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stacydkas

Grapefruit...

9 years ago

Started these little babies Feb 28th.. We have sprouts!!! Now if we only had sunshine...

Comments (16)

  • 9 years ago

    Very nice!!

    stacydkas thanked Laura LaRosa (7b)
  • 9 years ago

    So many nutrients in those little seeds to sustain life :)

  • 9 years ago

    grapefruit got dirt!! All 7 seeds sprouted!

  • 9 years ago

    It's just fun to grow them from seed. The kids enjoy it!

  • 9 years ago

    Keep them warm, I mean the seedlings and the kids too :) , keep us updated with photos.

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Look at those polyembryonic seeds! You can see a lot of them have two taproots coming out of one seed. :)

  • 9 years ago

    Dumb question: good thing or bad thing? Polyembryonic? I just sprout them and plant them. This is all a learning process. This is also how I did my lemon tree.

  • 9 years ago

    Well, at least there is one advantage to large scale commercial monoculture: you know with extremely high probability that the seeds will all be grapefruit since the orchard tract contained all the same crop variety. It might not be quite the same variety as its parents (due to gene mixing) but both the parents were the variety of fruit you ate.

    That's not always the case, as sometimes the tree could have been pollinated by a different type of citrus. In which case the fruit still looks the same, but the seed may not grow what you think.

    stacydkas thanked parker25mv
  • 9 years ago

    Well these will grow up being called "grocery store". Hahahaha. They didn't even have a sticker saying what they were. I can't wait for them to break through the dirt though. It's just exciting!

  • 9 years ago

    Here's the babies today!! Pretty and green! The 1 seed has 2 sprouts. Guess I will have to wait and see which is the strongest?

  • 9 years ago

    Awesome!

  • 9 years ago

    One last comment. Grapefruit are OK growing on their own roots except that they are VERY susceptible to Phytophthora foot rot. It is important that the plant is in a well drained medium and keep the base of the trunk open to plenty air circulation and dry as possible.

    stacydkas thanked Silica
  • 9 years ago

    10 days after getting dirt!

  • 9 years ago

    Looking green and cute, Stacy! As the seedlings grow taller and stronger, you can gradually remove a tiny bit of soil from the main stem to expose little portion of the root crown. You can see it from the pictures of my seedlings:

    You can see clearly the colour change from green (stem) to white (root crown or root zone). This way your seedling is safe from damping off. It is ok if over long period of care and watering tiny surface roots get exposed a little bit. See in the next picture my 6 month old seedling (already grafted and building bark), again you can tell the difference in colour:

    For the good care of roots deeper in the soil there is one secret: do not overwater and have plenty of holes in your container. Also if you can, give each seedlings their own container to grow in. That way you will not disturb them often by repotting. After they grow about 3-4 leafs, you can fertilize them with a half dose and over time increase to full dose.

    stacydkas thanked sunshine (zone 6a, Ontario,Canada)
  • 9 years ago

    April 2nd!! Sunshine would be nice!! Thanks Kansas for rain rain rain!