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Gardeners are experiencing a shortage of quality plum planting material. When buying a seedling from a private owner or through a nursery, you can never know with certainty whether it will match the variety. After another disappointment, the thought of self-growing seedlings comes. Plum from the seed grows faster than it seems at first.
Is it possible to grow a plum from a stone
It is quite possible to grow a plum tree from the seeds left after eating or processing the fruit. But here some rules are required, which will be listed below.
Propagation of plums by seeds
A strong seedling grows from a plum seed in 1 year. If it is immediately grown in the place where the plum will subsequently be and will grow, this will be a great advantage. On the contrary, after frequent transplants, the root system of the plant is injured, it has to adapt to new conditions every time. This takes from 2 weeks to several months. The precious time can be used for the development of the plum.
Growing plums from the stone should be started by choosing a variety. Also an important aspect is the question of where the seedling will grow. It can be a permanent or temporary location. As a temporary shelter, you can use a school, a shady place or an ordinary flower pot.
After the location is determined, you should choose the variety of rootstock. This is important from the point of view of the winter hardiness of the seedling. The seeds should be of local varieties that are adapted to the conditions of the region where the tree will grow in the future. It is on this seedling that the desired variety will be grafted.
A plum stock can be more than just a plum.
Can be used:
- plum;
- cherry plum;
- thorny;
- thorn.
The most suitable rootstocks are listed here, although plum can be grafted onto other stone fruits: peach, apricot. But they do not grow well in all regions. Blackthorn is also rarely used for growing from seeds, despite its unpretentiousness and winter hardiness.
Will the plum tree bear fruit?
Plum from the stone will necessarily bear fruit. The question is: what fruits will it give and when will fruiting come. When grown by seed, maternal qualities are not transmitted (there are exceptions, but they are rare).
That is, to get a full, regular harvest, you need to graft a varietal plum on a rootstock grown from a bone. How to do this, the video will tell:
Of course, there are cases of obtaining a successful combination of yield and fruit taste. But this is more the exception than the rule. Usually a seedling grown from a seed does not begin to bear fruit early enough and has fruits that are unlike those whose seeds were planted.
How to grow a stone plum at home
Where is it better to grow a seedling: on a plot or at home - everyone decides independently. It has long been noted that when growing plums with seeds on a plot before winter, all planting material is destroyed by rodents. This does not always happen, especially if appropriate measures are taken. But the safest option would be to grow the stock at home.
Is it possible to grow a plum from a stone at home
A home grown plum has several advantages over an open field seedling:
- planting material will not be eaten by mice;
- the root system will be formed by the spring;
- constant monitoring of the growth and formation of the seedling;
- the ability to feed on time;
- the root system in the pot will not be injured when transplanted to a permanent place.
In order to grow a plum, you need to prepare planting material in advance. It is better to do this in advance, taking local unpretentious varieties. Seeds must be thoroughly cleaned of pulp by rinsing in water, do not remove the hard shell. Then dry and store in a cool place until planting.
How to grow a plum from a stone in a pot
Planting is best done not earlier than February, as the plants need sunlight. Before that, it is necessary to carry out stratification and preferably scarification. The stratification procedure assumes long-term storage of seeds at sub-zero temperatures, which increases their germination.
Under natural conditions, the seeds of fruits that have fallen from the tree germinate naturally by spring. In an apartment or house, conditions are created artificially by placing a pot of seeds in a refrigerator or freezer. Scarification - helping the plant to free itself from the hard shell. Sometimes the bones are rubbed with sand, even with a file, to make it thinner.
What does a plum sprout look like?
Keeping track of seed germination is always fun. Cotyledonous leaves appear first. They are round and similar in all plants. The two cotyledons are followed by true leaves. Plum leaves have the shape of an ellipse, that is, an oval. The edges are finely toothed, the surface of the leaf plate is shiny.
Growing plums at home
Growing takes place in several stages:
- Preparing the soil and pot. The pot for planting is taken small so that the earth does not acidify. The soil for germination is mixed with river sand 1: 1.
