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To grow an apricot from a stone, it is enough to throw it into the ground and a sprout will sprout next season. However, real gardeners take the stone fruit reproduction process seriously. We suggest considering the entire cultivation technology in step-by-step instructions.
Is it possible to grow an apricot from a stone
Any apricot grown from seed will bear fruit, but parental qualities are rarely inherited. However, there are pluses here. If you grow, for example, an apple tree from a seed, then a wild game will grow. The opposite is true with apricot. A fruitful cultivated tree grows, sometimes superior in characteristics to its parents.
The seeds are more often planted in the fall. The easiest option is to bury them in the garden. The advantage of this method is hardening over the winter. Minus - eating bones by rodents. Here it is necessary to soberly assess the situation. If there are a lot of seeds, then it is easier to take a risk by sowing a plot on the street. When there is a limited amount of planting material, and even a valuable variety, it is better to grow seedlings with seedlings in a closed way.
Most gardeners have a general opinion that the apricot tree obtained from the stone at home adapts better to the local climate, soil, and is unpretentious in maintenance. If you plant a seedling of the same variety brought from another area, the plant will be sick for a long time, take root, and maybe even die altogether.
Apricot pits for planting are best harvested from local trees. If there are none or you want to start a new variety, then you can ask the gardeners you know to send the planting material by mail. It is desirable that they live in cold regions, for example, Siberia. Apricots from a harsh climate are guaranteed to take root in any area.
Most gardeners say that it is better not to germinate seeds in a closed way. The seedling turns out to be weak and after planting it will not survive the winter. It is optimal to immerse the bones in open ground. So that they are not eaten by rodents, they must be planted in late autumn before frost or in April.
How to grow an apricot from a stone: step by step instructions
All planting and caring for apricot grown from a stone takes place according to clearly planned actions. This is the only way to guarantee the growth of a fruiting tree.
Step 1. Selection and preparation of seeds for planting
The seeds for planting are obtained from ripe fruits. It is even better to take overripe apricots. The pulp should separate well. This sign indicates the maturity of the planting material. However, there are varieties in which even overripe pulp does not separate well. This is more often observed in apricot, which bears small fruits. It's kind of half-wild. There is no point in growing them at home, except for the stock.
If possible, a lot of seeds are collected.Not all of them will germinate, and from the seedlings received there will be an opportunity to choose strong seedlings. Before planting, the seeds are washed and left flooded with clean water. Pop-up instances are thrown away. There will be no seedlings from pacifiers. All bones that have settled to the bottom of the container are pulled out of the water and immersed in manganese. Further actions are aimed at hardening. The planting material is placed in a bag of cotton fabric, sent to the refrigerator for three months. The hardened seeds, when planted in spring, quickly adapt to the temperature of the soil.
Step 2. When to plant apricot pits
To germinate apricot seed at home, you need to choose the right time for planting in the ground:
- Autumn is the ideal season for outdoor seeding. The optimal landing month is October.
- Spring is also a good time of the year, but the seedling will turn out to be less hardened. Sowing is carried out in April.
- Summer is the worst option. The planted seed will germinate during the ripening period, but the tree will not get stronger by winter and will disappear.
The middle of spring or autumn for sowing was not chosen by chance. At this time of the year, the activity of rodents decreases, the earth creates optimal temperature conditions for the adaptation of the planting material.
Step 3. Planting an apricot with a bone
Before the autumn sowing, the seeds are soaked for 24 hours in water. If the process is postponed to spring, then in winter they are hardened in the refrigerator. Before sowing, grooves are prepared with a depth of 6 cm. The bed is placed in a lighted area, closed from cold northern winds. It is desirable to make the soil loose. Good results are obtained by adding a mixture of sand and humus. The planting material is laid out along the groove in 10 cm increments, sprinkled with earth, watered.
Step 4. Care of the seedlings
In order to grow an apricot from a stone, the seedling must be given proper care. The first year, young shoots protect from birds that love to feast on greens. The shelter is made of mesh or plastic bottles with a cut off bottom. When the apricot seedlings grow up, the strongest trees are left, and all the rest are removed.
The main care of the plant is timely watering. To retain moisture, the soil is mulched with peat. From the very beginning, the seedling is formed. Remove excess lateral shoots, cut off the top so that the crown forms a ball. In the second year of life, the first feeding with humus is carried out. For the winter, a young seedling is covered with fallen leaves.
The video shows the process of growing an apricot:
Step 5. Where and when to transplant seed-grown apricots
It is not enough to grow a seedling from an apricot seed, it still needs to be transplanted correctly and a suitable place to be found in the yard.
They resort to transplanting if mass crops were carried out. For apricot seedlings, 50% of the crown must be cut to speed up new rooting. If you ignore pruning, the tree will freeze in winter.
