Rapidly germinating seeds

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by mike anders, Oct 16, 2009.

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  1. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Everybody.

    I am new here and I am a retired B.T. engineer and I have plenty of time to experiment with citrus fruit seeds & other things.

    I do not know if the following is widely known:

    I have discovered that I can get a citrus fruit seed to germinate quicker if I take off the inner brown skin as well. The seed will germinate within three days.

    If you remove the inner skin the seed is then very fragile. However, if you should happen to break the seed in half by accident, it will sometimes produce two plants/seedlings. I can get 100% sucess sometimes either way, with the whole seed or the two halves.

    I had one Seville orange seed that produced four seedlings. It was a very big seed. They are now 30Cm high & I have planted them out in plastic bags designed for seedlings or young trees!

    I am wondering what to do with all my citrus trees now. I have approx 60 seedlings/saplings of lemon, Seville orange, Thai orange, limes & the large 'soume 'o' (very big Thai orange). I have already given some away to friends & family.

    Any comments please?
     
  2. tugo

    tugo Active Member

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    Re: Mike Anders

    Hi Mike,
    I am not an expert but as far as I know, you have to make grafting to them to get the original fruit since they are grown from seeds.
     
  3. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Re: Mike Anders

    Hi Tugo

    I guess we will have to wait 7 years plus before I can answer that one, I am no expert either!

    The orange seeds came from the USA in oranges bought at the local supermarket in Udon Thani, Thailand & the lemon seeds came from South Africa via Tesco UK. Everything else came locally here in Thailand.
    Maybe I can get a super hybred citrus fruit from the collection I have started?

    Regards Mike
     
  4. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Re: Rapidly germinating citrus seeds

    Hi Tugo


    It has occured to me that the orange seeds came from an orange grove where no other citrus fruit is growing. Only Seville oranges. So they may be good trees when mature?

    Mike
     
  5. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  6. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet

    I am growing the citrus fruit here in Udon Thani Central Northern Thailand. They are growing directly in the local soil. It is very stony & full of red clay. I have added compost where I can before planting the citrus trees. Is there anything else I should know about the Thai seasons etc.?

    Mike
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2009
  7. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  8. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet

    Many thanks for your extended information.

    The minimum temperature here is about 13 deg C. (55.4 F) at night time for about two or three days around January. But in the daytime it can still rise to 30-33 deg C. & of course there is brilliant sunshine all the time for 11-12 hours per day.

    I should have added that the soil here is very stony with clay as well. The stones are like iron ore, rusty in colour & will crumble when hit with a hammer. The soil drains very quickly after one of our tropical storms. Too quick for my garden. Whilst this is OK in the rainy season it is very difficult to keep the ground moist all the time in the 6 months of no rain. At this time of the year we are approaching the dry cool season. The only trouble is that there is a constant dry breeze which will dry the soil in no time at all. Would mulching with grass clippings help at all?

    Regards Mike
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2009
  9. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  10. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet

    Thanks fro the extra info.

    I have attached a photo of the best Saville orange tree in my garden. Also a photo of the young seedlings (in the black plastic bags) with my date palms (in the red & black plastic pots). It is one foot high now (300 mm). You can see the type of soil I have here in the photo. It is very hard to grow anything other than Thai fruit in it. But the oranges and other citrus fruit seem to thrive in it!!

    Regards

    Mike
     

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  11. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet again!

    Do you happen to know which citrus fruit has thorns & which do not have thorns? (canthus).

    I have discovered a citrus fruit growing in my garden which has come up all on it's own. It has thorns about 25mm (one inch) long on it. It is now about 1 mtr high after abot one year. My Thai family say that they cook it, but they do not know the English name of it!

    Thanks.
    MikeAnders
     
  12. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    A quick question Millet, you mention that orange trees need 70 degrees for continued growth but when i was living in Barcelona it regularly goes down to -2 in January and febuary and the orange trees there are thriving, in fact at that time of year they are laden with fruit and the Spanish say that a good sharp frost improves the tangy flavour? So isnt it feasible that they will survive a reasonable winter almost anywhere so long as you can avoid them having their roots wet and damp for extended periods?

    Nath
     
  13. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  14. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    To Millet

    Thanks for that.

    With regard to the temperature of ripening citrus:

    Nearly all citrus fruit here in Thailand is green, Including the Thai orange! I wonder if this could be because it never gets cold for long periods here? As you say, that the orange needs to get cold to ripen!

    The Thai Seville lookalike orange is green but orange inside and a little bit smaller! Do you think my 'imported' Seville oranges will get orange in colour without getting cold?

    Regards Mike
     
  15. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  16. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet

    Thanks for that, it is brilliant!

    I now have a full understanding of citrus fruit which I knew nothing about before I had contact with yourself.

    I think it will be 3-4 years before I will get fruit. When I do, I will post a photo to you on here.

    Once again, thanks for all your info on citrus. I expect a lot of other people have also enjoyed our posts!

    Regards Mike
     
  17. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    Thanks for clearing that up for me Millet, we will see how my citrus in the garden gets on this winter. I am experimenting between some out doors and some in an unheated greenhouse.

    Nath
     
  18. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    To Millet

    Here is the latest photo of my best Seville Orange tree. It is now 500mm high, growing at a rate of 200mm (8") per month! Also a photo of my young lemon trees. If you can remember, I got the lemons from Tesco supermarket in the UK in September. Four lemons have produced 28 good seedlings!

    Regards Mike
     

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    Last edited: Dec 14, 2009
  19. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  20. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Thanks Millet

    I will send another photo next month after it gets warmer here in Thailand.

    I have access to large ammounts of natrual manure from cows, buffalo & nubian cows (bovine) here. Is it OK to use that on my citrus trees?

    Regards Mike
     
  21. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Hi Millet

    Happy new year.

    Here is the latest photo of my best Seville orange which is now 750mm high. That makes the growth rate 250mm per month. It is very cool here now at 17 deg C. at night 27 deg C. at lunchtime. So not growing so quickly now but still very healthy! I have used the bovine manure (which is all I can find here in Udon Thani) & it seems to work OK.

    That is a pomegranite to the left of the orange tree & in front to the right is a large tree called 'Toolian'. It has large green/yellow fruit abot 10" in diameter! Delicious.

    I will report again next month if you would like me to?

    Regards

    Mike Anders
     

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  22. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  23. The Hollyberry Lady

    The Hollyberry Lady New Member

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    Yes, your seedlings look wonderful, Mike! Nice job!

    : o

    I just recently sprouted some kumquat citrus seeds and sowed them fresh and wet from inside the fruit ~ I was told if they were allowed to dry out they woudn't germinate. They popped for me within three weeks on the heat mat.

    Good luck with all your citrus trees, Mike. Love to see more shots as they grow...

    : )
     
  24. mike anders

    mike anders Active Member

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    Thanks everyone.

    I will post the progress of all my citrus plants every month so you can see what can happen in the tropics. Maybe this can be recorded for future reference?

    I have never grown citrus of any kind before so therefore I await with abaited breath the same as you do!!

    For now, here is a photo of the lemon saplins from South Africa which I bought in the UK as lemons. Four lemons produced 30 saplins!

    Regards Mike
     

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  25. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    Hi Millet,

    I thought i'd let you know that my experiments with Citrus in a cold climate is working out so far as the tree i have growing outside have survived the -8 and snow that we have been having, I had heard about the UK weather when we were at home in Mexico and so fully expected to find my trees had died when I got back but to my surprise they are thriving and havent even lost their leaves. I have more trees in my unheated greenhouse which i have been acclimatising little by little and i will be planting those out this spring.

    I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

    Nath
     
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