Growing Citrus from seed

[dvg]

Earlier this year, i germinated  seeds from a store bought mandarin orange, that i found to be exceptionally tasty and sweet.

These Citrus seeds were sprouted on a damp coffee filter inside a ziplocked bag.

The first seed to germinate was very vigorous and seemed to yield approximately six or seven plantlets.

Thought that there was something wrong there and chucked that first result out.

As soon as the other two seeds showed signs of sprouting, they were transplanted into soil, in their own individual pots.

One pot sent up two stems, while the other pot sent up three more, yielding,  five plants from two seeds.

Turns out that some Citrus plants are polyembryonic, meaning that a single seed can have multiple plants emerge from it.

Found this link that discusses growing Citrus from seed and mentions polyembryoidy, in passing.

forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/growing-citrus-trees-from-seeds-advice-please.6602/

Has anyone else tried to grow out Citrus varieties from seed, for fun?

Will have to post some pics of my two small pots of sweet mandarins, soon.  










dvg

[meateater]

Yep, I tried a bunch over the years: lemons, kumquat, tangerine, and a whole bunch of other fruits. Most are fairly easy. Problem arrives after they get to a good size -- no space. Now I only save the kumquat plants and let everything else go.

[dvg]

That's interesting that you have chosen to grow the kumquats over the others, Meateater.

Is the kumquat that much more compact in size and structure than other citrus trees?

Because space always seems to become an issue.


These are my two small pots of sweet mandarin Citrus: with three plants in one pot, and two in the other, so  they will need to be upsized soon.



The winged segments attached to the leaf bases, caught my attention.













dvg

[meateater]

I saw plants similar to kumquat in supermarkets grown to good size in a relatively small pot (eyeballing them to be ~6-8"?). More an experiment than anything. I had a meyer lemon going but it kinda stopped growing in a 6" pot. I didn't (and still don't) have space so I let it go. If anyone had success growing lemons/citrus in a bonsai I'd love to hear about it!

[dvg]

Meateater, there is a lot of info regarding growing Citrus as a bonsai subject.

Here is a link that covers growing out lemon or other Citrus as bonsai.

www.bonsaitreegardener.net/bonsai-trees/species/lemon









dvg

[meateater]

dvg, good info, thank you. That lemon tree in a shallow bonsai bowl still looks like magic to me.

I just noticed my starfruit tree is still alive, in a 3" pot (!) I am still not quite sure what's the best treatment when spring comes...

[dvg]

Dec 5, 2019 21:20:23 GMT -5 meateater said:

I just noticed my starfruit tree is still alive, in a 3" pot (!) I am still not quite sure what's the best treatment when spring comes...

Have never sown a starfruit seed before, Meateater.

How is it doing in a 3" pot?









dvg

[gj]

dvg glad I had this thread to refer to. I started some grapefruit seeds, and couldn't figure out why I had more plantlets coming up than seeds I planted. It wasn't until this morning I remembered you mentioning this with your oranges.

Thanks!

[dvg]

Gary, it's good to hear that you decided to try some Citrus plants from seed.

And yes, having multiple embryos in those seeds can throw ya for a bit of a loop when they all hatch up at once.

Good luck with your grapefruit seedlings. 












dvg

[gj]

It'll be fun to try something a little different. It's my first shot at a fruit tree of any kind since I tried pomegranates about 5 years ago. I've got two of those still around, but no fruit on them so far.

[dvg]

Gary, that's impressive that you have five year old promegranates grown out from seed.

How large are those plants now and what size pots are using to grow them in?

I'm going to have to separate and repot my Citrus clones because they seem to have stalled in growth and probably need more fresh root room to spread out into.










dvg

[gj]

I believe they are in 12" pots at the moment.

I've treated the two I have left a little different over the last couple years which has resulted in different sizes. One I try to keep trimmed so it has grown a little bit more vertically, probably about 5 feet tall or so. The other one I haven't trimmed as aggressively so it's a little more squat (probably about 2/3 the height of the first one mentioned) and is bushier. Due to their shape/height difference, I like to refer to them as Abbot and Costello.

I also have been keeping them in different climates to see if I can convince one to flower this coming season. The tall skinny one has been kept in a relatively bright and warm room all winter. The other has been out in the garage where it's much cooler and darker, in the hopes that this will induce a deeper dormancy.

We'll see how they do, and I'll try to remember to post some pictures when they fill in with leaves during the summer.

[avery]

Great thread! Very interesting.

[meateater]

Dec 9, 2019 13:05:54 GMT -5 dvg said:

Have never sown a starfruit seed before, Meateater.

How is it doing in a 3" pot?









dvg

So... it did well under grow lights, until I came back from vacation... all crisp and dry

[dvg]

Oh Meateater, sorry to hear of your loss.

With that many tears, your little 🌟 musta had a name as well.

It's still difficult to lose some of our long time little green buddies.










dvg