- The plum stone deepens by 3-4 cm, watered, sprinkled with earth. It is better to plant several pieces at once for reliability.
- The pot is placed in the freezer for 4 months.
- After the pot has been taken out, it is placed in a bright place and it is made sure that the soil does not dry out.
- After the sprouts appear, you need to make sure that the seedlings do not stretch. In the first month, they need adequate watering and good lighting.
- If several shoots have appeared, the strongest is left, the rest are removed by cutting them with scissors (without pulling out).
- After a month, you can start feeding the plum. The best mineral fertilizer is ammophoska, which combines 3 components: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. Before planting outside, you need to fertilize the seedling regularly.
Transplanting a plum sapling into open ground
Before planting in open ground, the plant needs hardening. Gradually, the seedling gets used to the change of night and day temperatures, wind, air humidity, precipitation. You need to start hardening from a few minutes, gradually bringing the time to 24 hours. It is necessary to ensure that direct sunlight does not fall on the plant.
How to grow a plum from a stone in the country
If conditions do not allow at home, you can grow a plum from a stone in the country. To do this, you need to choose the time, place and method of sowing.
When and where to plant plum seeds
The stone can be planted immediately in the place designated for planting plums at the end of September - October. In this case, you need to plant at least 10 pieces at once, prudently protecting yourself from mice. For example, bury tar paper around the landing site. You can also put it in the planting hole.
A hole is dug in advance, measuring 60 * 60 * 60 cm. Manure, branches are placed on the bottom, then a small layer of sand and humus or compost. In a month, the earth settles, and if necessary, it is poured. The seeds are planted to a depth of no more than 10 cm. There is no need to water the top, it is enough to cover it with earth. The landing site is marked with pegs.
How to germinate a plum seed
On the street, the bone sprouts on its own, going through the process of scarification and stratification naturally. To do this, it is planted in the fall, in the middle - end of October. If there are a lot of seeds, then they dig a trench 10 cm deep. The pit is not filled with any fertilizers.
The seeds are laid out at a distance of 20-30 cm. If they are planted immediately on a permanent place, it must first be fertilized. Some free the bone from a dense shell. But this is not necessary, and for the autumn planting it is destructive. This method is only suitable for disembarkation in the spring.
How to plant a stone plum
Plum is planted in autumn or spring. If the planting is postponed to spring, then the bones must be stratified in the freezer, in the refrigerator or outdoors, in the cold. In the spring, as soon as the snow thaws, they can be planted in a prepared place.
After a year, the plum is ready for grafting, which must be carried out with any variety you like. Without grafting, the tree can give off any unfortunate ancestral qualities. By planting a seedling, the gardener protects himself from all kinds of risks of non-compliance with the variety and brings the time of fruiting closer.
How to grow a seedling from a plum seed
At the dacha, it is better to grow a seedling for a rootstock immediately in the place where the plum will grow. This culture is shade tolerant, but the shade should not be permanent. For abundant fruiting, the plum is planted in the sun. When choosing a place, take into account that the plum loves loose fertile soil.
If the planting is single, then in advance you need to dig a planting hole 50 * 50 * 50 cm. You can dig even more, depending on the future variety. The pit is filled with completely rotted compost or humus, ash and sand for looseness.
If everyone ascends, then the weakest need to be pinched, but in no case should they be pulled out of the ground, damaging the root system. In good indoor conditions, a seedling for grafting can be grown by early summer.
Do I need to plant a plum grown from a stone
To get a full-fledged tree, a seedling grown from a stone must be grafted. Plum from the stone very rarely retains the variety. Better not to hope for this, but to plant it only for the rootstock. You need to inoculate with a high-quality variety that has decent characteristics and suits your taste.
You can vaccinate in spring, summer and autumn. If the seedling grows at home until spring, then it may be ready (depending on the intensity of growth) for grafting in mid - late summer. It is better to sow a few plums so that you can then choose the most successful inoculation.
Conclusion
Pitted plum can be obtained at home or in the field. You can grow a full-fledged fruit tree on your own: the stock and grafting will reliably correspond to the variety in the future.
