Is there a good use for peaches and peach pits (stones)

My overburdened peach trees just lost three branches due to the weight of ripening fruit. The attached fruit is in varying stages of ripeness but many are very green. Is there a good use for the stuff? I am concerned about composting the peaches, pits and all. Should I be? Are the pits good for the soil?

thanks!

You can compost them. The harder materials take longer to break down is all. Who knows, you may sprout a tree!

oh no, not another tree! :-) i have way too many peaches now. thanks for the reply.

You can always burn 'em, then scatter the ashes to boost potassium.

http://davesgarden.com/tools/tags/tag.php?tag=ashes

I've seen recipes for peach pit jam using stones and peelings, but I don't know about the green ones though.

i say compost em.

thanks for the replies. I have enough to try both composting and burning since there is a lot of fruit that falls from the tree as well.

I know you don't want them sprouting, but others might-- they seem to sprout pretty easily here. We only have whatever goes in the compost or gets tossed, from peaches we buy at the farm stand, yet I have two trees growing now to see if they turn into something worthwhile, and I know I've pulled one or more others.

Actually another tree (singular) wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to me, the neighbors are more than happy to see me delivering tree ripened fruit to their front doors. I don't think any of the previous seasons pits laying on the ground germinated though. Do they need to be buried and if so, how deep? does anybody know?

As a real little boy during World War II, sometimes the big kids would let me go with them door-to-door to collect tin cans, grease, etc. for the war effort. One thing we collected was peach stones. I was later told that they were used in gas masks, but I have never checked to see if that were true.

It's true that the Army collected pits from peaches, apricots, and such. They used them to make charcoal for gas mask filters.

http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/MayJun99/MS283.htm

Boy - it's true - you learn something everyday - I am just full of useless trivia, but it's interesting to me.

Well I found a use for some of my peaches/pits. I was thinking about using gravel to fill in this little pathway and turned around and saw a bunch of these things laying around. :-)

That's neat! Good idea!

I was going to suggest adding them to your soil to airate it (did I spell that correctly??? oh well)... Isn't it apricots that carry a kernal inside that is cyanide? Not realyl cool to eat it. Dn't know if it would affect the soil....

Don't know about the soil - but it's true they do have cyanide. It seems thqat many people eat them, so there is not enough cyanide in these pits to harm you or the soil. Here are a couple of interesting links.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/193/are-apricot-seeds-poisonous

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/24320