Grapefruit from seeds
 

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.

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.

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.

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. [url]http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1825392/true-to-seed[/url]

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...

I do get 2 sometimes even 3 plants from from 1 seed :)

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.

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?

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.

Thanks, I'll transplant them in a day or two. Should I go with a 3 gallon pot or smaller?

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;676692]Thanks, I'll transplant them in a day or two. Should I go with a 3 gallon pot or smaller?[/QUOTE]
Plant them in as big of a pot as you can find.
You dont want them to root stem girdle on you.

Worth

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.

Are they small enough to cover with an electric blanket?

[QUOTE=Tracydr;676743]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.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Worth1;676699]Plant them in as big of a pot as you can find.
You dont want them to root stem girdle on you.

Worth[/QUOTE]

You would think that it might happen but that's not the way it works with citrus. I've been digging deeep in this "citrus growing from seed" research and it's better to go up slowly on pot size. They claim the plant=citrus, grows so slow that they could suffer from root rot in a bigger container than is necessary. That makes more sense to me considering even with a light watering that little plant has to suck up and use the water in the whole pot. Even big name nurseries sell 3 year old citrus trees in a 3 gallon container so they must go by the same train of thought. I know they also use that method to save space/resources too but it works more times than not.

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......

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,

I plant citrus seeds shallow and I've seen strange things as the seed opens. Sometimes I can't tell what is a root and what is a leaf because they're both green and undeveloped, and above ground. I must also say that I have about a 20% fail rate on getting growth after germination.

My citrus tree (might be a grapefruit or a lemon, I sowed seeds from both and got one seedling) has been growing for four years already. Still no blossoms, which is a sign it lacks something. Now it finally is in a bigger pot, which I understand to be a potential problem too, as the roots should have sufficient - but not too much - room to grow. Too large and the rootball will rot, too small and it will suffocate...
We'll see, I'd really love the see my tree in bloom!

I understand that to flower citrus really need lots of light. How much light to you expose your tree to?

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;677159]I understand that to flower citrus really need lots of light. How much light to you expose your tree to?[/QUOTE]

A lot. Remember, I live in the North and have the long sunny days in the summer :)
The pot has enjoyed plenty of sunshine every spring and has spent every summer since its birth on the sunny balcony.
Now I live in a different apt., but it has a paneled balcony too. The citrus will go out as soon as possible.

I've been researching "why it takes trees from seeds so long to fruit" and why trees don't fruit in general and I found the following reasons.

The tree isn't old enough? Citrus trees don't really go by years, they go by how many nodes/nodules/set of leaves it produces and that varies from tree to tree. If you prune the tree before it starts producing that lowers the node count and the tree has to grow those back to get to the magic number that makes them set fruit.

The next thing is chill hours and some say they need to go through a frost to kick them in gear producing fruit. If you're bringing it in in the winter then this could be a problem.

Next is container size, soil and fertilizers. How tall is that tree? It should be at least 8" or close to it.

Good Luck and don't give up on it, you've had it this long so what's another 4 years!!!!!

Rajun Gardener, if I take the tree outdoors in the winter, it will freeze to death immediately. Perhaps during a milder weather I can let it stand on the balcony, but not in lower than 0 degrees Celsius.
I do not prune the tree, but it has dropped some of its leaves and some of the branches have dies during the years.. so that may explain the slow process.
Some folks have succesfully raised a citrus tree indoors and have it bloom within three years .. :( I want to see that on my plant too!

This thread is really interesting! Thanks for posting it. I look forward to updates.

Update on the seedlings, I left them under the trees all year and they're growing. I think it's time for a bigger pot.
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Here's the plant that had 3 seedlings sprout.
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Big lemon seed from the store
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These are the grapefruit, they're growing a thicker trunk than the lemons
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These are the 4 grapefruit seedlings after sprouting.
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