Good fruit/nut/edible trees to grow from seed

Hi !

In order to save money, i would like to grow fruit / nut / other edible part trees from seed, so i search what fruits are already pretty good in a semi-wild state, so growing from seed is worth trying,

i've already found :

Juglans ailanthifolia v cordiformis
Ungi Molinae / Myrtus Ugni

any suggestions ?

mulberries

pawpaws, juneberries

one might also think about finding good trees and taking cuttings or layering to start new plants

I'd say buy one of each tree from a nursery, and then graft onto seedlings.

i have 3 seedling apple trees and they are really nice..I'd go ahead and try just about anything..can't hurt to try if you have the room for any mistakes to grow..

I have a lot of acerage so I'm always willing to let something grow to see how it turns out.

With fruit trees, even if they turn out horrible fruit, you can still feed them to the hogs.

Perma, since you are in SW France try to ask about what naturally grows in that area.
A quick growing Fruit we like is Guava, but it may not do well where you are.

If you have to plant hundreds of trees, you will safe money. But if you have a backyard you won't. If you buy cultivators or grafted trees you don't spend much money, but they will start to fruit earlier and you don't have to spend money at the greengrocer.
Even trees for grow easily from seed there's an advantage buying them because you safe time. Until your seedlings start bearing you will have spend several times the amount you paid for the tree buying your fruit in the shop.
Seedling trees are always very big and  if you have y bird problem you can't net them. And you will have less trees in your backyard.
You might be able to ask neighbours for cuttings of gooseberries, blackberries, currants and raspberries. And you can propagate strawberries very easily.
You can grow figs from cuttings, and mulberries. I thinks peaches grow true to type from a seed , however I didn't try. You can take cuttings of grapevines, but in some areas grafted vines are better.

Peaches.

Peaches are very easy to grow from seeds.  Just plant the pits in the summer, and they will germinate the following spring after overwintering in the ground.

They can begin to bear in 3 years.

I've grown dozen of peaches from pits,  and the vast majority have superb quality fruit.  Every once in a while one has either small fruit or bitter-tasting fruit -- I believe those are ones that crossed with my almond trees.

Some trees/shrubs will root from cutting as well. Mulberry and currant come to mind

Loquat trees come true from seed (but are suitable for subtropical climates)

i just got maybe 20 sucker cuttings from a 100 year or so apple tree. i am putting them into some moist compost just to see if any of them root out.

any fruit trees root from cuttings well?

check out his other videos on starting cuttings

Try whatever you like to eat (no sense in growing something you don't!). Don't pay a whole lot of attention to recommended climate zones...
Most of us ask about them, because we dont' want to waste time and money on something that isn't going to do well for us. But when you are dealing with seedlings.. you are dealing with a few unknown genetic qualities. You may come up with plants that normally wouldn't be recommended in your area, based on hardiness... that no one ever tries... and find that you have a hardy survivor (hey.. then you can patent it and sell it!)

Do what you have the room for, what you have the time /water resources to take care of.

Seriously, I'd start with a list of what I like to eat.. and take it from there.

If you go for nuts then it's hard to go wrong. Wallnut, heartnut, hazel, hickory (or pecan if you are far enough south). Don't try almonds, they aren't likely to come out non-poisonous. If you go for fruit trees from seeds expect a lot of spitters.

thanks duane

I started some Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium; Chinese exotic to 15' with edible leaves, flowers, and nuts supposedly) this spring. They've been going well so far. I'll be potting them up soon and hope to start more of them next year. They've been easy.

I also started some Mulberries and we'll see how they do, but with the small seed I found it difficult to deal with. I started some Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) from seed and while germination was great most of them fell off once potted up. This may have to do with my potting mix and probably not mixing native soil (particularly from around other Locusts) into it. Given that Locust is native to my region (though sparse in my immediate vicinity) I should probably just find an area where Locust seedlings are sprouting en masse and go on a dig-a-thon.

I've got a few chestnuts in the ground, still waiting to see if they come up. Some of the chestnuts sprouted in the fridge during stratification and those were the first in, but not much has emerged. I did have a few American Chestnut hybrid seeds and they sprouted in strat and were potted out early and now are up and looking good. One is almost to 12" in less than a couple of months! Also have some walnuts and hazel (corylus colurna x avellana) to put in the ground. Not sure how this will go with the mice about.

So far in this experiment, I'm finding things with large nuts/seeds easy to handle. I'm just beginning to try trees from seed, and I'm looking forward to the good medicine of the project, but for the area I'm trying to plant, I will still order seedlings from nurseries. There are wholesale nurseries that will sell small, well-rooted seedlings for $1-2 a piece. Furthermore, the Forest Service has nurseries that sell seedlings for CHEAP. Like I could get 1000 Chinese Chestnut seedlings 18-24" for $300 or $0.33 a piece. Wow!

permaguy wrote:
Hi !

In order to save money, i would like to grow fruit / nut / other edible part trees from seed, so i search what fruits are already pretty good in a semi-wild state, so growing from seed is worth trying,

i've already found :

Juglans ailanthifolia v cordiformis
Ungi Molinae / Myrtus Ugni

any suggestions ?

Where y'at, permaguy? And what are your climate and soil like?

wildeyes McCoy wrote:I've got a few chestnuts in the ground, still waiting to see if they come up. Some of the chestnuts sprouted in the fridge during stratification and those were the first in, but not much has emerged. I did have a few American Chestnut hybrid seeds and they sprouted in strat

Just for information, doesn't seem necessary to stratify chestnuts. I threw 6 into a pot about a month ago, three have sprouted already. Just picked them up in a ladies yard and put'em in a pot the same day.

