Seedling peach tree success/proof that it's worth it to grow from seed.

Great thread! I saved the pits from my parents' awesome peach tree harvest last summer. I ended up with 2 full, 1 gallon freezer bags of peach pits and mixed a little damp sphagnum moss in the bags to maintain moisture, then put them in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator where I store my stratifying seeds.
I recently noticed that one of the bags is full of sprouting pits, and winter is just starting (Z8 Texas). I thought I read that they would be fine to stay in the fridge until spring, and the sprouts will start dormancy and pause growth.
Does anyone know if that is accurate? Normally I wouldn't mind planting them out, but after that artic front put us in the mid 20s last week, I'm afraid this winter will be harsher than usual (even though we're back in the 70s this week).
I'd love to make a huge difference hedgerow along the fence line, with the seed-grown peaches as the foundation, so hopefully I'll have enough survivors from this batch to get that started.

I honestly don't know if they'll go dormant after they've sprouted, but go ahead and plant them out and see what happens. With some kind of protection (a bucket, maybe) some of them should be able to survive a mild winter. If you're concerned, maybe plant them in pots and keep them in the garage if you have one.

The peach that germinated early likely has a low "chill" requirement so it would be well worth keeping in your climate.

Lauren Ritz wrote:I honestly don't know if they'll go dormant after they've sprouted, but go ahead and plant them out and see what happens. With some kind of protection (a bucket, maybe) some of them should be able to survive a mild winter. If you're concerned, maybe plant them in pots and keep them in the garage if you have one.

The peach that germinated early likely has a low "chill" requirement so it would be well worth keeping in your climate.

Thank you. It looks like there's a few dozen sprouted seeds in the bag, so I may experiment with putting some in the ground with mulch, some in pots in the greenhouse & cold frame, and probably leave some in the refrigerator for a while longer. Since the mother tree tends to be reliable with fruiting after mild winters, hopefully many of the seedlings will be, as well. Either way, they'll be good subjects for me to practice grafting on. :)

Let us know whether they go dormant.

This is a great thread. I've never experimented with peaches from seed, or any other fruit tree from seed except for some natives like Eastern persimmon, mayhaw and a few other things.  I got pretty good at rooting cuttings from figs and pomegranates.

I hope this thread is updated so I can follow the progress. Wasn't aware a peach would bloom and set fruit in two or three years from seed.

I knew someone who planted the pits from some white fleshed peaches that he said were particularly good. They grew and he had about half a dozen trees that all fruited well but all the fruit were a little different from each other. It was pretty impressive.

Kc Simmons wrote:

Thank you. It looks like there's a few dozen sprouted seeds in the bag, so I may experiment with putting some in the ground with mulch, some in pots in the greenhouse & cold frame, and probably leave some in the refrigerator for a while longer. Since the mother tree tends to be reliable with fruiting after mild winters, hopefully many of the seedlings will be, as well. Either way, they'll be good subjects for me to practice grafting on. :)

I have one nectarine seed that's sprouted. So far it's just sitting there in the refrigerator, so I'm keeping an eye on it. The root is about a quarter inch long and hasn't grown since I first noticed it. Dormant?

Lauren Ritz wrote:

Kc Simmons wrote:

Thank you. It looks like there's a few dozen sprouted seeds in the bag, so I may experiment with putting some in the ground with mulch, some in pots in the greenhouse & cold frame, and probably leave some in the refrigerator for a while longer. Since the mother tree tends to be reliable with fruiting after mild winters, hopefully many of the seedlings will be, as well. Either way, they'll be good subjects for me to practice grafting on. :)

I have one nectarine seed that's sprouted. So far it's just sitting there in the refrigerator, so I'm keeping an eye on it. The root is about a quarter inch long and hasn't grown since I first noticed it. Dormant?

Maybe? I still haven't done anything with the peach pits, and they appear to still be alive, and the growth is kind of "suspended," I guess. The last time I checked them was a couple of weeks ago, when I stuck some rose & pine seeds in there to stratify.

I've never had a citrus sprout in the refrigerator, so I'm curious to see how it goes with your nectarine!

Nectarines aren't citrus. They're a peach mutation. You may be thinking of tangerines?

Lauren Ritz wrote:Nectarines aren't citrus. They're a peach mutation. You may be thinking of tangerines?

Ugh I must've been having a stupid moment, because I knew they were fuzz-less peaches. I even have some cuttings I'm trying to get rooted from a nectarine tree.
No idea what I was thinking... 🤦🏻‍♂️

We had a lone peach tree for years. Then the second set of kids came along (younger bro/sis) and they didn't know the rules about peach trees cannot grow from seeds. They also didn't know you weren't allowed to raid the trees. So they ended up eating them under the tree and the pits GREW and we had 6 peach trees that all bore fruit. They were Elberta Peaches......love RULE BREAKERS!!! at least in this case!!!