The time to ask about this is around Thanksgiving when citrus are ripening. Citrus season is about over now!

The time to ask about this is around Thanksgiving when citrus are ripening. Citrus season is about over now!

Hi gryphonsmoon,

You may want to re-think the seed idea.

I expect someone will correct me if I'm wrong but:

My understanding is that most citrus grown from seed can take 5-10 years or more to fruit and they aren't always true to type. Plus you have the whole germination, damping-off and growth parts to deal with.

You really ought to start with grafted trees from one of the reliable sources mentioned here or your local nursery.

Alternatively, you can sometimes get lucky at Wal-Mart or a home improvement warehouse. I have gotten some pretty nice specimens from the "big box guys," you just have to know how to work it:

Call your local home improvement place (Lowe's for example) and ask for the person that orders trees for their garden department. Ask that person what day(s) and time(s) they get in their deliveries of citrus trees and make arrangements to be there on one of those days. You will likely have an early pick of the best specimens. I have seen some nice tall trees with quite a bit of fruit on them for sale for only $10-15, but they go fast! If you build up a relationship with the ordering person, they may be able to special-order plants for you or hold the ones you want for you.

Good luck!

Also citrus seeds do not keep well. Once the seeds dry out you will have a very low sucess rate germinating them. If you want to plant seeds they should be taken from a fresh fruit & planted as soon as possible.

Kimberly, I understand your desire. It's a wonderful feeling starting a plant from seed..something akin to growing outside veggies. In most cases, I prefer buying smaller plants to larger, (there are a few exceptions)
I checked out two sites that sell seed, but for some reason I'm getting errors. If I can open them I'll let you know..Toni

Kimberly, I agree all the way around. Me and my kids sat down one day and had a citrus party. we ate the fruit and planted most of the seeds then.. *probably should have washed any excess germs off but all turned out ok * out of 38 peat pellets planted with seeds from our fruit, that we planted around end of march first of April, we have 30 seedlings ranging from 1"-3"!!! I've had 3 damp off, 1 cat attacked and 2 that didn't come up at all.. and 2 that show signs of life but are being coy.. lol Around the same time I purchased some calamondin seeds from seedrack.com I bought 20 seeds.. planted them along with the rest. same conditions.. of the 20, 0 have shown any signs of life.. today I checked some of them opening the pellets and found dead nothingness.. mush... *VERY DISAPPOINTED* I planted them the day I received them in the mail as instructed. I have left the rest of the seeds *JUST IN CASE* but have little hope for them after 6 weeks at optimal growing conditions i.e. 80*F fresh air daily moist but not wet peat pellets.. Honestly, from MY experience I will NEVER order citrus seeds again.. Me and my 4 kids are in awwwe of the baby trees that came from fruit that we ate.. I think that we are getting more satisfaction from them than IF the cal had made it.. Keep looking in the store for the fruit you want.. sure it may not grow "true to type", but there is a satisfaction that comes from the process from mouth to pot.. If you want to see my babies they are posted on my Page.. AND BIG THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP I HAVE GOTTEN FROM EVERYONE!!!!!!
Gina *BabyBlue*

Here is a link that might be useful: My baby Trees

A suggestion just a bit different than growning from seed... I understand that meyer lemon cuttings root easily, although I haven't done it myself. Growing from cuttings are almost as fun as growing from seed!!!

Try

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/order.htm

Gina--

i love your ideas. We are a homeschooling family, and a citrus party and planting sounds like a wonderful project. Went to the grocery today, and came home with key limes, an orange, and a few others. Thanks for sharing the pix, and for the encouragement.

Also, I just checked out the tradewindsfruit site. Holy Cow! I've never heard of half the things listed there. I'll definitely bookmark that for future reference. That's just what I was looking for when I asked my original question, but now I'm thinking I'll try the fresh seeds first, and some cuttings.

Again, thank you, everyone, for your help.

