Shane O'Carden retweetledi
Every fruit stone or pip you're about to throw away is a potential plant. Water germination works without compost, without equipment, and — for most of these — without cost beyond a clean jar and patience.
A note on stone fruits: cherry, plum, and peach stones need four to six weeks in the fridge wrapped in damp kitchen paper before they'll germinate. Without that cold period, they won't break dormancy. Everything else on this list can go straight into water.
🥑 Avocado — three cocktail sticks to suspend the stone, pointed end up, submerged 6 cm in a jar. Roots in two to three weeks, then pot into compost. A popular British windowsill project.
🍋 Lemon pip — rinse pips from any shop-bought lemon, place in a shallow dish, 4 cm of water. Germinates quickly; grow on as a fragrant indoor citrus.
🍒 Cherry stone — cold stratify for six weeks first, then suspend in a jar 7 cm deep. Grow on as a productive tree or ornamental.
🍎 Apple pip — shallow bowl, 4 cm of water. Germinates in a group; transplant the strongest seedling.
🌸 Pomegranate seed — extract from a fresh pomegranate, rinse, place in a jar 6 cm deep. Grown in a sheltered spot or conservatory, it will fruit in mild British gardens.
🌿 Fig seed — scrape seeds from a ripe fig into a shallow dish, 4 cm of water. Figs are increasingly successful in British gardens with a warm wall.
💜 Hardy passion flower (Passiflora caerulea) — fully hardy across most of the UK; germinate seeds in a rounded glass, 5 cm deep. A vigorous climber once established.
🍑 Plum stone — cold stratify first, then jar, 6 cm deep. Grows readily from stone and often vigorous.
🍑 Peach or nectarine stone — cold stratify, then 4 cm in a shallow dish. Surprisingly successful against a warm south-facing wall in the south of England.
🍇 Grape pip — shallow dish, 4 cm. Germinates in a group; transplant the most vigorous. Hardy varieties will fruit outdoors in sheltered gardens.
🌰 Hazel — cold stratify for eight weeks, then 4 cm in a shallow dish. A native British hedging plant that germinates reliably from fresh autumn nuts.
When roots reach 3 to 4 cm, transplant into a peat-free compost and water well.
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