With a little bit of know-how and a healthy dose of patience, you can actually grow your own nectarine tree right at home! While there are a few ways to go about it, starting one from a pit is definitely the easiest route for most home gardeners. I’m going to walk you through how to turn a simple nectarine pit into a beautiful little tree that will eventually provide its own homegrown fruit.
Different Ways to Grow Nectarines
There are two main ways to get a nectarine tree started:
- Planting a nectarine pit (seed)
- Grafting
A Quick Note on Grafting
Grafting is a bit of a technical challenge. It’s a relatively complex process that usually requires some specialized gardening expertise to get right. For most of us hobby gardeners, sticking to the much simpler method of starting from a pit is the way to go.
Growing Nectarine Trees from a Pit
Growing from a seed is way more straightforward than grafting. All you really need is a pit from a nectarine, a good starter pot, and—you guessed it—a little bit of time and patience.
Preparing the Nectarine Pit
Getting your seed is as easy as eating a nectarine! Once you’ve enjoyed the fruit, take the pit, wash it thoroughly, and let it dry out. To get the pit ready to sprout, it needs a little “wake-up call” known as stratification, which mimics a natural winter rest. Keep the pit in a cool, dry spot over the winter months. Once it has chilled out for the season, it’ll be ready to germinate and can be planted the following spring.
Planting the Pit
When spring rolls around, plant your pit about three inches deep in a starter pot filled with good quality potting soil. You’ll want to keep the pot in a warm, dry spot—ideally right around 75°F (24°C). Make sure to keep the soil consistently moist, but be careful not to overwater; you don’t want the pit sitting in soggy soil.
After a few weeks, you should see a little sprout poking through! Once the seedling has grown strong enough, you can transplant it into a larger pot or find a permanent sunny spot for it in your garden.
Waiting for Your First Harvest
I won’t sugarcoat it: you’re going to have to wait a few years before you can pick your first homegrown nectarine. On average, it takes about five to seven years for a tree grown from a pit to reach maturity and start producing blossoms.
One thing to keep in mind is that your homegrown nectarines might taste a little different than the ones you buy at the grocery store. This is simply because most commercial fruit comes from grafted trees, whereas your tree will have its own unique “wild” characteristics. But hey, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as eating fruit from a tree you started yourself!
