How to grow a peach from a stone?

A peach tree grown independently from a stone can become the property of any garden. In principle, such a task turns out to be on the shoulder for amateurs, if the technology is adhered to in the smallest details.

In order to successfully grow a peach from a stone, it is necessary to pay enough attention to the preparation of planting material. First of all, it must be obtained from a specific specimen growing in the same climatic zone as the experimental gardener. This means that fruits imported from Spain or Turkey, despite their outstanding taste characteristics, will not be suitable for this purpose. If possible, it is recommended to obtain planting material from a trusted "supplier", that is, from a friend who grows peaches and has been harvesting for more than a year.

In addition, an important rule is to use only the seeds of those fruits that live on a tree with its own root system. Instances taken from grafted branches are not suitable for reproduction at all.

If the seeds are planted in the fall, which means they are collected at the end of summer, it will be enough to thoroughly clean them of the pulp, rinse in warm water and dry naturally. Planting material, stored for the winter, must be subjected to special treatment before spring planting. It can be done in two ways. The first involves soaking for 8-10 hours in rainwater or liquid obtained from melting snow. In the second case, the bones are wrapped in a rag soaked in moisture, or buried in moistened sawdust, after which they are left for several days. During the above period, it is important to maintain room temperature in places where fruit seeds are stored.

The selected planting material must be intact and not contain insects inside. It should be extracted only from large, ripe, fruits harvested in autumn, not touched by rot, birds, or pests. Of course, the peach kernels should be whole and without cracks.

The best time to plant peach seeds is in the spring. The exact time intervals are determined depending on the region, but the street should definitely get warmer, and the windowsills should be bathed in the sun. In addition, the possibility of regular ventilation is important - that is, windows or vents are periodically opened. It will be harmful for seedlings to stay at home for a long time, since the culture should begin to adapt to the weather conditions of the region as soon as possible. However, it is allowed to take out seedlings to open beds only when the probability of frost return disappears.

It turns out that the direct planting of seeds should be carried out about a month and a half before the arrival of heat. In Siberia, this condition corresponds to April, in the regions of the middle zone - the interval from March to April, and in the south - even earlier, from February to March.

There are several ways to successfully grow a peach at home.

The first stage of growing a peach tree involves seed germination. Most often, gardeners prefer stratification, that is, the stay of planting material in spaces with high humidity and low temperatures from +1 to +5. For example, they are ideally matched to the lower compartment of the refrigerator compartment. You should not just fold the peach seed - it must first be buried in the soil mixture. For this purpose, it is recommended to use wet coarse sand, perlite or even peat.

The earth is laid in an ordinary container with large drainage holes, after which the bones are deepened into it by 5-8 centimeters. The pot itself is moved into a plastic bag with several ventilation holes. Planting material will have to germinate in this way up to 5 months. During this period, it is important to maintain the moisture content of the soil mixture, as well as to control the absence of putrefactive processes. The emergence of the sprout marks the possibility of removing the container from the refrigerator and replanting the peach in a light and fertile soil mixture.

Instead of a container with damp earth, in principle, it is not forbidden to use a damp cloth, which will also be put into a bag with punctured holes. In this case, every week the seed must be removed from the refrigerator and rinsed in clean water, and then placed in a fresh napkin and bag.

This should be done gradually: the first week the pots should be held at a temperature of +10 degrees, for example, on a glazed balcony. Further, the sprouts are allowed to be transferred to the room. It will also be possible to germinate the seed correctly following a simplified, "warm" scheme. It all begins with the same stratification, but carried out already on the upper shelves of the refrigerating chamber, and lasting just over a week. Then scarification is carried out, that is, the hard shell of the seed, which, in fact, is the bone, is partially destroyed by a file or a hammer.

The treated planting material is immersed in a solution of any stimulating drug for several hours, and then immediately transferred to a nutritious soil. Each bone should deepen by 1 centimeter, and the container itself should be covered with cling film or a transparent "roof". It will take about 4 months before sprouts appear. Finally, you can do it even easier - carefully open the bone with a vise, and remove the seed from it. The resulting grain is dropped into a glass of heated water, where it will have to spend several days to swell. The fluid must be periodically changed during this time period. Further, the kernel deepens by 8-10 centimeters in a container with nutrient soil, which is then also covered with a "roof". An improvised greenhouse is installed in a well-lit and heated place.

