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Starting Peaches from Pits |
By Robert Cox, Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, Horticulture
Have you ever wanted to grow a peach tree from a peach pit? It can be done.
Peaches from seed can result in trees that bear decent fruit, although they may not
look or taste just like the peach from which
the pit came. Most commercial peach varieties
are budded onto specific varieties of rootstock. In any case, peach pits can be planted in
fall in a garden area, just as if you were planting any other seed. Plant them about 4
inches deep and apart in a row.
Cover with an inch of straw, pine needles or similar mulch and then water. Throughout winter, water the row when conditions have been dry and warm with no snow cover. Many of the pits will germinate the following spring. You can transplant them to pots for growing to a larger size, or move them directly to their new location. Avoid planting peaches on southern exposures, as the extra heat would cause them to bloom even earlier in spring, ensuring that late frosts would prevent fruit development. Eastern or northern exposures are best, but it will be several years to fruiting size from a seedling peach. Note that the late frosts our area receives will typically mean that peaches develop only one or two years out of five.
Photo: Judy Sedbrook
