Plums from seed

[Magpie]

Yup, c'mon over Shirlz! Let's have a gathering here, for a change!

So, Fridge now or in Winter?

[Selby]

We started with a couple of plum trees that my old dad (bit of a wine expert) gave to me. He thought they were suckers, but they are seedlings.

The squirrels sowed the seeds around our garden and now they are a weed.

Every tree (we probably have 20 or 30 now) produces a slightly different type of plum. One or two are not very nice and become firewood. Several are a bit tart. Most are delicious. They tend to fruit in the third or fourth year.

Yes, they need to be stratified.

[Shirley]

Recently discovered a plum tree in our garden.. didn't fruit last year but there are some this year... not huge numbers, it's an old tree that may or may not respond to some tlc.

The plums around here are delicious - we used to go scrumping at an old tree that grew on an empty house on one of the estates but there is someone living there now... hope they are taking advantage of it.

[Kirstykbart]

does anyone know about trying to grow a cherry tree from their stones? I've got a tree in the garden, but not much fruit on it. Thought I could try planting to try and get another tree. Would that need to be cold before planting too? And for how long?

sorry to butt in on the thread and thanks for any help

Kirsty

[Fizzy Izzy]

Dragging up an old thread... Sorry!

This is the exact question I was going to ask! I'm going to plant some slightly rotten plums to see if they grow... Should I just pot them and leave them outside to be naturally cold during the winter, or put them in the fridge before I start trying to grow them?

Has anyone had some success with plums planted in this way?

[the.fee.fairy]

Its worth a try, but you won't know whether you'll get decent plums out of it til the tree fruits....

for cherry stones, you need to cold stratify the stones for about 4months. You have to replicate the natural order - the rip cherry falls off the tree, then it gets frozen by the winter, then it thaws and grows. So, take the cherry stone, put it in some compost in the fridge for a month, then in the freezer for a month, and then back to the fridge for a while. Than plant in spring/after you've taken it out of the fridge.

that's pretty much what Philip Moss recommends in the Pip Book.

[Shirley]

Ooh... see that old plum tree in my garden that I mentioned in this thread last year... well this year it's absolutely laden with fruit! Just got to get someone to pick the fruit as clambering up a ladder is a no-no for me just now.

Some of the fruit has fallen and the chickens run round like crazy with one in their beaks with all the others following so if they do grow from seed chances are we'll have several seedlings next year

[Millymollymandy]

To cap that, my husband found about 8 plum stones in the ducks' water bowl one morning. They must have been pigging out then regurgitated the stones when they were shut in for the night!

[Shirley]

To cap that, my husband found about 8 plum stones in the ducks' water bowl one morning. They must have been pigging out then regurgitated the stones when they were shut in for the night!

ooerrr yuck!

[Thomzo]

I've heard that a lot of fruit grown commercially nowadays is actually sterile. So the chances of getting them to grow and fruit is very slim.

Good luck and have fun with the experiment though.

[Davie Crockett]

I made some Damson wine a couple of years ago, the recipe required pouring boling water on the fruit pulp. (As I was then a novice, I didn't remove the kernels (Stones) until the straining stage). I then removed the stones and placed them in a jug for convenience. These somehow found their way into the greenhouse...2 weeks later there was an 80% germination rate from the stones, all with no special treatment aside from pouring boiling water on the fruit and allowing it to cool. (they were still in the jug).

What I'm trying to say is that you can refrigerate them to germinate next spring, or you can shock them into germinating this year by rapid warming. If you opt for the latter you'll have to protect them for their first winter.

[Fizzy Izzy]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice :)

I've planted three plums, I figured I'd just put them in a pot of compost and leave them outside to take their chances! They'll get naturally cold over the winter then. I'll let you know next spring if anything has happened..