Citrus from seeds

[Rajun Gardener]

Last December I was visiting a friend and he had a grapefruit tree that had some of the best fruit I've tasted so I thought I'd start a few seeds.
I peeled the seedcoat off and put them on a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag. It took 9 days to germinate. I transplanted them into a community pot to grow. 5 of 7 seeds sprouted and I'm waiting on the other 2 to see if they grow.
 

 
4 of 5 popped up and one had 3 plants growing from it. I've researched and usually when you get 2 plants from 1 seed, the biggest plant will be more like the mother plant the seeds came from. I didn't see anything about 3 popping up so it's a wait and see thing.

 
Then I started lemon seeds from the store

 
I left them under the trees all year and they're growing. Not all made it but I have 1 lemon and 4 grapefruit.

The grapefruit is growing thicker trunks than the lemon

 
I need to pot these up and separate the seed that threw 3 sprouts.

 
 
 
 

 

[dragonsfire]

Good Luck!
I did that with a Lemon seed, still no flowers or fruit, about 5' tall.

 

[Malarky]

have fun waiting the 10-12 years for grapefruit. 
all joking aside, i've read you'll probably get nothing like the fruit you ate at your friends. most citrus will grow nothing like the parent.
 
Key Limes grow very true
Kumquats should be pretty close.
and both of these are suppose to bare fruit in 3-5 years.
 
 
I would cut off those stragglers and just keep the strong plant. don't risk damaging the good plant's roots.
 
YMMV, i live in WI and i've just read about these things. I've got 2 two year old Key Limes and a one year old kumquat...cuz I didn't want to wait that long for fruit..fingers crossed for flowers maybe next summer

 

[Rajun Gardener]

I researched this pretty good and hope I'm the exception. I've been feeding them a little hydro juice and that seemed to make them grow faster. I have 2 blood orange trees 2 years old and they might be an inch taller than these so just maybe I'll get lucky. I realize the fruit won't be an exact match but it could also be better from what I read. It's really just an experiment and if they bear fruit then that's a bonus.
 
If all else fails then I'll graft it with some of my other trees.

 

[DontPanic]

I've got two Satsumas growing that I started from seeds.
 
I guess now I just have to wait a few years to see if they actually bear fruit.
 
I accidentally left the older seedling out in 15-20 degree F weather, and it survived.  It would be great if such a robust citrus tree actually bears a decent fruit.

 

[nmlarson]

All this talk about citrus has me wanting to show you my plants.  A few years ago, I brought a Meyer Lemon and a Persian Lime back from Florida.  This year, the lemon got 5 huge lemons on it.  They just started to color up in the past couple of weeks, two have already been picked, and these are the three left:
 

 
And, here's the Persian Lime.  It has to have at least two dozen fruit on it. 
 

 
Temperatures will head down to the mid-40s tonight, so I'll have to cover them with a frost blanket until I figure out what to do with them.   
 
The BIG problem comes when it's time to head south in December.  Last year, I pruned both of the trees back by half and they wouldn't fit in my Jeep, which we tow behind the coach, so we put them in the shower for the trip south.  I know that's not going to happen again. 

 

[Rajun Gardener]

The 40's are no problem for them. We had a few days in the teens last year and all the trees pulled through like a champ. Se here.
 
I don't know what you're gonna do with the trees if you don't take them with you. Find a "Snow birds go South" plant shelter!!!  

 

[DontPanic]

Here's a Satsuma from seed.  I bought come Satsumas from Rouses Grocery Store, and saved some of the seeds.
 
This is one or two years along (probably two years, but I didn't keep track).
 
Growth really kicked in just recently.
 

 

[Orekoc]

Years ago I read, don't know where, that with citrus from seed, they will do a parthenogenesis with some of their seeds.  The slower growing ones are the ones that usually are like the parent.
 
Never tried it myself, and am too old to try it now.