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Pips and seeds

Activity

Explore the inside of fruits. Take out the seeds, sow them in pots and watch them grow into plants.

Learning objectives

Gather fruits and equipment.
Keep compost and potting materials away from fruit so that the fruit stays clean and easy to see.

Fruit such as apples, pears, oranges, lemon,grapefruit, dates, avocado & fresh exotic fruit
Safety knives
Chopping boards
Sieves or strainers
Compost
Pots Labels
Clear plastic bags
Pencil and paper

Using a safety knife, carefully cut open fruits to show seeds inside.
Carefully remove the seeds. Pips and seeds can be washed using tea strainers or sieves.
Larger stone fruits need to be scraped clean to remove the fruit flesh.
Fill a pot with compost; make a hole in the compost twice the size of the seed and drop the seed into the hole, cover with compost.
Write a label with the name of the fruit and date and place in the pot.
Cover the pot with a plastic bag. Place in a warm spot if it is a fruit from a warmer climate (e.g. orange, lemon, grapes, pomegranate and dates).
Apple and pear seeds will need a period of cold. Place outside or in a fridge for a few weeks then bring into the warm to grow.

Try growing an avocado stone in a plastic bottle propagator so roots can be seen growing
Date seeds can be placed in a plastic bag with moist compost or vermiculite, some seeds will germinate quickly and can be potted on to grow into leafy house plants
Use this activity as part of Focus on Fruit class growing topic