Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits.

Olafhenny · 08-01-2012, 10:15 PM

Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits.

Last year birds delivered some seeds of Nanking Cherries and deposited those seeds of the shrubs
/trees, which originate in the high UV environment of a mountain range in China, to the darkest
corner of our yard and they thrived like nothing else under this roof overhang at the north side of
our house. The seedlings grew during the first summer to a height of 6 feet and this spring broke
out in beautiful bloom. The bark of the branches is also extremely showy in spring. All that makes
for a very desirable shrub.

More on this story with photos of the beautiful flowers and bark and how I got help in identifying
the shrub see here : Please help identify this shrub

Unfortunately the Nanking Cherry is not self pollinating and the second shrub, also delivered
to a quite shady spot and transplanted near the first was still quite small and had few blossoms.
The upshot is, that after protecting the seven cherries, I discovered, with netting, I managed to
get 6 of them to ripen and harvest.

Now I am hoping to get advice from this forum on the most promising method to grow cherries
from seeds, so I can get the optimal number of seedlings from that limited supply of pits.

Thank you in advance,
Olaf

sandy0225 · 08-11-2012, 02:11 PM

The way I did it was to just plant them outdoors in the ground about 2" deep as soon as the cherries were eaten. Mark the place with a stick, and then after winter is over, they came up in the spring. It wasn't too high tech.

Olafhenny · 08-11-2012, 03:14 PM

Thank you, Sandy,

what is new to me is that they probably require frost to activate germination.

Here I was watching for them to pop up in another week or two

I could probably simulate that in the freezer, but if I did that now, I would possibly throw
off the annual cycle right from the start.

I planted 3 of the seeds in almost full shade (that is where the birdies delivered the
original seeds) and 3 in partial shade. I also gave them only about 1/2 inch of cover. I am not
too worried about that, because I cannot imagine, that the birds buried their seeds as deeply
as you.

I did protect them with bird prove mesh though.

I suspected that it would not be "rocket science", since the birds accomplished the 'feat'
even inadvertently, but thought it prudent to seek advice from more experienced people
like yourself, because I had only 6 seeds and failure for them to sprout would set my
efforts back a whole year.

Thanks,
Olaf

sandy0225 · 08-11-2012, 03:51 PM

hey, you could do it in the refrigerator if you wanted to. I found a website that tells how long to stratify the cherry seeds.
Germination of Tree Seed | Horticulture and Home Pest News
I just didn't care that much about mine. I remembered that Mom had dumped her seeds when she pitted cherries in the fencerow and ended up with a whole bunch of sour pie cherry trees.

neferset · 08-11-2012, 05:19 PM

I just started some seeds from Bing cherry chilling in the fridge. In the early fall after the first frost, I intend to put them out in a large planter I made from an old chest cooler. I am doing the fridge thing because I am concerned we may not have a long enough chill period this year. If you want, I'll wait with you and post my progress. You are probably better off than I am when it comes to the experiment. My seeds, if they come up, will produce who knows what. The seeds went into the fridge today.

08-01-2012, 10:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 258,581 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. Last year birds delivered some seeds of Nanking Cherries and deposited those seeds of the shrubs /trees, which originate in the high UV environment of a mountain range in China, to the darkest corner of our yard and they thrived like nothing else under this roof overhang at the north side of our house. The seedlings grew during the first summer to a height of 6 feet and this spring broke out in beautiful bloom. The bark of the branches is also extremely showy in spring. All that makes for a very desirable shrub. More on this story with photos of the beautiful flowers and bark and how I got help in identifying the shrub see here : Please help identify this shrub Unfortunately the Nanking Cherry is not self pollinating and the second shrub, also delivered to a quite shady spot and transplanted near the first was still quite small and had few blossoms. The upshot is, that after protecting the seven cherries, I discovered, with netting, I managed to get 6 of them to ripen and harvest. Now I am hoping to get advice from this forum on the most promising method to grow cherries from seeds, so I can get the optimal number of seedlings from that limited supply of pits. Thank you in advance, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

08-11-2012, 02:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 380,788 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. The way I did it was to just plant them outdoors in the ground about 2" deep as soon as the cherries were eaten. Mark the place with a stick, and then after winter is over, they came up in the spring. It wasn't too high tech. __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!

08-11-2012, 03:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 258,581 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. Thank you, Sandy, what is new to me is that they probably require frost to activate germination. Here I was watching for them to pop up in another week or two I could probably simulate that in the freezer, but if I did that now, I would possibly throw off the annual cycle right from the start. I planted 3 of the seeds in almost full shade (that is where the birdies delivered the original seeds) and 3 in partial shade. I also gave them only about 1/2 inch of cover. I am not too worried about that, because I cannot imagine, that the birds buried their seeds as deeply as you. I did protect them with bird prove mesh though. I suspected that it would not be "rocket science", since the birds accomplished the 'feat' even inadvertently, but thought it prudent to seek advice from more experienced people like yourself, because I had only 6 seeds and failure for them to sprout would set my efforts back a whole year. Thanks, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

08-11-2012, 03:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 380,788 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. hey, you could do it in the refrigerator if you wanted to. I found a website that tells how long to stratify the cherry seeds. Germination of Tree Seed \| Horticulture and Home Pest News I just didn't care that much about mine. I remembered that Mom had dumped her seeds when she pitted cherries in the fencerow and ended up with a whole bunch of sour pie cherry trees. __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!

08-11-2012, 05:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
neferset Dread Pirate Cavendish Find me on the map! Zone: 6 or 7 Name: Neferset Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 79 BananaBucks : 10,300 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 48 Times Was Thanked 80 Times in 43 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 16 Times	Re: Need advice on how to grow cherries from pits. I just started some seeds from Bing cherry chilling in the fridge. In the early fall after the first frost, I intend to put them out in a large planter I made from an old chest cooler. I am doing the fridge thing because I am concerned we may not have a long enough chill period this year. If you want, I'll wait with you and post my progress. You are probably better off than I am when it comes to the experiment. My seeds, if they come up, will produce who knows what. The seeds went into the fridge today. __________________ Caretaker of the Undead Meyer Lemon.

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