I'm a newbie to gardening of any form and sprouted these seeds a few weeks ago for fun. I need help on making the right next step!

Right now they're in little peat pots with "soilless" sprouting soil. Like a 5th grade project, they're enclosed in zip top bags. They seem to be doing well (which for me means "not dead"). The key lime sprouts (3" high with 4 leaves) are growing faster than the Meyer (2.5" inches, two leaves and a hint of a new pair of leaves) but growth seems to have tapered off in the past two weeks.

Is this slowing up normal? What should I do next? I keep the plants indoors (of course) and put them near the windowsill for light. What kind of soil should I get? How big of a pot should I get? Does it make sense to use biodegradable pots like Cow Pots (http://www.cowpots.com/)?

Is it a good idea to put them in a makeshift greenhouse? I was thinking something like an overturned clear plastic water bottle or something would do a good job of retaining heat and moisture.

How temperamental are seedlings? I am probably going to have to take them back home with me for winter break (I'm a student) but will remain at room temperature the whole time. Is there anything I need to be concerned about?

Lastly, I assume that December is the absolute wrong time of year to be sprouting anything. Is there anything I should do to mitigate? Is grow light necessary or will the seedlings get along fine through the winter without it?

I would transfer them unto small pots, perhaps the cow pots would be perfect, put a 2-liter plastic over them (cut out the bottom), and let them sit by the window sill indoors, south facing. They would become dormant if you place them outside, even with a mini-greenhouse from the plastic bottle, they could remain dormant, or worse even freeze to death. We dip several nights into the freezing temperature during winter in Davis, and citrus seedlings most of them will not make it.

Awesome. Thanks for the advice. I wouldn't think of leaving them outside. The lack of a grow light won't cause them to also go dormant and wither away, would it?

As long as they get part time sunlight, at least an hour, there would be no need for growlight. But in the absence of sunlight the whole day, you definitely need growlight or equivalent lamps.

Also Meyer does not come true from seed.

Yeah, I guess that's the risk I take. I figure I'm years and years off from fruiting anything. . . I'm just happy I haven't killed it yet!

The Meyer from which that sprout came from was from a friend's yard. I'm hoping that I have a self-pollinated seed and that her tree wasn't Meyer grafted onto some hardier root stock.

It's a fun project nonetheless.

Take a few cuttings from her tree in the spring. Meyer and most lemons root very easy. Rooted cuttings will usually fruit in two years.

That's an interesting idea; I'll have to try it this spring!

Laaz. what kind of cuttings is it best to try and root? last years growth?

Ramon take cutting from the last flush that have hardened off. Take about 8-10 inch cuttings. Remove all the leaves but the last three on the tip of the cutting. Dip in rooting hormone, put them in a pot of good draining soil & place them in part to heavy shade.

I would be VERY careful of putting a small cutting under a milk jug setting directly in front of a southern window. The heat from the sun can easily raise the temperature inside the jug to very high temperatures (greenhouse effect). Further the number one killer of brand new citrus seedlings is from damping off, caused by rhizoctonia solani. Keeping the seedling under the milk jug will keep the soil surface moist and warm for an extended period, an excellent environment for damping off (stem rot) especially if greekbruin did not keep a sterile environment. . The chances of rhizoctonia will be very high. I would set the seedling in the open with good air circulation. Also ONLY water the seedling in the morning, so the sun's rays can quickly dry the surface of the soil, thus preventing stem rot. You can apply fertilizer at 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended rate as shown on the label.

We need to place this in proper context. Winter time in Davis, we keep our ambient indoor temperature around 65 deg F, but individual preferences could vary. Usually higher temp you will have higher bills and drier air that can dessicate seedlings. I have thermometer probe on those plastic soda dome (no cap on top), and temperature inside of them seldom exceed 80 deg F in full sunlight window. This is because of the current designs of modern windows which are energy efficient for comfortable living by human beings and not plants. So the windows filters out a lot of infrared energy from the sunlight because these are designed against summer heat, and you know that we regularly go over the century mark most summers, and the double pane keeps it as good insulation against the heat for the winter. The window materials are not the same as those from the greenhouses because they have a different purpose. Anyway, the main reason why I would put those plastic covering myself is because of the extremely dry indoor air. A Higher humidity, but not saturated air, would be desirable and without the cap on top, it is perfect balance so as not to have seedling die off. One way to insure is that on top of the potting media, I would place a 1/4" layer of fine sand. There are special potting media that are almost sterile and sold at Home Depot, they are specially designed for germinating seeds.

But of course, Millet is correct to be concerned about the common diseases of seedlings, and those should be taken into considerations if you have higher humidity inside the house. It would also depend if the windows are very old and haven't been brought up to modern building codes.

Howdy and congrats on your early success! I sprouted many keylimes this spring and found that the sooner you get them into big pots, the sooner they take off - and I mean TAKE OFF.

They will appear to do nothing for a while as they grow roots, but once the root system hits a certain critical mass, those buggers will go apesh1t on you in about 5 months, if you'll excuse the term

It's imperitive that you use citrus fertilizer, of course. Below is a tree that was kept in a tiny 1" sprouting tray cell from May to July before going to a one pint cup. Finally, in August I put it in the one gallon pot you see and it went crazy after pinching it once.




In my experience, the Meyers are even slower to bolt as they develop root systems, but if you keep them warm and use artificial light in the winter, they'll continue to flush on a regular basis. I have one that is picking up speed and flushes every 2-3 weeks now (!).