growing from seed

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by nickolas, Dec 23, 2006.

  1. nickolas

    nickolas Member

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    My mother keeps telling me that you can't grow fruit trees from seeds you get out of fruit from the grocery store, and if something does grow the tree will be sterile and will not produce fruit. Is this true? I planted some pear seeds and a couple things came up, they are about 1 inch high. Are they doomed to never produce fruit? I would think that if the seeds were sterile or immature they would not grow at all. Somebody set me straight.
     
  2. NiftyNiall

    NiftyNiall Active Member 10 Years

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    Eventually they could bear fruit, but generally the fruit would have very little in common with the original fruit.
    But you never know, what you rarely get is a superior variety.
     
  3. nickolas

    nickolas Member

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    Right I understand that the fruit will not resemble the parent plant, I just wanted to know if it would bear fruit at all. And what do you think the likelyhood is of getting a variety of pear that is considered to be unedible? Which types of pears are normally used for rootstocks and what affect does that have on the fruit grown from the seed of that plant? Is a grafted fruit tree considered a hybrid?
     
  4. globalist1789

    globalist1789 Active Member

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    Yes it will grow fruit. It will vary, but if you plant an apple seed you will get apples. I don't know about things like stone fruit, but I've eaten apples off of a number of trees grown from seed and they tasted pretty darn good to me.

    Getting a totally unedible pear is pretty unlikely. I might not be as big or it may be as big but have a texture that isn't as good, etc. But chances are you will get pears that are pretty nice. After all, the parents of the seed had good genes and that I why grow them in the first place.

    The rootstock has no effect on what you get from the seed if you grew it.

    The grafting is a way of reproducing hybrids. Confused? "hybrid" is often used in place of "Cultivar". More confused? Read this and you'll understand: Wikipedia: Cultivar
     
  5. Applenut

    Applenut Active Member

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    Nickolas:

    For 200 years the pioneer apple orchards of the United States consisted of trees started from seed by Johnny Appleseed and others, as it was the most convenient way to transport germplasm over long distances on rough (or non-existant) roads. The millions of apple trees planted by seed turned out to be the biggest genetic experiment ever seen on the planet. Only one in ten thousand trees started by seed is remarkable, but with millions planted, there were quite a few remarkable varieties. Most of the great varieties we enjoy today started from seed.

    If you plant a peach seed you will probably get a nectarine. The fruit of both apple and peach may be OK, may be a sour dud, or may be the next great discovery. Everyone should start at least one tree from seed, and if it is absolutely unedible, graft a chosen variety onto it.

    Applenut
     
  6. Lovely Pear

    Lovely Pear Member

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    Hi Nickolas.

    Please can you tell me how you grew the pear tree. Did you just put the seed in a pot of soil? I would like to do the same.

    If anyone else can give me some advice that would also be great.

    Thank you.
     
  7. biggam

    biggam Active Member

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    Hi Lovely Pear,

    You might get a pear seed to grow by just sticking it in a pot; but a cold-moist treatment would be more reliable. You could try both if you have several viable seeds. In another thread (http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=69197#post69197) I described having apple seeds (which need the same treatment,) in small pots in zip-top bags in my refrigerator. In fact I grew a pear seed last winter too. I transplanted when it had a couple leafs to a tall, narrow pot in potting media (typical peat/perlite mix) with a little sand mixed in. I gave it a very diluted fertilizer solution about once a month from May to August (and of course watered as needed) and planted in the ground a foot-tall tree about September 20. I surrounded it with a hardware cloth fence, mulched with a few layers of newspaper, and, in its dormancy, it is awaiting spring.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2007
  8. Lovely Pear

    Lovely Pear Member

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    Thanks for your advice biggam. I'm going to try both mehtods and will post back with any progress I make!
    Thanks again.
    LP.
     
  9. nickolas

    nickolas Member

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    I had seeds from two varieties of pear, Bartlet and Bosc. The seeds from one of the pears I put in the freezer for a couple days, and the other i planted imediately straight out of the pear. I currently have 4 trees growing all from 1 variety, while the other variety didnt grow at all. Unfortunately though, I did not keep track of which variety is which or which one was put in the freezer for a couple days, sorry. :(
     
  10. biggam

    biggam Active Member

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    I've since tried a couple times the straight out of the pear method, and about 50% of the seeds germinated. If they dry out, they won't germinate until going through stratification (cold-moist treatment of several weeks).

    Pear seedlings (of Bartlett or Winter Nelis, for example,) are often used as rootstock. If you grow a seedling and decide the fruit is not useful, then you can topwork it [cleft graft a cutting of a known eating variety of pear (or even Northern Spy apple; see article,)] and have it fruit in just a couple years.
    Grafting info (and also a picture of a topworked tree,) is available at this U.of Minnesota website: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG0532.html
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2007

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