-Kimberly

Kimberly,
Just a few tips.. We marked the plastic box with a metallic marker (you can see the markings on the boxes on my pic page) so we would know how the lid was to go on.. and I wrote the names of the seeds to be planted in each row on the lid above that row.. I might suggest *because even doing this there are a few that were named wrong* Putting a paper plate (maybe with a pic of fruit or name of fruit depending on age of kids on the plate) with prepared peat pellets for each type of tree to be planted and then transfer them to the plastic box. the kids got a little over excited and planted a couple seeds in wrong pellets.. but few enough *2* that I think I can figure out what they "SHOULD" be.. I used Christmas lights on top of the plastic box at night for warmth.. and used a fish tank thermometer to keep track of the temp in the box (Best temp 85*ish). every day I would open the box as soon as sun hit it and turned off the lights. keep the seeds in pellets.. since we over planted each pellet 3-5 seeds per pellet I took a couple of the "extra" seedlings and transplanted them to their own pot but they did not make it.. one was so young I put it in it's own pellet then in a pot and it is still alive.. I highly recommend peat pellets.. I think I would have had allot more trees die on me if I had not used pellets.. aside from that when the pellet color starts lightening up, lightly water.
Good luck!!!!
Gina *BabyBlue*

I think I'll going to give it a shot too!

As far as seedrack...I also bought 5 different types of seed from them, for a total of 150+ seeds. To date, nada, quilch etc. And when I checked their forum, it seems that very few people have any luck with germinating their seeds.

As a comparison, I ordered some off ebay that said "fresh"...I've gotten at least 3 cuban royal palms already germinating (& this before I got them out of the water) and about 8 of the 10 Jacaranda Trees I planted!

For me, a novice gardener, it seems to be all about the "freshness" of the seed and how much fresher can it get than with your suggestion! Thanks and it was great to see your beautiful plants!

Just an update, when I went to the supermarket I found a bag of about 20 small key limes for $2! They are so adorable! I'm hoping to turn a couple of them into patio plants and a couple into bonsai.

Email me kimberly if you don't find some...

On the other side of the Tree...

If I wanted to do a Grafting, I would need some RootStock
Where can I get rootStock, or Seeds to Grow RootStock?

I would be cautious ordering anything from trade winds fruit, as was suggested earlier.

Among other things, they sell pumolo and Pink Lemon Seeds (Both are Citrus that will not grow true to Type), W/O any warning about the fact that they will not grow true to type.

I Ordered a bunch of seeds from them a while back about 10 varieties of Citrus, I planted them right away, at the same time that planted some seeds harvested from store bought Citrus.

I had about a 95% germination rate with the Store bought fruit seeds, and a 0%, yes total failure to get any Germination. It is my Opinion that This "store"

Is nothing more than some kid eating Fruit, and storing the seeds poorly, and selling them. Perhaps someone else has had better luck with this place. This is just my Experience.

Jimmy, if you'd like, email me..There's a place that sells the seeds, but for some reason the nursery is banned from Gw..
Also, they sell the plants at www.worldplants.com I don't know if you can purchase plants from this nursery since you live in Ca, but check it out..Toni

What about seed for rootstock? Carrizo, C-35, Volk. What is the best way to go about getting a few seeds of these?

Ive been told to search TreeSource, which is a large distributor, and to email them and ask what the minimum order for rootstock seed is. I have not emailed to ask.

Since they are a wholesale place, it might not be possible, or you might get a bunch more than you want, but they talk about how they store their seed and seem to be a huge nursery.

I am also disappointed about a lot of the places online ive looked for seeds. Id suggest if you really want these, to wait till nov-dec and then order because your odds for viable seeds from these smaller places will be higher. (the non-TreeSource places)

It looks like you have to buy one L of seeds, which is a LOT! But, if you want Plant Exchange material, its not a bad idea to start a bunch.

good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus Trees!

I have ordered from Tradewinds fruit and at first I had no citrus germination but it was because the soil temperature was too cold so after about a month of waiting and then realizing the problem, I made an incubator with a light and a cooler and the temperatures are about 35 degres C. I have got two Kaffir Lime sprouted but the other seeds may rotted already aside from a few Trifoliate orange seeds and yuzu (the other citruses I ordered). I also got a Shell ginger seedling growing with no heat and two West Indian Ebony seedlings. I think the problem with the dried citrus seeds is that they become more difficult to germinate but I think they are a good company although it took a month for my seeds to come up to Canada (customs I suppose) but none were damaged.

Glad you had some sucess. I just got to my dads a little while ago, and already have the humidifier to take back. Will try to get a heating pad or the buffet heater. Brought my seedlings with me so I couldnt accuse my fiance of killing my tree-babies anymore :-p