North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>]

Sarah,

Both need to be stratified. Your peach and sweet cherry seeds may not be
surviving your winters if you are planting them outside in the fall. You can
try stratifying them in a refrigerator for 3 months, then sow them outside
in the spring.

The Arctic kiwi (A. kolomikta) seeds are somewhat difficult to germinate
compared to some of the other Actinidia species. First, soak the seeds in
water for two to three days, then place them in moist peat in a refrigerator
for about 3 months. If you then place them at room temp, some may germinate
in 2-4 weeks, but many will not until undergoing a second stratification. I
have found that the kolomikta seedlings will sometimes bloom one year from
seed, but more often take two years. You will also get both male and female
vines, with the males blooming more precociously than the females. If you
can find named cultivars instead of growing from seed, it can save you a
couple of years, and you will get plants with a proven fruit quality.

Hal

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Kehler Ewing" <skkewing@yahoo.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:05 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Growing Plums and Arctic Kiwi (smooth skins) from seed


> I'm wondering if any NAFEX members might have some advice on starting
plums  and Arctic Kiwi from seed.  I'm not sure if the Kiwi seeds need to be
cold stratified and I'm wondering what others have experienced.  These Kiwis
are the smooth skinned grape-sized ones with the tri-colour new growth.  And
I recently met someone at our local fruit growers festival that had cracked
their peach, cherry and plum seeds in a vice before planting them out in the
fall to cold stratify over the winter.  I have grown 100's of chokecherries,
Cherry Plums, and Nanking Cherries by just planting them in the fall so is
all this cracking really necessary for the other stone fruits?  Ironically
enough, I have had very little success growing Peaches and sweet cherries
from seed.
>
> Thank-you,
>
> Sarah
> Zone 3b, Edmonton, AB
>
>
>
>
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