Imagine the fragrance of a spring garden, delicate pink flowers on branches. Now imagine that it is in your home. And the juicy fruits of the color of the setting sun will ripen in your apartment. Great, right? Exotic peach tree will decorate the interior instead of boring ficuses and palm trees - fresh and original!
Do not bother to go in search of indoor peaches in the shops. They are not there. You can get such a treasure differently if you know how to grow a peach from a seed at home.
Where to get peach seeds for growing at home?
A store peach may not work. The fruits of sale for large retail chains are harvested in the phase of technical maturity, when they barely begin to ripen. The stone of such a peach most often does not have time to ripen.
Attention! To increase the shelf life of fruits, special means are used even at the growing stage. A signal about this is a bursting inside the fetus or a fragile bone. Such processed specimens are not recommended both for growing peaches from seeds at home, and for food.
It is best to buy your favorite fruits in the summer on the market. The real owner of the peach tree will be happy to share information about the variety and features of care. Fruits from your area will give the best planting material. The grown tree can be transplanted to the street.
How to choose a peach cultivar
At home, a peach of any sort will grow. If you have a choice, give preference to such signs:
• short stature;
• early ripeness;
• self-pollination.
The most suitable for these criteria are Redhaven, Kiev early, Minion early, Krasnodar nectarine, Pineapple nectarine.
It is important! Peaches grown on grafted trees may not retain species characteristics during seedling. A tree with its own root will give planting material that will show all the characteristics of the variety. Ask the seller if the tree is grown on a scion.
Preparation of pits for peach cultivation
For germination of seeds, overripe, soft fruits without rot, mold and worminess are selected. It is advisable to take a few of them - a peach reluctantly sprouts. With any method of cultivation, preparation is carried out identically:
1. Remove the bones and rinse them well. The pulp should not remain.
2. To dry. Store at room temperature until planting.
3. Before planting, soak in water for several days (up to 10), in the last two days you can add any growth stimulator.
4. To carry out stratification, that is, to ensure the winter regime.
"Wintering" is better to send even whole bones, so the probability of damage and death of the embryo is less.
The soil requirements are simple - it must be fertile and loose, because the sprouts of the peach are tender. Suitable from the standard store (for flowers, seedlings) or just fertile land mixed with sand.
What to do next depends on the method you choose.
Three ways to grow peaches from seeds at home
the main task - get a sprout from the seed. Different gardeners have achieved this in their own way. Summarizing their experience, there are three main methods of germination.
Cold way
Stratification is directly related to such germination. Having laid the prepared bones in pots with earth to a depth of 6‒8 cm, we send them to the refrigerator or cellar. It will take a long time before the seeds wake up. All this time you need to monitor the moisture of the soil, it should not dry out.
It takes 3 to 4 months to peck a peach bone. Sprouts appear even in the refrigerator. When planting in the fall, time is calculated so that when the shoots appear, there is still no heat.
It is important to prevent sudden changes in temperature - sprouts can die!
First, they take out pots with sprouts to a room with a temperature of about 10 ° heat (balcony, veranda), after a few days you can get warmer in the room, and then on the sunny windowsill.
Warm way
This method is a bit simpler. It is still advisable to “cool” the bones for several days in the refrigerator. After that, you can plant them in the prepared land.
• a bone 6–8 cm deep is dug into the moist ground;
• germination occurs at room temperature, in the light;
• the container with the planted material is covered with polyethylene or glass, creating the effect of a greenhouse;
• daily covering material is removed for ventilation, the condensate is wiped.
Note! Peach loves moisture, but does not tolerate its stagnation. There must be holes in the bottoms of the pots for the outflow of excess water and soil respiration. Drainage is laid at the bottom (special garden or pebbles, expanded clay).
First, the sprout develops a root, so it will take several months to wait for seedlings. When the leaves appear, the shelter can be removed.
Quick way
Such a technique can be applied without stratification. After two weeks of soaking, the bone must be opened. This is done with a knife, carefully revealing the halves. Inside is the nucleolus, it should be removed and again soaked in water for swelling (2 days is enough).
Enlarged nucleoli can be immediately sown. The planting depth is less than whole bones, about 3-4 cm. Seedlings will be earlier than with previous methods. You can also speed up the process by covering the pots with a film.
No matter how the seedlings are received, you can praise yourself. Now we know how to grow a peach from a seed. At home, this turned out to be quite achievable, but early to relax, a full-fledged fruit tree will grow only with proper care.
Care for sprouts of a home peach tree
In favorable conditions, a peach tree grows quickly. In one summer, you can get an increase from 0.5 to 1 meter. What are these favorable conditions?
1. Illumination.
2. Watering.
3. Feeding.
Southern plant, loves the sun. If there is not enough natural light, you will have to additionally illuminate the young peach with the help of special fitolamps. LED lamps do not consume much electricity, and they give lighting to the tree in the spectrum that it needs.
The regularity of watering is important for a young peach. While growing, it is able to absorb a large amount of water from the soil. When fruiting occurs, the irrigation pattern will change. Temporary drying of the soil will accelerate the ripening of the formed fruit.
Note! Observe the winter dormancy for the tree. Watering during the winter should be reduced, the backlighting should be stopped, and the plant should be taken out to a cool room with a plus temperature. Intensive care resumes only after the awakening of the kidneys.
Fertilizers for peach grown from pits
The peach has an exquisite taste, it needs fertilizers containing certain trace elements:
• potassium;
• calcium;
• phosphorus;
• copper.
Experienced gardeners advise! Spray the tree with this composition: 5 g of soda ash, 1 g of boric acid, 2 g of copper sulfate, 1 drop of ordinary iodine, one potassium permanganate crystal per 1 liter of water. Several sprayings per season will saturate the tree with all the necessary elements, protect it from diseases.
Fertilizers with irrigation are appropriate in the second year after germination. The universal composition of nitroamophos (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus) allows you to limit yourself to one fertilizer. Read the instructions and halve the recommended concentration. Since peach grows in a pot, fertilizers do not wash out and act in a small amount of soil.
For an indoor plant, an overdose of fertilizers is especially dangerous, with a small excess the plant will grow wildly and “heal”, with a large excess it will get intoxication and die.
Since it is necessary to form a compact plant, pruning a domestic peach is carried out regularly. Already in the autumn of the first year, you can begin to form the desired height and shape of the crown. It should be noted that further fruiting will depend on regular cleaning of the crown.
With good care, the fruits on the home peach will appear in 2-3 years, and will delight for many years. No matter how troublesome to grow peaches from seeds at home, and the result is bewitching. Not everyone can boast a fruit garden in their apartment. Good luck with your experiments and sunny, delicious fruits!
