Started lemon from seeds

DrWarnerIPresume · Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:14 pm

I just started growing a lemon from seeds that I got from a lemon and Rey seem to be doing great. I know it can be a long road before any fruit if any but being that and the fact I don't have a "green thumb" and new the growing any fruit bearing trees any help? Advice? I threw some seeds in a pot after cleaning them and they now look like this.....I want to give them all different pots.

AnnaIkona · Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:43 pm

Looks awesome! Make sure that one the plant is taller than 5 inches, the amount of soil is more than 5 inches. Otherwise the plants will grow slower than usual.
I also noticed that they do extremely well in most soil.

AnnaIkona · Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:44 pm

Sorry, I ment *moist* soil.

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:14 am

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait for now until they're a bit bigger. Yours look great. What soil should I use? I'm new to gardening all together.

AnnaIkona · Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:26 am

Actually lemon seeds are pretty hardy, so any soil would work fine. I used half sandy soil (from outdoor garden beds), and half potting soil (or was it top soil

) And I also give my lemon plants LOTS of sunlight, as they are on my windowsill, and get about 5 hours of direct sunlight each day.

I'm new to gardening myself, but I've been growing trees from the fruit I eat for a long time. It's a fun and rewarding experience!

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:38 am

That's great! In my window mine are getting between 6-9. What's the ideal for them? I'm very excited I'm probably going to end up buying something already started (like a small orange) that way I can enjoy sooner. Know any others that do well indoors?

imafan26 · Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:20 am

What kind of lemons are they? Citrus trees can fruit anywhere from 3 to 7 years but sometimes they are sterile and may not fruit at all. Where do you live? Citrus trees do well in bright light indoors but in zone 9 and up they can stay outside all year. They are heavy feeders and I like to keep the plants slightly acidic to neutral. They do need micronutrients especially magnezium and iron. They like well drained soil and they do not like wet feet. They take to containers well indoors or out. I have satsuma mandarin trees and a calamondin in my community garden plot. I inherited the Satsumas but I planted the calamondin. I trim them to keep them short. Citrus does not like heavy pruning so a little at a time works better. I have about 16 citrus trees in pots at home. The oldest is 18 years old and it is about 5 feet tall. It is a kaffir lime. I don't get as much fruit from potted citrus but my yard is too small for 18 trees unless they are in pots. My newest lemons were Meyer Lemons that I grew from cuttings. One is already fruiting in a one gallon pot. Meyer lemons are resistant to trestiza so I don't have to graft them. Kaffir lime is not so both of mine are grafted. I have more than one of each Meyer Lemon, Bearrs lime, eureka, thornless lemon, kaffir lime, yuzu, and I had a kinzu kumquat but I don't know if it is still alive. I have already killed at least one of them. I also had a variegated eureka lemon, but I haven't seen it in a while.

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:32 am

Oh wow, I'm in zone 7 so it will be out in summer in during winter kinda thing and unfortunately I don't remember the lemon it came from. At the time I wasn't thinking to much about it but now I'm so proud haha. I normally kill all forms of plant life. That's a very empressive list of trees there. I hope at some point to have a lot of multiple fruit bearing trees/plants

AnnaIkona · Wed Nov 25, 2015 10:59 am

Yes, buying a grown citrus tree is a good idea!

You were asking what other trees grow well indoors, well, any type of citrus tree grows well indoors...mandarin, lemon, and I've even seen grapefruit! You can also get an avocado tree, they do well indoors and produce amazing avocados!

And as I mentioned before, citrus trees are pretty hardy, so it doesn't really matter how much sun they get. As long as it's over 3 hours, they'll be fine!

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:46 pm

I have a friend who has multiple outdoor fruit trees I'm going to see if I can get some cuttings from him is that possible?

AnnaIkona · Wed Nov 25, 2015 4:33 pm

Yes, I've done that before!
Simply take a cutting and within half an hour, plant it (almost any soil works), and then water it well with dechlorinated water mixed with root stimulator. Works wonders!
And if the instructions on the root stimulator bottle says to dip the cutting in the liquid for a while, do that and then plant it.

imafan26 · Wed Nov 25, 2015 4:39 pm

If you take cuttings from citrus or any tree that has a growth period where the leaves flush and a rest period usually when it is flowering and fruiting, it is best to wait to take the cuttings just before a growth flush. If you take the cuttings in its more dormant period, it takes longer and the mortality rate increases.

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 5:37 pm

So spring would be a more viable time period? For the cuttings? Is there any picture you know of that shows where to cut?

AnnaIkona · Wed Nov 25, 2015 6:00 pm

Imafan is correct, it's best to wait till spring. Cutting anywhere I'd fine. However make sure that the batch where you cut it off is new, not old.

AnnaIkona · Wed Nov 25, 2015 6:23 pm

I ment *branch* . Sorry

DrWarnerIPresume · Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:33 pm

Haha no that's fine, that helps a lot. They've grown so much in the past couple days. In sure my wife is tired of earring it lol.

AnnaIkona · Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:28 pm

I noticed that watering the lemon plants rarely (once each day) but with lots of water is way better than watering it say twice a day but with very little water.

AnnaIkona · Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:19 pm

Lately I got a lot of sunlight, and my lemon plants Burts up with speed

:

DrWarnerIPresume · Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:57 pm

That's great! Mine are coming along too. I'm needing to put them all in individual pots now (got behind with other things goin on) but ill put a new one up soon. Mine hasn't gotten the "second" part ofthe stem? yet

AnnaIkona · Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:56 pm

Looks great! I just planted my tall one in its own individual pot. I'm pretty sure mine has the "second" part if the stem now

applestar · Thu Jan 28, 2016 11:54 am

This thread inspired me to sow some seeds from organic lemons from Trader Joe's. As you can see by the label, It was on Dec 2, 2015.

It's not as if I need any more seed-grown citrus trees (I think I mentioned elsewhere that I have MANY though it looks like I did not participate in this discussion for some reason....)

In case anyone is interested, I noticed that they have sprouted in the last couple of days. I just pushed them into the soil of this tomato plant that had died off. It's on a window bench just below a SE facing window. There's a supplemental light from a CFL in a utility lamp off to the right. (The windowsill looks horrible -- my excuse is that it's hard to access with all the plants and the supplemental light, and the kitties step on the potting mix as they climb over them to sit on the windowsill and track them all over.

)

(FYI: The tomato is a Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok F1 and all the others died after maturing one fruit, just like this one, partly due to TRM but I'm thinking also that it must be a determinate. The thicker stem in front of the picture is an eggplant. All the foliage is at the top of the stem.)

DrWarnerIPresume · Mon Feb 01, 2016 3:17 pm

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. That's great, I hope everyone's plants are doing well. I'm about to get started germinating and sowing some veggies too. Here's my lemon seeds now they are just sitting in the window there is a small cfl ligt on the night stand that it gets too.