Cherries are a problem. My experience is that only about 10% of the seeds will germinate, and a good percentage of those will have problems.
I think commercial cherries are just too inbred. I’ve never tried growing anything other than sweet cherries from seed, so the information is limited.
Problems range from no chlorophyll to seed leaves growing inside the stem. The variegated one was quite pretty, but didn’t survive transplant.
I’ve had seedlings that didn’t ever grow secondary leaves, those that didn’t have any seed leaves, and a number with other problems. I have gotten maybe 10 or so to the point where they could be planted out, but only 1 survived transplant and it didn’t survive its first winter.
I have another set of seeds ready to go but I’m focusing on plums this year so the cherries will have to wait.
I tried direct sowing last fall, hoping for spring germination, and got nothing.
I have since discovered that the water level in that area after a storm is less than 2 inches below the surface, and it sticks for days, if not weeks.
I’ll be trying more this fall in an area with better drainage, but my main concern isn’t transplant success, it’s the percentage of germinated plants that have other problems.
(Nods.) Yeah, seedlings with no chlorophyll are a really big deal. It makes me wonder whether commercial hybrids are really inbred? Or whether they may be the opposite, the result of a wide cross that is tough to get viable seedlings from?
I would be glad to save some jujube seeds. What’s the method to save these? I’ve never saved seed of these before. We’re harvesting now and eating for breakfast. I just cut the fruit off the seed.
You may want to open one or two (with a nutcracker, maybe?) to see if there are seeds inside the pits. Apparently it’s common for self-fertile jujubes to produce empty pits with no seeds inside, so it would be worthwhile to know if your pits have something to germinate.
Or, alternately, you could plant some in a pot and keep them watered and see if anything appears. A bit more bother, but possibly more fun.
I have 2 siberian C peach trees that made a ton of fruit last year so I saved most of the pits. I had them in a moistend bag of soil in the fridge and just checked them last week and a bunch of them have already sprouted!
I have put all the sprouted pits in this crate under a grow light then will move them to the greenhouse at the end of the month when it is a bit warmer then into a nursery bed once the frosts are over. It is going to be a rough start for them but hopefully some will survive.
what have you done to stratify and protect peach seeds over winter without them sprouting to early? are they ok to go in the freezer and freeze solid? should I plant the pits in the nursery bed in fall? I’m in Canada so there is a long cold winter here.
I have got about 30 of the peach pits left that havent sprouted.
If that’s not an option (for instance, if you have wildlife that will eat the seeds if you direct sow), you can still let winter weather outside do the work for you. Maybe you might put them into a pot that you protect from hungry squirrels etc. by putting wire mesh around the top?
My experience with elderberries is to be sure to plant them where you want them to take over and live forever. They are incredibly invasive in my 8b/9a garden. If you are ‘food foresting’ they would be great as long as you are mowing some pathways. Otherwise, you may not be able to get in to harvest any elderberries or elderflowers after a year or two.
We’re up in 5b, so they probably won’t be rampant for a while. When we lived in 6b, we’d cut back the growth every year to keep it from getting too out of control.
