The 'Spit Tree'

14 years ago

I'm so confused.

Mother gave me a pot with a large, healthy plant in it. She says she was eating fruit one day and "spit out the seed, I don't remember what it was, and buried it in dirt." The plant is 2 or 3 years old, she says, and she's never done anything but water it. The soil is plain garden dirt.

She *thinks* it *may* be an apricot. That's all I can get from her.

I don't know much about non-apple fruit trees around here (Zone 3a). I only know of one place that sold apricot trees here (since closed), and they only sold one variety.

Any idea if this (supposedly) grocery-fruit-started apricot tree would be OK in my area? And any suggestions on how/where to plant it? I seem to be coming up empty.

Please....and thank you.

- Bettina

Comments (3)

oilpainter
14 years ago
I don't think apricots do well in zone 3. Well let me qualify that, because there might be a variety bred for zone 3.
Some fruit trees are bred so they are sterile. The only way you will know for sure is to plant it and wait. I'd put it in a sheltered place where it gets lots of sun and wait. It would be a good experiment to see if it really does produce fruit or if it lives
ianna
14 years ago
Bettina, if you have a greenhouse perhaps you could grow the fruit tree as a containered plant to be brought in and out depending on the weather.

By the way, same thing happened to me. I spotted what looked like an odd looking weed in my yard and when I dug it out, it was a pit of somekind. Could be an appricot or peach or plum and I'm sure it was my mother's doing too.

Ianna
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merricat
Original Author
14 years ago
IANNA - no, I don't have a greenhouse (oh, how I wish...). And I'm in a 3a zone where winter temperatures regularly get to -40, and snowcover is NOT a guarantee.

Hmm....guess I'll just shove it into the ground, mulch it in fall, and hope for the best. Maybe I'll get lucky and end up with a nice fruit tree, and maybe it'll end up firewood. It's not like I paid a nursery for it; whatever happens....happens.

Gardening: one part science, two parts art, and three parts "hey, how did THAT happen!" ;)