American Plum

[Geno C]

Has anyone tried growing American Plum from seed? its a great fruit Bush/tree and is common for thicket areas. i bought seeds last year and have had a hard time getting them to grow. I followed the proper stratification procedure and still cant get them to sprout. I just tried to scrap and crack a piece of the seed to allow for water absorption yesterday, so i will see it it takes. i can get anything to grow, just not these seeds! lol... i bought a bunch of them too, about 140 seeds.

[growalot]

do the seeds need to have a chill period first?...I grow mine by rooted suckers

Just found this...........

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-germinate-wild-plum-seeds-indoors-11420788.html

Edited February 25, 2013 by growalot

[Geno C]

yes i soaked them in water for 24 hours then in slightly moist potting mix they sat in a zip lock baggy for 3-4 months. cant get them to grow lol. ill check the link out now, thanks grow

[5.9cummins]

If sowing seed in the fall, it is important to sow early

enough so seeds can pre-chill before seedbeds freeze.

This can be overcome by mulching the seedbeds.

Seedlings reach suitable size for transplanting in one

to two years. Cold stratifying up to 6 months in a

moist environment can break seed dormancy. Wild

plum seeds have fairly low germination. There are

6.5 seeds per gram.

Taken from this PDF http://plants.usda.g...pdf/cs_pram.pdf

Edited February 25, 2013 by 5.9cummins

[G-Man]

Need to frost crack like many other nuts i'm sure..

[Geno C]

I planted some in the yard last sept just to see how they do naturally. It didn't say anything about frost seed cracking for American plum although there are seeds that call for that. The cracking ensures moisture absorption and that is why I tried to shave off an edge on one seed yesterday. They say you can file down an edge for some seed to imitate a frost crack but that's usually on a wax shielded seed from what I read. I didn't know if anyone had luck growing from seed so I figured I'd ask. I may try a few differnt things and see if I can get the seed to germinate. Hardest seed I have ever tried to grow.