Growing Apricot From Seeds

My neighbor has an apricot tree. Every year she let's us come over and pick as many apricots as we want. There's always too many to go around. This year I saved some pits and Trevor and I are going to grow them. Before I get into details there's no guarantee that the seeds will produce apricots. My plum tree is right behind, back to back from the apricot tree. The apricot flowers bloomed just before the plums but there was an overlap so there is a chance the seeds are of plucots (apricot and plum hybrid). We'll know in 3 to 5 years.

I found 2 methods of growing apricots on the Internet so it's experiment time.
First step is to crack the pits with a hammer or nut cracker. I used a hammer. I found putting a pit on it's side and hitting the edge works best.
We have 18 seeds so 9 of them will be put in between a moist paper towel in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The other 9 are in a jar with moist soil in the refrigerator. The seeds need a 30 day stratification period so after 30 days in the fridge we will check for sprouting.

Update: Loquats

The loquat pits have sprouted and have been planted. We had 9 pits and all 9 pits sprouted. Unforunately 3 of the roots broke because they got attached to the paper towel or because it was too fragile. We found a clear 6 compartment box which we planted the the 6 remaining pits in. Since the box is clear we'll be able to track the root growth and progress better.


Loquat pits germinated

Avocado Update: Pits Have Shoots

Well the avocado pits now have shoots. Apparently both shoots sprouted at about the same time. There was not even a day between them.

Water
I had to move the pit that was in water from the cup to a jar. There is a small shoot.




Avocado Pit in Water
Soil
The pit grown in soil has a longer shoot and the root found its way out of one of the drainage holes




Avocado Pit in Soil
Conclusion
Apparently, there is no difference whether you grow the avocado pit in water or in soil, just leave the skin on. But I did realize, putting the pit in water, it was much easier to see it's progress and when it needed more water.



Side by Side

What's Next?
Well I'm going to transfer the soil pit to a larger pot but I'm going to keep the water pit in water. I will make my decision when to transfer it to a pot when the jar is full of roots or when the shoot is 1 ft tall, which ever comes first. Like how most Internet instructions say, once it reaches 1 ft I will trim it down to 6 to 8 inches.

Growing Loquats From Seed

Loquat is a tree that I have had experience with in the past. Fifteen years ago my parents purchased some loquats from a grocery store in Chinatown. We buried some pits in the backyard to grow our own tree. After 5 years it finally bared fruit. It is now over 20 ft tall and we get to enjoy loquats every summer.

This year I decided to save some of the pits for myself in an attempt to grow my own tree. Instead of putting the put in a pot of soil or burying it in the ground, I am putting the pits between some paper towels. Nine days ago I put 9 pits between a paper towel, and put the paper towel in a plastic Ziploc bag. Keeping the paper towel moist, put the bag in a nice sunny window.

Well today, one of the pits finally started to sprout. It wouldn't surprise me if in the next few days the other ones start as well. When the roots get a little longer the pits will be potted.

Growing Cherries From Seeds

Our supermarkets are now flooded with cherries so we are going to start growing cherries. We will be trying several methods of growing cherries to see which one is the fastest.
Obtaining pits is simple. Just eat a few cherries and save the pits. Make sure you wash the pits very well and not leave any fruit residue. The sugars can cause molding and fungus.
Outside
Using our 12 compartment seed trays, using potting soil, 6 compartments have pits, the other 6 compartments contain cherry seeds. We cracked several pits open with hammers to obtain the seed. Unlike previous seeds, they are not inside a greenhouse. Doing some research online, I have found that the greenhouse is too hot for the cherry and may harm it.



Seed tray with cherry pits and seeds. One side is pits, the other side is seeds.


In The Refrigerator
One method I have been reading online is to get a jar or bag and fill it with moist soil and seeds. Keep the soil moist and leave it in the refrigerator for up to 90 days. During those 90 days check to see if any sprouting has occurred.
Trevor and I are using jars. One jar will have 20 pits, the other jar will have 20 seeds. We will see which one grows faster.



Me spraying the cherry tray

Avocado Pit Experiment

Back in November I decided to start a little experiment to test different growing methods of avocado pits. Browsing the Internet the 2 most popular methods are suspending the avocado pit by toothpicks in water, or planting it halfway in potting soil. Several websites also suggest peeling off the skin. I got 4 avocado pits and tested the 4 methods.

You can read my intro and an update on Hubpages.

After several months the pits where the skin was peeled off made no growth so I tossed them. The ones with skin both had roots. The one in water had a small root but it had cracked significantly while the one in soil had a much longer root but not much cracking.

Next step is to see which will grow a shoot first. I will keep you updated as soon as I get results.