Chris
I think it kind of depends on your location as to whether or not stratifying in the fridge is necessary. It seems as though I read somewhere that if the nut freezes before it sprouts it is no longer viable, so if you are in a colder climate you would want to stratify in the fridge to have better success. That's interesting that you were able to get them to sprout fresh. Do think there is some chance that they were hold outs from last season. Everything I've read on them states that they should be cold stratified, if not I've got a bucket that I could start right away!

Oh I see you're in Alabama, do you know if the chestnuts you picked up were Chinese or a hybrid, perhaps that makes a difference.

the cold stratification process is primarily to break dormancy, if the seed doesnt go dormant (is fresh seed) then the stratification process isnt necessary. actually theres quite a few things i would say it isnt strictly necessary, but it increases germination percent. anything from a warm climate, tropical, dont need it, it is though also a way to prevent quick germination, basically store the seed cold, keeping it dormant, till its early spring.

and of course, its the way it usually works, the seed starts to dry, goes into dormancy as it gets cold, and then sort of "sleeps" through the winter. so it also mimics nature, and can break down whatever germination inhibitors that may be coating the seed.

my list of best bets trees/plants from seed --->

plum
peach
apricot
citrus
grapes
kiwi
avocado
persimmons
papaya
guava
other tropicals
any uncommon fruit/nut and therefore unmessed with genetics

maybe less good bets, but still worth trying
hazelnut
pecan
hickory
chestnut
walnut

not such good bets, but worth a try if you like to experiment --

apples
pears
cherry
almond
many nuts, unless you arent as concerned about huge nuts and more concerned with having trees and hardy, easy ones.

Dave Dahlsrud wrote:Oh I see you're in Alabama, do you know if the chestnuts you picked up were Chinese or a hybrid, perhaps that makes a difference.

Looked Chinese to me. They were fresh. Had just fallen. Only found a few, the trees are young. I've done the same thing with black walnuts. Get about 50% germination from them.

Chris Gilliam wrote:

Dave Dahlsrud wrote:Oh I see you're in Alabama, do you know if the chestnuts you picked up were Chinese or a hybrid, perhaps that makes a difference.

Looked Chinese to me. They were fresh. Had just fallen. Only found a few, the trees are young. I've done the same thing with black walnuts. Get about 50% germination from them.

Interesting, that's good to know. Maybe the Chinese don't need the stratification like the American does.

Thanks for the list Leila, and the insight into how the stratification process works/can be bipassed.

I have seeded lots of kiwi with great luck (hundreds, as soon as a kiwi get too ripe, it gets another chance by giving its seeds).
A few days in the freezer, and then in a mini greenhouse.
You have to be very patient to get a fruit, and most of the seedlings are male, but you can keep just the root stocks and graft female or other cultivars on the male roots stock.

Loquat are very easy to grow from seed and, normally, they are Self-fertile.

In 5-6 years they will start flowering...and, if your winter is not too cold, the fruits will ripen in May-June.

Also Apricot and Peach could be a good choice !!

Don't sow Apple and Pear seeds....often they give not self-fertile plants with small fruits (or even fruitless)

I have hundreds of apple seedlings growing from mash covered with woodchips on a hugel bed, all off our 2019 Crescent City Food Forest harvest festival apple pressing. These came from gleaned fruit and apples brought by the public. Inspired by Sepp Holzer’s books, this seems to work for a prolific amount of seedlings to select from. I will get some pictures shortly.

Anyone have any success starting an apricot tree from seed?  Did the tree bear fruit?  I bought an apricot tree from a store several years ago and it got large but never produced fruit.  It was also thorny/spiney and I finally cut it down after about 20 yrs.  So disappointing.

Elderberry.  This may be more of a bush, but they grow true from seed.  The birds help us plant them along the fence rows. (c8
 

Sour cherries grown from seed produce excellent fruit.  My montmorency will produce its first 'large' crop of cherries in about a month.  It just started its 6th year.  Peaches are great from seed.  I have 12 red havens.  1 strawbery plant will fill a 10 by 10 foot bed in 2 years and leave you freezing fresh berries.  Meiwa and Fukushu kumquats come true from seed and produce nicely in 3-5 years.  Alpine strawberries did well for me from seed.

Wow Steve, what lovely kumquat trees!  They grew fast too.  What method did you use to start the seed?  I have saved some seeds from my friend's kumquat fruit tree but I don't know what variety they are.  They are in a baggie in the fridge.  Want to get them planted ASAP!  I live in zone 7a/b.  We get snow in winter (but my friend lives where there's no snow), so maybe I need to keep in greenhouse or at least sheltered?  Yours look like in a shelter of some kind, right?  Where are you located?  Thanks.

Thanks Denise.  I live in Cincinnati Ohio.  I place the seeds in a napkin and fold it over.  After dampening it I place it in a plastic baggy and put it in the south window.  After root pokes from seed I plant it in sterile potting soil.  Kumquat are very prone to  damp-off so water in the morning when sun can dry soil surface out.  When the tree is about 4 inches tall I lift the tree to expose about a third inch of root.  This reduces the risk of damp-off greatly

Growing trees from seed!  -  I made the mistake of buying Moringa tree seed and then found out that I'm in the wrong climate for growing them as frost and cold weather will kill them.

SO, if there is any one from the deep South that would like these seeds, send me your address and $5.00 for the seed and mailing and I'll get them out to you right away.

Supposedly, all parts of the Moringa are beneficial, but especially the leaves. Check it out on the Internet.

First come, First served on the offer. With your eMail I will mark the seeds as sold if I believe that you truly want the seeds.

JayGee

Here is a company that sales nut and fruit tree seeds. https://www.incredibleseeds.ca/

As was said, some research on the type of tree may be helpful. Ex. PawPaw grows in southern Ontario but may grow without producing fruit in my zone 5b with cool summers.