Lemon Seeds

[Chef Munky]

I've 2 lemon seeds that have started to sprout.
I was just messing around,to see if they would grow,well they have!

Do they need anything special at this time?. Or should I just leave the surprise trees be?

Thanks
Munky.

 

[katybar22]

I've 2 lemon seeds that have started to sprout.
I was just messing around,to see if they would grow,well they have!

Do they need anything special at this time?. Or should I just leave the surprise trees be?

Thanks
Munky.

I have planted lemon seeds and they did grow into kinda bushy "trees" but they never had fruit. One of them had thorns on a few of the branches, dunno what that was all about. So after a while I got tired of watching and wishing for homegrown lemons that would never come and went to Lowe's and bought a couple of Meyer lemon trees. They don't put out a tremendous number of lemons per year (maybe 5-6). But they smell so good when they bloom and since I keep them in my sunroom, they bloom spring and fall.

Good luck with your sprouts!!!

Katy

 

[lifesaver]

Mmmm! very interesting....

 

[lifesaver]

i like to experiment with seeds

 

[MostlyWater]

we inherited a plan that grew smalll lemons and oranges. i think it came from seeds originally. the fruit tasted terrible though.

Lifesaver, about 20 yrs ago there was a magazine called The Pit. I used to get it. It was a small, grass roots type photocopied booklet. I used to love it; it was all about growing odd pits and seeds !!!

 

[Claire]

Keep us updated on how they go. I, too, have heard that you can get a tree but it might be sterile. I had a friend on Fort Monroe who'd carried her lemon trees (grown as yours, from a lemon seed). She happened to come into quarters that had a glassed in porch, and they were just beautiful trees. But I don't think they ever bore fruit.

 

[Chef Munky]

It's coming along slowly but surely.
I wouldn't mind if it never produced a single lemon.I've heard that the leaves have a very nice fragrant scent.That would be so great if it works out like that.Either way it's still a nice surprise.

Munky.

 

[Constance]

It takes 15 years for a lemon tree to produce fruit. Check this out.

Lemon Tree from Seed

 

[Chef Munky]

Ohhhh say it isn't so!!!

I soaked the seeds for 2 days,then rinsed and planted them in a plastic cup.
2 days only because I had forgotten about them..Ooops..

Munky.

 

[jenelia]

The rough lemon is widely grown from seed. The 'Meyer' lemon is easily reproduced by rooting ..... Oil expressed from lemon seeds is employed medicinally.
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[Robert Barnett]

Myers have wicked long thorns of them. If your tree ever gets a branch that is very very heavy with thorns it will be towards the bottom cut that branch off flush. If you don't cut this branch off your lemons will slowly become massive pumalo like fruits that are worthless. This happened to me twice and I tore out both trees only to find out when I bought the third one that this branch has to go. This is a side effect of the Myer Lemon being a cross between a regular lemon and a tangerine (I think it is a tangerine.)

fertilize your trees with slow release citrus tree stakes at least once a year. I do mine about a month before the rain starts, but follow the box instructions.

Robert

 

[Snip 13]

I've got nearly 20 lemon trees grown from seed and they wil produce fruit, just give them time! The fruit might not taste just like the lemons you used to plant them but they wil be fine. If you want you can have them grafted to produce good quality fruit, just ask at your nursery. They take between 3 and 5 years before you start getting fruit in my experience. Some lemon trees can also be planted in large pots. Good luck with your seedlings

 

[CWS4322]

I have an indoor lemon tree. I use the leaves in place of lime leaves sometimes. I also have an indoor Keffir lime tree and a couple of grapefruit trees. Again, I use the leaves. Supposedly the lemon and lime will produce (even indoors). They are outside for the summer and brought in for the winter. Good luck!

 

[betterthanabox]

I have seen lemon, orange and lime trees for indoors in catalogs. I have been mulling around the idea of getting one, but don't know where I would put it. I don't know how big they get or how fast they grow. Check out some seed catalogs if you are interested in the little trees I think they fruit in about a year.

 

[CWS4322]

One of the lemon trees and the Keffir lime I bought at a nursery. They can grow quite tall--I bought two small ones. One of the grapefruit trees, grown from seed, is about 5 ft. tall. We have the big one on a "lazy susan with wheels" so that we can move it outside easily in the spring and turn it in the summer. The trees are parked in front of south-facing windows in the winter. I mist them daily. You are supposed to pick off the buds (I can't remember if it is for the first 3-4 years or not). The reason is you want the energy to go into the tree's growth, not producing fruit. They are fun.

 

[sparrowgrass]

My mom had a citrus tree that grew from seed. She had it for 20 years, and it never fruited, though it did grow pretty large--she pruned it back to keep it under 6 feet tall. The foliage smelled wonderful, but it had very mean thorns! She used to move it in and out every year, and finally abandoned it outside when it got too big to move.

I purchased a Meyer lemon--it is about 18 inches tall, and has 5 lemons on it this year. The flowers are wonderfully fragrant. I haven't noticed any thorns on this one. It spends the summer outside, and winters in the southfacing sunroom.

I am going to run out right now and see if there is a branch I can try to root!!

 

[FunknFoodies]

How did you start them off? I have seen online that one way is just to take the seeds right out of a lemon, rinse them off, then put them into a damp paper towel in the window sill until they sprout. But, on the other hand, I saw another site saying that you need to cut off the "exterior/shell" part of the seed, then put it in a damp paper towel, etc.

I tried the first way, and nothing happened. Haven't tried again since, but really want to!! I love citrus trees!!

 

[Snip 13]

I just stick the lemon seeds straight into the soil and water them daily. I had 27 trees grown this way at my previous house. I had a few grafted to produce better fruit. Only 4 never produced fruit.