How To Grow Fruit Trees From Pits And Seeds

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Step one – Choose what type of fruit to grow

In my survival food garden, I have four apple trees, a cherry tree, a plum tree, a damson tree and two elder trees. And that is great. I am very fortunate to be able to have all those trees in my garden. That said, there are also other fruits that I have always wanted to grow.

The first one is peaches. I would like to grow my own peaches since I enjoy eating them so much. I like to enjoy fresh peaches during summer, in fermented drinks all year round, in peach pie during fall. And during the colder months, canned peaches is one of my favourite treats. The light syrup that they are canned in can be used to make fermented fruit drinks or even cocktails. They can also replace some of the liquid necessary in baked goods such as muffins or cake.

The second fruit I’d like to grow is pears. When I was little, desserts would often include canned pears either on their own as they are, or baked or with ice-cream and melted chocolate. During spring and summer I also make pear syrup for my fermented beverages such as ginger beer.

The third fruit on my list is apricots. One of my favourite cakes is Solstice, which contains canned apricots that are pressed into the batter like rays of sunshine. I do enjoy apricots in general though. Both fresh during summer, dry during winter and canned for desserts and baked goods. They’re like small, less fussy peaches and they are so versatile.

I want to grow a pear tree, a peach tree and an apricot tree from seed. That’s what I have decided, but how do I go about doing that?

Step two – Prepare the seeds

Once you have decided which fruit to grow, you need to find a few good fruits of that variety and then harvest the best seeds from them. When it comes to fruit like apples and pears, their seeds are small, dark brown and drop shaped. The outside is incredibly smooth, to the point of feeling moist.

No matter which type of fruit you wish to grow, wash the seed well. You don’t want fruit leftovers to cause the pit to rot.

Stone fruits have seeds with hard outer layers which you will need to penetrate to get the real seed out. You can do this in a number or ways. When it comes to apricots, I used a small type of pruning shears and cut off the flat sides of it. Then I ever so gently placed the tip of the blade inside the outer layers and pressed upwards to remove it. It takes a few tries, certainly, and I did end up breaking a number of seeds before I got the hang of it. But I got a handful of seeds that I could sprout.

With bigger stone fruits such as peaches, I find it is better to work with them outside. Place them on the ground, on a piece of wood or on a chopping board. Then I place a towel or pieces of cloth on top so that no shards will fly. I hammer them one at a time – all you need is one or two hits – and the outer layer should divide in half or get a crack big enough for you to remove the seed within.

Step 3 – Time to mimic nature

Many varieties of fruits and berries have seeds that won’t sprout unless they’ve first experienced a cold spell. This is called a stratification process. The cold temperature triggers them to germinate. That is why many gardeners plant seeds or propagate plants during summer, to allow nature to do its work during winter and spring. After the colder seasons, the seeds should sprout. So around spring, they should have sprouted, or if propagating a cutting, formed roots. This is also why you would normally place strawberry seeds in the refrigerator for a few weeks before sowing them. Simply put, the stratification process helps them germinate.

This method is in case you’re doing this when the weather is hot or if you simply want to go down a quicker route.

Take a paper cloth and spray it once or twice with filtered water. Place the seeds on top and either roll the paper towel, with enough space between the seeds that they won’t touch. Or place another paper towel on top and fold it twice.

Place the paper cloth with the seeds inside a plastic bag or glass jar and keep it in the refrigerator for a few weeks or possibly even months, depending on the seed. When I do this during summer, a few weeks usually suffice. Do check them occasionally to make sure there is no mould.

Step 4 – Germinate the seeds

Remove the seeds from the refrigerator and unveil them. Make sure they all look alright. It is possible that some of them have begun sprouting already. If not, do not fret. There’s nothing to worry about. Take a new paper cloth and spray it with filtered water. Place them seeds on the paper towel and fold them in.

Take the paper towel with seeds and place it inside a jar or container. Keep the lid slightly open and keep the jar in room temperature. Check them every now and then to see how they are progressing. Much like with sunflower seeds and beans, when the seed has germinated the seed halves will fall away. So if you see two halves or a seed half broken open, carefully keep looking. That’s what happened to me and the sprout laid there closer to the bottom of the jar, with cute little roots and three leaves.

Step 5 – Plant the sprouts

Once you have your cute little seedlings, it is time to get them planted.

The best way would be to plant the seedlings where you want the actual tree to grow, but that is not always possible. The second best option is to plant the seedling in a large pot or grow bag. I’ve had the most success with pots that were at least 15 cm deep and ten cm in diameter. I tend to reuse the pots I get from nurseries. Usually the ones that my blueberry plants or honey berry plants were delivered in. They are excellent for propagation and for growing fruit trees from seed or from cuttings. The bigger and deeper the container, the better. You don’t want the root growth to be stunted, so choose the deepest pot/container that you have access to and have room for.

Use a soil mixture that contains some perlite or coconut coir to make sure it holds moisture well. Be sure that the soil has an acceptable pH to the fruit you are growing. You want it to be a little bit moist, but not wet, when you plant the seedling. You also do not want to simply press the seedling down into the pot. That could break it and tear off its roots. Instead, make a dent the size of the seedling, gently place it inside and then cover the roots and lower part of the seedling with soil.

Pros and cons of growing fruit trees from seed

There are pros and cons to any gardening method, whether you grow something from a cutting, graft cuttings onto a tree or grow a tree from seed. Fruit trees grown from seed tend to be more tolerant than grafted trees. Stronger, I should say. They’ve had to do more to survive. However, fruit trees planted from seed can take longer to bear fruit. But those that wait for something good…

Planting a cutting or grafting it is the only way to preserve a certain heritage. Even so, growing a fruit tree from a delicious fruit will generally produce a tree that grows equally delicious fruits. It will not be of the exact same variety as the original tree, but you can often tell what variety it might’ve come from. You could consider cuttings to be parts of mother tree that continue its growth in a new place. Whereas the trees planted from the seeds from that tree are more like its children. Similar, but never exactly the same.

Peaches and nectarines are especially good to grow from seed. They germinate quite easily and they are self-fertile, so the seeds tend to be very similar to the parent tree. They can also handle dry conditions and tend to produce fruit earlier than apple trees, for example.

Best fruits to grow from seed

Apricots

Apples

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Now you are ready to grow your own fruit trees from the pits of the fruits you feast on this summer.

Good luck!