If you love nectarine fruit trees, but cringe at the prices of already rooted and growing trees in the nursery stores, why not grow your own. After you finish eating the fruit, you can plant seed. This is a fun and exciting project for your entire family. You can use it as a school project to teach kids the value of sowing seeds for the future generations. No need to buy the seed from the greenhouse when you can buy the ripe nectarines at the grocery store, or pick them from the tree. There is one thing to remember before you plant the seed. If you want a nectarine to taste exactly like the one you just ate, then you will then need to buy the tree from the garden supply center. This is because the trees are usually grafted on another fruit tree, and the two of them combined make the wonderful tasting nectarine you find in the stores.
Prepare the Pit
Enjoy eating the sweet, juicy pulp from the nectarine until you get to the center where the pit is located. Fill a bowl with warm water. Submerge the seed or seeds in the water to remove the remaining pulp. If any seeds float, toss them away because they are not viable.
After you have the pulp removed, lay the nectarine seeds on an absorbent towel. Leave them to air dry on the towel for two days.
Remove the Seed
Now comes the hard part, getting the seed out of the pit. You will need to crack the pit open to expose the seed inside. To do this, you can use a vice grip or a nut cracker. Simply place the long sides of the pit in the jaws of the vice grip and slowly tighten the jaws until the pit cracks open. Loosen the vice grip, remove the pit to find the seed inside. It’s just like cracking open a nut.
Once the seeds are removed, fill a bowl with tepid water. Place the seeds in the water to soak overnight.
Stratify the Seeds
You will need to find a pint jar that has a lid. It can be any kind of jar so along with planting seeds, you are also recycling. Fill the pint jar with moistened potting soil until the jar is half full.
Drop the seeds inside the jar so it lies on top of the soil. Do not cover the seeds with soil. Put the lid on loosely and then place the jar in the refrigerator. The nectarine seeds need to be stratified in cold storage before they will germinate.
After the seeds have been left in the refrigerator for one month, check them. You need to determine two things. Are the seeds beginning to germinate, and is the soil dry. Add a few drops of water if the soil is dry to keep the soil barely moist.
Check the seeds again next month. They should be germinating by then or just about to sprout. It is time to plant the germinating seeds. You can keep the seeds that haven’t germinated in the refrigerator, or plant them. Keep the seeds in the refrigerator until the last frost date is two months away.
Prepare the Pots
Prepare your pots. You will need a 6-inch pot for each nectarine seed. Cover the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot with pieces of shard. Fill the pots with well-draining potting soil. You can use your own mix of potting soil, or buy some at the garden supply store. If you want to mix your own, an easy recipe to follow is using equal amounts of compost, peat moss and perlite.
Remove the pint jar from the refrigerator. If the jar has a wide mouth, reach in and carefully remove the nectarine seed. For small mouthed jars, lay down some newspaper onto the work table and carefully dump the contents out. Just be gentle when doing this and handling the seeds because you don’t want to break off the root.
Plant the Seed
Dig a hole in the center of the pot with your fingers or you can use a spoon if you don’t want to get dirty. You’ll want to plant the seed so it is a half-inch to one inch deep. Cover the seed with soil and gently firm the soil with your fingers. Don’t use much pressure because you risk damaging the emerging roots.
Water the soil allowing the excess water to drain away. The soil needs to be kept moist, but never soggy or the roots will rot.
Find a bright window for your nectarine pots, keeping them out of direct sunlight. Monitor the soil to ensure it stays moist. In a week or sometimes it takes longer, you should see the nectarine beginning to grow.
When all danger of frost is past, you can transplant the nectarines into the prepared garden site. You can also continue to grow them in pots. Grow them indoors during the winter months and then move them outdoors during the summer months.
In the spring, give them some fertilizer. A houseplant fertilizer works well when used and mixed according to label directions.
References
Ohio State University: Growing Peaches and Nectarines in the Home Landscape
“Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening”; J.L. Rodale
“American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants”; Christopher Brickell
“National Garden Book”; Sunset Books
Mother Earth News: Grow Free Fruit Trees