Hello everyone

I planted some Yuzu seeds a little while ago. I made sure to label them well, I planted three in their own pots, dead center, and two of the smaller perhaps less viable looking seeds in one pot together, one to each side. Well, one of the Yuzu's I planted alone had began to germinate in paper towel before I even planted it, that one got a special label to look out for. I got one sprout coming out from it, and two days later another sprout right beside it, almost right under it. I KNOW I only put one seed in this pot. I don't understand a thing about what's going on here...

Many of the citrus species are capable of producing polyembryonic seeds.
That means that there may be more than one embryo per seed. The species that can produce polyembryonic seeds are also the ones that will grow true to type from seed (the seeds are clones of the mother plant). However, some of the plants from seeds from polyembryonic varieties may be hybrids (crosses as a result of pollination with another variety).
Many nurseries that grow rootstock from seed will cull any plants that look different from the norm as they are likely the result of pollination and not "true".

Skeet

Skeeter, I just did a search on polyembryonic seeds, and well, this is a very good thing I guess!

I'm very happy with this news, thanks!!

Very common with Yuzu seed. You can separate the seedlings when very young and have two trees, or you can just cut one of the seedling out. - Millet

Yuzu is normally mono, not poly.

Perhaps that particular "Yuzu" was a hybrid?

With sometimes conlficting results like this, which is very normal in scientific studies anyway, it could only mean that there may be other mechanism influencing expression of polyembryonism, and not only genetics. Perhaps the environment x genetic interaction as well.

How does one go about separating these guys? If they are originating from the same seed, how easy is it to see two separate root systems and therefore know where to separate them? I've never dealt with polyembryonic seeds before... I am scared to do anything at all really.

I have only separated one that had multiple plants though I have several more. It was relatively easy to untangle the sprouts. I separated it when the biggest plant had just gotten the first real leaves. Roots were only an inch or 2 long and I just carefully teased them apart.

Skeet

The Yuzu seed that Ecomtl is talking about actually came from Laaz's Yuzu tree. I received several Yuzu fruits from Laaz, and removed approximately 26 seeds. When I sent Ecomtl some STEM I enclosed five Yuzu seeds for her to plant. Of the Yuzu seeds that I kept and planted, 15 germinated, and of these 15 germinated seedlings three were polyembryonic, giving me more than one plant per seed. - Millet

Well, it's a pretty standard ratio then Millet. You have 3 out of 15, I have 1 out of 5. Bang on.

They are growing so fast, I am fascinated.

Thanks for sharing your results, Millet and Ecomtl. So it seems yuzu is polyembryonic but only to a low degree - around 20%. There's very little information on this matter on the web.