Monday, March 14, 2011

Citrus from seed

Many types of citrus can easily be grown from seed.  Depending on variety, they may not be exactly like the parent, but most will be close.  It may take five to seven years before a seedling tree starts to fruit, and the quality of the fruit will improve over the first few years of production.  Many people think five years is a long time to wait for fruit, but that was the year 2006, and when you put it that way it doesn't seem like so long ago!

The photo above is the fruit from five different orange trees that were volunteer seedlings in my garden.  I simply left them to grow where they sprouted.  I have no idea what their parents were like, but they all turned out to be sweet and juicy, average-sized, with normal rind thickness that peels easily.  The number of seeds per fruit varies from almost seedless to an average number of seeds for an orange.

The result is that I now have five additional orange trees that didn't cost a penny, and I didn't even have to plant them!

7 comments:

lotusleaf said...

I have been refusing to grow lime trees from seed because it takes so long to bear fruit. After reading your post, time comes into perspective.

kitsapFG said...

I wish I could just grow citrus - let alone from seed! Those look delicious and well worth the wait.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

We have one citrus plant grown from seeds more than a year ago. I was surpised that lemon seeds germinate easily.Those orange look so juicy must be packed with vitamin C.

Robin said...

You're very lucky to be able to grow citrus. The only citrus we can grow here are dwarf trees that can be brought in over the winter.

Giga said...

If in Poland grew citrus fruit in the garden, I'd certainly bred seed trees. Once more how difficult it was to buy seeds, it is bred peppers from seeds taken out of the fruit Yours

Daphne Gould said...

I envy you your citrus. Those oranges look so juicy and delicious.

Barbie~ said...

Now if I could keep my husband from running over it with the lawn mower or the weedwhacker that just may work. :-)