The transplant process consists of the following steps:
- 2-3 hours before digging, the seedling is poured abundantly with water. The earth will soften, the root system will be removed with less damage and a lump of soil.
- With a shovel around the trunk, they dig a deep trench as much as possible. The root system, together with a lump of soil, is pried with a pitchfork and transferred to a piece of film. If the apricot seedling needs to be carried far away, then it is placed by its roots in a container with sawdust.
- A hole in a new place is dug out at least a month before transplantation. If the process is carried out in the spring, then the hole can be dug in the fall. The size of the hole should be twice the size of the root system.
- The place for the hole is chosen on the south side. At the bottom of the pit, drainage from chopped branches and rubble is arranged. Part of the hole is covered with fertile soil mixed with compost. From fertilizers add 0.5 kg of superphosphate, 0.2 kg of ammonium nitrate.With increased acidity, 1 kg of lime is mixed.
- The apricot seedling is carefully lowered by roots into the hole, covered with the remnants of a fertile mixture of compost and soil. A ring-shaped side is raked around the tree to retain water.
Immediately after transplanting, the apricot is watered daily, maintaining a moderate soil moisture. You can reduce the intensity of watering after the tree has completely engrafted.
Step 6. Secrets of growing apricot from stone
To properly grow an apricot from a stone, there are several secrets:
- the variety is selected taking into account the climatic conditions of the area;
- planting material is collected only from overripe fruits;
- southern varieties are not planted in cold regions;
- because of the low germination rate of up to 30%, many seeds are sown with a margin.
The first harvest, if you plant an apricot from a stone, can be obtained in 6-7 years, provided proper care.
Growing an apricot from a stone at home
When there is little planting material, and even a valuable variety, you can grow an apricot from a stone at home using a closed sowing method. In a flower pot, the seedling is guaranteed not to destroy a mouse or bird. However, the seedling will turn out to be weak, it will take a long time to adapt to weather conditions after transplanting, and in winter it can freeze out.
Planting material stratification
Before planting an apricot seed at home, the planting material is stratified. The process begins with soaking. The planting material is immersed in water for a day. All pop-up instances are thrown away.
After soaking, the bones settled to the bottom of the container are mixed with wet sand, poured into a plastic box from under the cake. The planting material should not be in close contact with each other. The box with the contents is placed in the refrigerator for three months.
During the entire period of stratification, the moisture content of the sand is maintained. If mold appears, it is gently washed with a piece of cloth dipped in a solution of potassium permanganate.
When the sprouts hatch, the planting material is removed from the refrigerator to the room to adapt to the heat. After a week, you can plant in flower pots.
How to grow an apricot from a pit in a pot
It is necessary to plant apricot from a stone in pots according to the same rules that were used for open ground. The difference is the growing process itself:
- The taproot of apricot requires the use of a deep container. Cut-off plastic bottles or 1-gallon disposable cups work well.
- A drainage hole is cut at the bottom of the planting container. A thin drainage layer is poured from expanded clay or small stones. The rest of the space is filled with soil with humus.
- Initially, you need to properly plant the apricot stone in the glass. Sprouted planting material is buried only by the root. A deep planting cannot be done, otherwise there is a threat of rotting of the root collar.
- Sowing is lightly watered with water at room temperature, covered with foil, left in a warm dark place for germination. Periodically open the shelter for ventilation.
- After the appearance of a full-fledged sprout, the shelter is removed. A glass with a seedling is placed on the south window, the air temperature is maintained at about +25aboutFROM.
When an apricot from a stone at home grows up to 30 cm high, the seedling is ready to be transplanted outside. This should be done only in the spring, after hardening.
Transplanting pitted apricots into open ground
Planting a seedling from a pot is carried out only in the spring, when warm weather is fully established. The well is prepared in the same way as when transplanting from open ground. The tree is watered abundantly a couple of hours before planting. The root is removed from the glass along with a lump of earth, dipped into the prepared hole, covered with soil, watered. The first days the seedling is shaded from the sun until it takes root. Be sure to install protection from birds from the net.
Follow-up care of the culture
Young apricot seedlings do not require special care. It is enough to observe timely watering. Organic matter is added from dressings in small quantities. Initially, the tree can sprout low lateral shoots. To avoid a bush, cut off the extra branches. The crown is formed annually until a full-fledged tree is obtained.
Will an apricot grown from a stone bear fruit?
Any method of planting will be able to grow a fruiting tree from apricot pits, but the first harvest can be expected around the seventh year. Varietal characteristics are rare. Most often, the quality of the fruits surpasses their parents. However, in rare cases, the wild may grow. The offspring of a new culture is unpredictable. If a wild tree has grown, cultivars are grafted onto it or uprooted.
Conclusion
In fact, even children can grow an apricot from a stone. Even without special preparations and adherence to technology, many summer residents acquired trees that bear tasty fruits.
