Don’t toss those peach pits! This interesting video shows you how to germinate stone fruit pits so that you can grow your own fruit trees from seed…

While most people think you need to plant young saplings or graft seedlings if you want to grow fruit trees, in fact, it is quite possible to grow fruit trees from seed. Of course, you will need a bit more patience, but in some cases, seed-grown fruit trees can start producing fruit as soon as those grown from grafted trees or saplings planted as bare-root trees – and they are a whole lot cheaper!

The trick is, you need to treat your seeds in a specific way to get them to germinate properly. This technique is called “cold stratification“, and the purpose is to mimic the weather conditions a seed would experience if it had fallen off a tree and sprouted by itself. You want to provide a cold period, followed by warmth and moisture, just like a seed would get if it went through winter and spring. There are several different methods of cold stratification that you can use: cold-water soaking, refrigeration, fall planting, winter/solstice sowing, outdoor treatment, and snow planting.

One of the simplest methods for most people is the refrigeration method. This will typically take about 3 months, so you will want to time it so they are ready to be planted outside in spring once the soil has warmed and danger of frost has passed.

Watch this quick video to learn how to use this method to germinate stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, etc.) that can then be planted outdoors in the spring: