On Friday we got some plums from the organic farm and, wondering if it might be possible to grow some trees from the pits, I did a quick internet search. The upshot of this that I am now not only attempting to grow a tree but am repurposing a ziplock plastic bag.
Plum pits in ziplock bag
One way or another, I have quite a collection of ziplock bags that used to be packaging for clothes. Why are the clothes thus packaged? They are non-perishable goods – and besides, might a customer not want to inspect them before purchase? I realise this must be for the convenience of the store/business, but for once it is also convenient for me!
The pits (clean and dry) go in the bag, which in turn goes in the fridge. By about five weeks, the pits should have cracked and begun sprouting. Et voila, they can be planted.
© Helen Butt, August 2014
Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
Awesome update thanks for sharing have a blessed day Helen
Thank you, Linda! Hope you are enjoying this rather wintery Bank Holiday.
Cool!! I got plums at home, will be giving this a try 🙂
Yes, why not! Good luck 🙂
Thank you for the awesome idea! :):)
You’re welcome – thank you for reading!
Oh this is going to be interesting to see how it works. Good luck!!!
Are you going to plant it inside because it will be fall when you plant it outside? That way you give it time to grow by save it for spring planting. Or plant 3 outside and one inside to see which does best? May be it doesn’t matter that you plant it in fall,because your climate is not as harsh during the winter as it is in Sweden. I just curious.
Honey
I guess it depends on how harsh the winter is… Last winter was very mild – we only had one or two hard frosts – but this one could be different.
I’m going to put the sprouting pits (taking it that I get any) in pots, though, so they can be either inside or out. As the plums he pits came from were grown only a mile (kilometre) or so away from me, they will already be suitable for the climate here. But being very small any tree that sprouts will be more vulnerable than an established one, I’d have thought.
I understood that the plum pits were locally grown and already climatized to your area. Now I see why you would plant it outside now, because you live in a milder climate than I thought. You are lucky then that you have mild winters. It must be nice to only have one or two hard frosts all winter. I can only dream of what that would be like LOL.
Honey
It’s not like that every winter lol! That said, it is definitely better than almost anywhere in Northern/Central Europe because of the North Atlantic Drift (gulf stream) which brings warm water up from the Caribbean. In other words, things sometimes grow but they don’t ripen. I’ve had both tomatoes and strawberries giving it their best shot!
The downside is days like today: 13.5°C in August. It felt like October – the lettuce might have liked it but my tomatoes are staying resolutely green.
I know what you mean about the weather. We have had a month of rain. We have had sunshine peek through now and again. We have had 13C during the day and lows of 5C in the nights. Today was 18 C today but it had cool winds. Fall is here for us. We at least have been spared all the flooding that they have had in Halmstad, Sweden.
You can always bring the tomatoes inside to ripen on your window sills. A friend of mine said to put green tomatoes in a small paper bag and they will ripen faster. I have not tried it yet. My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen in the Poly-tunnel and mini green house. We have been pulling the blossom off now so the plants will put the energy into riping the fruit, plus we topped off the plants as well. We stopped them from putting energy into growing bushier or taller. They started turning red now. We are finally learning how to grow tomatoes.
Honey
Glad you were spared the flooding. We had 21°C where we were today but as we were away and got back after dark I don’t know how the garden fared. Will have to see tomorrow!
Sounds good. How long before a tree might be productive.
My guess would be a year at least, if you mean producing fruit, but by next spring there should be something that resembles a tree. I do hope so 🙂
It’s exciting to start from scratch!
Yes, absolutely – wondering what you’re going to get…. Mind you that’s still me with most things I grow lol.
Sorry, misread – at least a year I would think but I will let you know, should a tree actually come of this little experiment.
This could be a great blog series.
About plum trees?
Yes! Definitely.
Well, should it work, there will be sequels 🙂
: )