Allotments 4 All

I have a stone from a plum (grown by colleague) sitting on my desk. It was the most delicious plum and I'd like to grow my own.

How easy is it to grow a tree from a stone?

Do plum trees grow huge or behave themselves?

How long will it take to fruit?

I think this is similar to apples where plum trees tend to be grafted onto root stock - maybe wrong of course!  If you get it to grow, and it was a hybrid, you might not end up with the same fruit as you enjoyed, plus I reakon it would take 5 or more years before it was big enough to start to blossom.  As for behaving, well, we have greengages and plums in the boundary of our allotment and they are huge scruffy trees, altho weighed down with fruit!  However, what have you got to loose??  ;D

1. It's easy -we bunged the stones in pots, left them, and up they came.

2. Ours is in a pot and is a bit of a bonsai although I keep potting it up. Left to itself it would probably get large.

3. Don't know, we've only had it 5 or 6 years  ::)

4. It won't come true -although it may well be good. This isn't from direct experience, it's just what I've heard.

Jeremy

ok - i'll try it. Emma's last line says it all really.

I'll have to get a few more stones, though, in case this one doesn't work (any excuse to eat more of them  :P)

I meant to add that I'm going to try peaches and nectarines this year as they're supposed to produce decent fruit fairly reliably.

Jeremy

would i be right in saying a little bit of underpot heating helps??

carl

I think you would -but probably not as much as I've done it  ;D

Jeremy

any more addvice on this? have some greegage stones and cherry stones want to try and grow. any tips/advice? just bung in a pot and wait or do they need soaking in water or baking etc first? tried googling couldn't find anything. TIA

I tend to crack open the large stones to give them a head start but you have to be careful that you don't damage the kernal - apricot and nectarines were germinating for fun earlier in the year