocydonia sinensis I planted a fruit two years ago, which took a year to show seedlings :



Then another year to grow to this size :



I've had about twenty small trees which I've distributed between friends. Three are growing in the ground and doing OK (Not brilliant because it's heavy clay.) and I've about five in pots for us to plant out when they're bigger.

In a year or so's time, I'll update the progress.

Some of you that has fruit trees that are good should offer seeds
so others can grow .
you know johnny apple seed.
maybe even cuttings.
instructions!

Dan Boone wrote:Don't forget transplants of wild and feral fruit trees. This is a good time of year to find them; the apples and pears are in blossom and stand out like white beacons. Likewise the wild plumbs of many varieties.

Just bumping your comment up. I have volunteer American persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana), Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) and wild black cherries (Prunus Serotina) coming up everywhere.
Though I mostly leave them where they are on my property (instead of transplanting) and cutting out the less useful stuff around them.