Help Identify Seedling

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Hello all,

Was wondering if anyone could help me to identify this seedling:

It was given to me as a spontaneous gift the other day by a family member, grown from a seed from one of their trees. I know that it is potentially either a limetta, a sour mandarin, sour orange, or a lemon (though I don't know type) as those are the trees the family member had. I'm leaning towards limetta as the leaves look too round to be a lemon, and they have a slight serrated edge to them that would suggest it isn't an orange. She couldn't tell me what tree it was as she had planted all her seeds together and didn't label them. Anyone have any thoughts? I should also note if not immediately visible, that it appears to have some very slight petiole wings.

Also, this is my first time growing a seedling (my other trees are grafted), any tips?

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Comments (3)

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'd take a leaf, crush it and smell/taste. Then compare that to leaves from your family member's trees. Lemon should be pretty clear from smell. The others may have more subtle differences, but could possibly be identified that way, as long as you have their tree leaves at your disposal.

You can also compare the leaf shape and petiole characteristics with their trees.

Also keep in mind that citrus from seed can take a long time to bear fruit, if that's what you are hoping for. For oranges, 10 to 20 years! Less for mandarins. Also, you might want to consider grafting a mature scion onto your seedling after the trunk gets to about pencil thickness. Grafting is not too hard for citrus, especially if you do it at the right time of year.
bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the input, but I have no way of comparing it to the original trees. The family member who gave it to me only had seeds left from their trees after they had to move and give them away. When they heard that I successfully grow citrus they gave it to me in hopes that I could keep some piece of their beloved trees alive (they don't really have the space to grow citrus where they live now). I'm aware that they can take a long time to bear fruit if ever, but I don't think the family member would take to kindly to my grafting it. Since I have my own mature trees that already fruit I don't mind waiting however long it might take for it to grow. (I know someone who has some seed grown that fruited after 15 years, so I know what I'm in for). But I'd really like to know what I'm growing.
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bonsai_citrus_and_indoor_gardening
Original Author
6 years ago
So I thought I'd post an update on this seedling. I'm now certain that it is some form of lemon, though I don't know variety. (Though I DO know that the variety grows true to seed based on talking with the family member who gave it to me). A question I do have, (this is the first seedling lemon I've ever grown), is how big/fast do they usually grow? It filled out the 6 inch pot I had for it with roots in about 2 months. I'm used to growing dwarf and semi-dwarf grafted trees, and those don't usually get too out-of-hand massive.