Clementine is an unknown hybrid, and the variety only produces zygotic seed. Therefore, each new seedling is a new, never seen before citrus tree. That is exactly why they interested me. I have germinated more Clementine seeds over the years than all other citrus seeds put together. A long time ago, Dr. Malcolm Manners told me that the seed of the Clementine would almost always produce an inferior tree. Dr. Manners, of course, turned out to be correct. The trees consistently turned out to be weak growers, producing small leaves, just inferior trees. One at a time I have discarded all of them except one. I kept one tree for no other reason than to keep one. That tree must be somewhere near 5 or 6+ years old, still producing small leaves, slow growth, and generally a weak inferior tree. For these reasons the tree seems to be generally more attractive to insects then the others in the greenhouse. I remember it had a small bloom in its 3rd year, but with no resulting fruit. It has never bloomed since. The tree has not had the best care, but the care has been acceptable. Lately I have begun paying better attention to the tree, telling the tree I will hang in there until it decides to shape up (if possible). From what I have been told I should not expect the fruit to be worthy of the effort. In my mind it is not actually the tree, but its the challenge, that makes it all worth while. After all, what is the challenge of growing a tree from seed, that is known to come true to the mother tree? Heck, I can purchase that type of a tree from any number of nurseries. - Millet

Millet, Your post is very interesting. I bought three rubino Clementino seedlings from Laaz and he got the seeds from a friend in France I think. Does your post mean my seedlings are probably not going to be worth a flip ? Dang. I knew it could be a long time but I was hoping for some blood clementines someday and maybe even trying to graft too. If I'm understanding you correctly I might have the best blood clementine in the world but the chances are probably very slim ? Tom

That sounds much more promising. Thank you ! Tom

ilyaC, your certainly correct. In my trials, I was not attempting to obtain hybrids through crossing a Clementine with another cultivar. I was simply germinating Clementine seeds, then growing the resulting tree on. Many times I had 20 or so seeds germinating at the same time, and as they grew it was easy to see the difference between the seedlings. Although it is very rare, one never knows if luck strikes, and a new super cultivar is developed, that is good enough for the market, this happens from time to time. Eureka lemon originated as a chance seedling on the grounds of Mr. C. K. Workman as a chance seed in a large order of seeds that he imported in 1872 from Hamburg. Most of the commercial citrus cultivars now being grown were from chance seedlings or bud mutations. A relatively small number of new cultivars of widespread significance have so far originated from breeding programs. - Millet