General information and discussion about cultivating fruit-bearing plants, trees, flowers and ornamental plants.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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I was visiting a friend and he had a loaded grapefruit tree, they tasted great so I took some home. I started thinking about starting the seeds and wondering how long the tree would take to start producing. after some research I started the seeds. I used the method of stripping the seedcoat off and putting them in a damp paper towel in a ziplock on a seed mat. 9 days later 5 of 7 seeds sprouted. I planted them today in a community pot and back on the seed mat till they grow. From research these should produce in 3-5 years, it also might not be a clone of the mother tree but as long as it's edible I figure it's nothing but time wasted or I can graph another type to it. I just wanted to share and say it does work.
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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Funny you should post this! For the past year I've been struggling with throwing away any citrus seeds. I've been germinating and growing lemon, key lime, meyer lemon, grapefruit, orange, and even a kumquat from seeds I get out of the fruit. I have 13 lemon trees, 8 meyer lemons, 2 valencia orange, and 8 key lime trees already growing, and I have 2 grapefruit just sprouted and I'm still nursing a kumquat seed to sprout (the seed was 3 years old, and I'm germinating 4 tangerine seeds that arre 4 yrs old). I find it fun.
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 421
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I too, have been doing this. Unfortunately everything is brought in for the winter. My plants struggle by the spring. They get spider mites and I try everything natural to prevent it. Just when they get the upper hand its time to go outside again and the problem goes away. I have had some for 3 years now. NO FRUIT YET, but I keep trying.
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Sue "There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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Have either of you noticed some seeds grow 2 plants(Polyembryony)? I've been researching and found some send up 2 plants from 1 seed and usually the healthier plant is more likely to be the clone of the mother plant.
There was a good discussion about it here. Some of these people might be here. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...2/true-to-seed |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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I think I have 1 Polyembryony seed, the circled seed has 3 roots growing from it. Maybe if this is true then we can start a bunch of seeds and grow out only the multiple root seeds to save space. I don't know, just thinking out loud...
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 421
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I do get 2 sometimes even 3 plants from from 1 seed
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Sue "There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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I've had a couple of sprouts with 2 stems growing in the lemon trees. I separated them when they were a few inches tall. I still have one that has 2 stems in 1 four inch pot. I think there will be 2 or more stems growing from the grapefruit seeds that are just now sprouting. They have green shoots coming out of both ends of the seed along with the roots. They are tricky to plant in order to have the green growing up and the root growing down. I'm really hoping that the lemon I just got 10 plants out of will have at least one tree true to type. The lemon I got the seeds from was almost as big as a baseball.
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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4 of 5 popped up and one had 3 plants growing from it. Are they always this leggy looking or do I need to transplant them deeper?
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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Those look great! You should give them each their own pot very soon because their taproots grow extremely fast. I wouldn't transplant them any deeper. They ain't tomato plants.
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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Thanks, I'll transplant them in a day or two. Should I go with a 3 gallon pot or smaller?
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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#12 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Tomato Cornhole
Posts: 2,550
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![]() Quote:
I transplanted them in 1 gallon pots today. To my surprise the roots were already coming out of the bottom of that little pot I started them in. To be fair about the pot size, I didn't fill it up to the top and about 1/4 of that root growing space was wasted. They should be good in the new container for a few months. I also noticed the plant grows a little weird. The original seed is still attached to the plant but it looks like there's a set of leaves inside the seed trying to come out. Am I nuts or did I plant the seed too shallow? On a side note, I bought a few lemons and mandarin oranges to start some of those too. The fun continues...... |
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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I was just oook8ng at my Meyer Lemon seeds yesterday and think8ng I hated to throw them in the compost I think today if I use a lemon or key lime I’ll start the seeds. Will do the same when I get some more kumquats,tangerines and oranges.
I’ll really worried I’m going to lose my trees this weekend despite a space heater runn8mg. I lost the basil and it looks like the two hot peppers may have died as well. I had a tiny space heater out there and when I checked yesterday it wasn’t keeping up. I’ve switched it out for a bigger one but still worried about the trees, they just started to really produce this year. |
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#14 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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Are they small enough to cover with an electric blanket?
Quote:
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Keep an eye on them, in my opinion any tree left in too small of a container will choke itself to death.
Sometimes 3 to 4 years or even much longer after planting in the ground. Long after the warranty has ran out, |
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