This is my baggie method. Fill a ziplock bag with a handfull of potting mix. Moisten the mix but do not over do it. Put the seeds in & shake up to mix them into the soil mix. Place on top of your PC monitor... Your PC must be on at all times as well as the monitor.

Here is a pic of some Satsumas 11 days after they were bagged up.

Thanks for the tip!!! I ran out of peat pellets.. I got some FD fruit and my oldest son is trying to grow lemon from seed again.. am trying this method for one of the fruits that I had set in the fridge hoping to find more pellets.. It will be interesting to compare the baggie method to pellet method.. I don't keep my computer on all night.. I shut mine down every evening.. but I have them set where the mini green house is so it has same warmth.
These are the lemons my son planted the seeds of.. Are they Meyer? He was really upset none of his trees lived and so we are going to try it again. These were the smallest lemons we could find at the store. as you can see my photo budget has been reduced.. LOL


Gina *BabyBlue*

Laaz, I tried your baggie method for the first time 14 days ago with some Sunburst Mandarin and Rangpur Lime seeds. It worked like a champ. and germination started about the 13th day. - Millet

This is a great idea! Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I switched to LCD monitors last year so there is no flat space on which to place the baggies. I have an alternative though.

The digital cable box gets pretty warm and it's on all the time. There is room for a couple of baggies there and I think that might do the trick for those of us not using CRTs anymore. The trick may be keeping the cats from messing with them, that could be one hell of a mess!

I will be trying some soon and will post the results.

I have used the baggie method for many kinds of seeds, except that I place the baggies on the hot water heater. I also place the seeds between moist (but not soggy) paper towels instead of potting media.

I am now using baggies & media to stratify some Japanese Maple seed, according to some directions found on the web. I have always had trouble germinating them - any suggestions?

Ned

Had a bit of a time starting seeds recently. Got deeper containers, and am using heat. Ive gotten new Calamondin seeds, and theyre in a bag with a little moisture and some cocoa peat. (ill toss in a half handful of soil later)

Mine are on my little buffet-heater on super-low. My computer is a laptop.

The baggie method certainly germinates seedling quickly. However, if the seedlings are left in the bag to long the seedings develop a lot of "root curl." I lke the adapable baggie method (Laaz/Ned Method). That is, seedlings placed in a bag inbetween moist paper toweling. As soon as germaination starts with the radical emeriging from the seed, take the seed out and plant them in a pot before root curl can begain. - Millet

I start a lot of my citrus seedlings by simply planting them in a nursery pot in a good mix, covering them with 1/2" of media, and sitting them in the greenhouse (I keep the greenhouse between 50-60). I have just sit them outside and waited for spring. I am not sure I ever had any fail by either method. Of course this probably won't work as well in the land of snow rolls.

How long does it take for the Citrus seeds to Grow fruit ?
i have heard its faster with cuttings is there any trueth to this ? Tammy

grafted trees "remember" how old they are, so they can be small buds, but fruit 1-2 years after being grafted. Citrus from seed need to get to a certain size (leaf nodes, I dont know if there is any definative research on the actual #s) before they fruit.
Key limes are suppoedly one of the earliest from seed. Ive got a ~6 month old seedling that is getting decent sized already. We'll see.

Yummy Key limes...

Cant wait to get one of those going to go get some good soil for the trees i ordered from stan .. 1 Really cold hardy Orange and 1 meyers lemon but you all knew id get the meyers i also have 2 persimmons comming ..Now for the key lime ...Tammy