The sprouted seed should be planted in a universal soil mixture: bought ready-made in the store, or taken from your own garden with the addition of humus and baking powder - for example, perlite or coconut fiber. A mix of two parts of leafy earth, one part of peat, part of humus and part of sand is also suitable. The composition must be disinfected in order to destroy all possible spores of fungi and pest larvae. Alternatively, for this, the soil is steamed in the oven. After the container with drainage holes is filled with earth, its contents are watered with rain or melt water. Crops covered with foil are placed in a warm place, where the temperature is approximately +25 degrees.From time to time they will have to be ventilated and irrigated.

After the roots are formed at the sprout, the development of the tree itself will begin. In the future, the peach can be left at home, but it is much more correct to plant it in open ground. I must say that the latter option is possible without preliminary germination of the planting material. Peach kernels are simply soaked or scarified, after which they sink into the soil by 7-8 centimeters.

Proper peach care is an important part of growing this crop. Sprouts released from under the film can be located at room temperature, but they must be protected from temperature jumps and drafts. Young seedlings require good lighting, but react very poorly to direct sunlight. An insufficient amount of light must necessarily be corrected with special lamps. Irrigation is carried out regularly and abundantly, and is necessarily accompanied by loosening of the soil.

An exception is a fruiting tree, which requires a moderate amount of moisture. Once every 10 days, a developing crop should be fed with Fertika Lux complex fertilizer. In autumn and winter, the peach tree is dormant, and therefore the specimen must be transferred to a space in which the temperature will not exceed +4 degrees. When the kidneys wake up, the temperature rises to +10 degrees.

An adult plant, especially one in the open field, requires more frequent fertilization. First, mineral complexes are used at the stage of bud formation. It is worth using urea, nitroammophos or "Kemira", and each young tree will take about 30-40 grams, and for a fruiting one - about 200 grams. The next introduction of fertilizers is in mid-July. A mixture of superphosphate and potassium salt is most suitable: 50 and 25 grams for young seedlings, or 200 and 100 grams for adult plants.

The third dressing is intended for fruiting specimens, "busy" with the formation of fruits. Once every 3-4 years, the peach can be fed with organic matter in the amount of 1-2 buckets of compost for each tree. It is suggested to fight fungal diseases in peach with copper sulfate or 3% Bordeaux liquid. Getting rid of insects is carried out using commercial insecticides. In addition, the peach that lives on the street will need to be hidden under burlap or non-woven cloth for the winter, and the trunk should be additionally insulated with glass wool. The land in the garden will additionally need to be hidden under spruce branches or a thick layer of fallen leaves - this will prevent the plant root system from freezing.

It is generally accepted that a peach grown from a stone is best transplanted into open ground. The procedure can be carried out both in spring and in autumn: in March next year or early September. The place chosen in the garden or in the country for the seedling should be actively lit, free and protected from the cold wind, for example, by the wall of the house or by a fence. It is important that there is no stagnant liquid on the site, no flooding by precipitation or melt water, and the soil itself is saturated with the elements necessary for culture. If necessary, the soil is "fed" with compost, humus or organic matter before the start of transplanting.

Peach trees are planted according to two classical schemes. In the first case, a gap of 3 meters is maintained between individual copies. The second implies the arrangement of a "meadow garden": the seedlings are lined up, and a gap of 0.5 meters is maintained between them. The distance between individual rows is maintained equal to 2 meters.By the way, regardless of the chosen scheme, up to buildings and to any trees with wide crowns, an interval of 3-4 meters should be maintained. Before the start of transplanting, the surface of the garden bed is covered with fertilizers. For each square meter, you will have to use a bucket of humus with a glass of ash. Instead of the latter, it is allowed to use 20 grams of superphosphate and 15 grams of potassium sulfate. Pits for peaches are made of the same dimensions as the containers in which they were developed. The seedlings, together with the earthen clod, are transferred by the transshipment method and carefully filled up.