Sweet lemon seed propagation

A friend gave my DH some seeds from what he called a sweet lemon. My DH said it was truely a sweet lemon right off the tree. I have never heard of this and have no idea how to propagate the seeds. Any help would be great.
Linda

Hey Linda-
Sorry to see no one had a good answer for your question. Mine is not going to help much either, I'm afraid!

When living in AZ I found that 99.99% of citrus is grafted onto a different rootstock (flying dragon if I remember correctly for the Southwest) specifically to deal with specific soil and weather conditions as well as some soil pathogens.

And to steal a quote from the famous (if she's not famous, she should be) AZtreelvr:

"Plus, grafting ensures that the variety of fruit will be true to the parent tree. In other words, seeds carry the genes of the parent tree as well as the tree that pollinated it. Citrus cross pollinate easily - a Diller orange can pollinate a Marrs for example. Lemons can pollinate oranges and this doesn't affect the flavor because it is only the seed that carries the different genetic material. However, if that seed is planted the fruit produced may be quite different than the parent tree. By grafting, or cloning, the fruit is always consistent in quality and taste."

IOWs, your sweet lemon might not taste like a sweet lemon if it's from seed, anyway.

HTH, sorry it was so long getting back to you.

I'm going to guess it's a Meyer lemon. I don't have any tips on propagating, but Trade Winds Fruit says that it will often come true from seed or at least very close to the parent. The one difference will be the growth habit--a lot of the citrus trees that you buy at nurseries have been grafted onto a dwarf rootstock which makes them grow smaller for a home garden or container, so a seed grown plant will not have that benefit.
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/meyer_lemon.htm

That reminds me - that's another aspect of the Flying Dragon rootstock - it keeps the trees smaller while allowing the fruit to remain normal size.

Thanks for the input. I am pretty sure its not a Meyer Lemon or not like the one I have anyway. Maybe I'll plant the seeds and see what happens. I have no idea how to grow one from seed.
Thanks again
Linda

You're welcome, good luck!

It's so easy Linda, you won't believe it! Stick them in a pot, like you would any other seed. Keep them moist (not wet), and warm (70-80 degrees F). In 3-4 weeks, you'll have lots of new seedlings. I just this week up-potted 36 Key Limelets and 24 Hardy Oranges that I started in the middle of November into 4' pots. The "early emergers" are now 2"-3" tall, have 2-4 true leaves, and others (the late emergers) are still breaking through, almost daily. I started mine mostly in the Parks Bio-Spheres, but I had too many seeds so for S&G, I filled a 6"X 8" seedling tray with potting soil, planted 16 seeds, inverted a clear plastic container (the kind you get from buying greens at the local grocery store) over them, and hoped for the best. Got 12 seedlings from that tray, (all potted up this week) and another one nearing transplant time All were on a "gro-mat", set at 72 degrees... One thing I have learned is that fresh seed germinates far more quickly than "dried" seed. Don't know why, or even if it's a valid observation. But it's been true for me...

Fresh seed will germinate quickly because it has not dehydrated.

That makes sense, docpipe! Also helps explain why I have to "nick" Vigna caracalla seeds and soak them for 24 hours before planting them to get decent germination. But what about seeds requiring stratification---does the same hold true for them? Which is more important, the temp change or the hydration?

Now you have two different situations both of equal importance to seed that need a dark cold period as part of the germination process.

There are numerous soaking elements that will also increase and speed up germination. The ones I know are kelp tea, compost tea, earthworm cast tea, alfalfa tea, aloe vera sap and a mix of hydrogen peroxide (h2 02) and water mixed 50/50 by vollume. There are others I can not remember. I use the last one and kelp tea combination for my larger seed like pumpkin and gourds in a luke warm four hour soak. I would not mix any of the first five with each other because each is remotely different.

I've had orange juice recommended.

Docgipe, you don't soak *all* of your seeds, do you?

Soak all seeds............well no not at all but putting the smaller ones between layers of paper towel is a form of soaking.

I always soak the pumpkins and gourds. I almost always water in all other seed and keep them damp until they emerge. Soaking in the ground.

If mother comes along with a shower that does the job I say thanks, lean back as spell and watch them emerge.

Just curious, did you ever get your lemon seeds to germinate?

Meyer Lemon can be air probagated. I have done this. I have never kept the new plant long enough to see the own root development issues.

We used Meyer Seed in my teaching units because they were available and free. No one ever showed me one three or four years later. I bought a grafted one mail order and now they can be found at the big box stores with fruit on for as low as $19.95. When lemons are selling for two and three bucks apiece the retail price within reason is not the issue. My latest tree is now five years old, not yet three feet tall after trimming, and supporting six huge fruit in various stages of growth. With returns like that other than for just simple play I would not mess with the job of a professional grower.

Hi All,
Thanks for all the help and info. I soaked the seeds for a couple of days(I actually forgot about them) potted them in a 4" pot and waited. They germinated quickly and are doing ok. Still small but alive so I am happy.
Linda

I've always read that citrus---with the exception of Key Lime---would never breed true from seed. Since I don't believe everything I read, I decided to test it. Five years ago I got a particularly tasty bunch of Tangerines from the local grocery store. After spitting most of the seeds over the back porch railing, I thought to myself "why not plant some of the seeds from this delicious plant?" So I did (all 10 germinated). I've got 3 plants left from that original planting 5 yrs. ago, and one of them fruited for the 1st time this year. It wasn't delicious. In fact, it wasn't even a "Tangerine". It was more of an evil-tasting lemon. Yellow in color, and much bigger than the traditional tangerine, it was totally unpallatable. Not even useful for lemon flavoring (way more bitter). I'll grow out the remaining 2 to fruiting, but I suspect the experts are right on this one...

Meyer lemon is also supposed to come very close to true from seed.

G'Day All
Lindaca since your tree is not a Meyer lemon could it be "The Lemonade Tree" ? This is as the name suggests and is quite sweet compared to an ordinary lemon.
Stonoriver- If you are interested, instead of wasting your stock you could try budding a citrus fruit onto it, if you can access Tangerine bud wood you would then have the tree you hoped for in the first place. If you have it in a pot or tub there will be no problems but if your soil conditions do not suit the stock then it might not grow very well. If it is already in the ground then no worries.
Regards

One could likely research and find out what root stock is used for grafting Meyer Lemons. The tops of a proven commercial tree would be good grafting material to work with. Any other method will produce some other result.....maybe good but most likely sour and useless.

Good deal, mate! The thought never even occurred to me. I COULD use the stock as grafting material, and maybe produce something edible. Totally missed the possibility... Thank you , sir! Brilliant! (How come I never thought of that?)...

G'Day
I think you have the right idea but just in case. The stock that you have is just that "The Stock" or rootstock your grafting material, or scions, will come from the desirable mother plant whether that be a Tangerine or some other citrus of your choice. Since the stock is a Tangerine X seedling then it will almost certainly be compatible with a good variety Tangerine also probably any mandarin.
Regards

This message was edited Dec 13, 2008 8:04 AM

Hmmmmm. I feel some playing around with seeds coming up. Never thought about the grafting thing. If the seeds grow into trees, they like where they are so no problems. Just graft something better tasting on top if things don't go well. Who knows may get lucky with the seeds even if they don't taste like the orginal fruit.