Citron from seed

[Marge]

I have an old citron (or etrog) fruit that has dried out and it still has the seeds inside. Can I use these seeds to grow my own citron plants or should I get fresh seeds?

[PAULW]

from wikipedia

3The seed is removed from the fruit and sown in the spring in carefully tilled beds, and it is watered every fourth or fifth day. As soon the plant is strong it is transplanted, also in the spring, to a soft, well watered site, where the soil is not very fine, for it prefers such places.

[Marge]

thanks for the info. I was wondering if I could start it off now indoors?

[starloc]

It wont grow outdoors all year, only from about the middle of june to start/middle of october, you need to grow it in a pot with very free draining citrus compost, a small pot, you will need heat to germinate it, normaly about 27C , as long as the seeds havent dried out then they should grow, if they grow they will probably take some time/years to flower, not sure on citron but probably over 10 years in the short growing season we have in this country, probably more like 20 years and it will need to be unpruned to ever flower and will be a very large plant

[boatsman]

I have an old citron (or etrog) fruit that has dried out and it still has the seeds inside. Can I use these seeds to grow my own citron plants or should I get fresh seeds?

I planted all the seeds from my etrog last year outside in a hanging basket containing a peat based soil mix. The basket gets a regular watering with a drip system and I now have about twenty five 10 cm high plants each with two sets of leaves. The snow we had didn't do them any damage. When they are a bit taller I'll transplant them into separate pots.

[starloc]

If snow piles on a tree, it provides insulation so prevents the really cold air getting to a tree , its best to keep them out of the snow as it will often kill them
If you get a freeze thaw situation were the snow melts onto the leaves and freezes the plant will die down to the grouns, a seed grown young tree will die , a large mature plant on a rootstock will probably survive, but many varietys grafted on will die leaving the rootstock

Trifoliate rootstock is fine outdoors, I have them in the garden , all citrus is affected by frost, trifoliate rootstock ( jap. bitter orange ) used to be classed as a citrus but its not anymore as it isnt a citrus, its just a good citrus rootstock
Any citrus in a standard peat based mix will die , rapidly, not usually more than 6 months due to waterlogging, something to add drainage is necessary

[boatsman]

If snow piles on a tree, it provides insulation so prevents the really cold air getting to a tree , its best to keep them out of the snow as it will often kill them
If you get a freeze thaw situation were the snow melts onto the leaves and freezes the plant will die down to the grouns, a seed grown young tree will die , a large mature plant on a rootstock will probably survive, but many varietys grafted on will die leaving the rootstock

Trifoliate rootstock is fine outdoors, I have them in the garden , all citrus is affected by frost, trifoliate rootstock ( jap. bitter orange ) used to be classed as a citrus but its not anymore as it isnt a citrus, its just a good citrus rootstock
Any citrus in a standard peat based mix will die , rapidly, not usually more than 6 months due to waterlogging, something to add drainage is necessary

My citrus trees are planted in a peat based soil mix in a heavy clay soil and receive a daily or every other day drip feed for about ten minutes. I have never had a citrus tree dying because of drainage problems. I sometimes have instances of chlorosis which I quickly correct with a chelated iron spray over the leaves and over the ground around the tree.

[starloc]

You are very very lucky then! as citrus can not live in wet heavy compost, if watered every other day unless they dry out due to you having them somewhere hot like California or Florida then they will die due to a peat and clay based compost , its a known fact!

Even the 100+ trees I have indoors under growlights at 30+ deg C only need watering every 5 days , and thats in a free draining compost, there never would be any need to water that much in a clay /peat based compost even under growlights indoor

Growing in a free draining medium such as CHC , bark chips or similar mixes is the only way to long term success in a pot grown citrus

If they are in the ground, its a different matter, but in the UK 99% of people grow in a pot as the weather is too cold for citrus in the winter, unless you are very very lucky with climate

Rainwater every day is different as it contains dissolved oxygen , tap water can be oxygenated the same way with addition of hydrogen peroxide and then you could grow the citrus in it due to oxygen content

99% or more of all citrus trees purchased by growers die due to overwatering brought on by incorrect compost choice