I was thinking this afternoon about how cool it would be to have a tree in my room, so I decided I was going to grow some citrus. Why citrus? Because I like oranges.

Basically, I'm a 15 year old New Yorker who has had great success growing chili peppers and regular, boring house plants. I've never ventured beyond that though. Does anyone have any tips concerning my new expedition? What would be ideal would be for me to just rip open a lemon (or any kind of citrus, really) and stick the seeds in a little pot with some all purpose potting soil, but I realize this is probably not very realistic. Any ideas will be appreciated.

P.S.- I live right next to "Whole Foods" so I was pretty much planning on making a trip there tomorrow and getting as much overpriced fruit as my $15 spending limit will allow.

Now that I think about it, my post didn't really ask that many questions, so ignore the title of this thread.

Rama,

If your interest is geared towards learning about how to grow citrus, then by all means, get yourself some fruit and grow your own trees from seedlings. Just be aware that it will be many years before you reap the fruits of your labor -- so to speak. The advantage to this route is you can learn a lot through trial and error at minimal cost.

If you want a tree that will give you fruit in year or two, you'll need to purchase a tree that has been grafted. The least expensive option will probably be buying a liner tree. These are very young trees in 4"x4"x14" plastic pots called liners. They are generally available from Walmart and similar discount type stores that have a nursery. Out here in CA they go for ~$10. The next step up in price would be a 5 gallon size tree. These are available at most national hardware stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, etc. This size tree sell for ~$18 to $22 where I live. I'd bet availability will be more limited in NY than CA. Likewise, I'd assume prices to be higher were you live. Another option would be to order a plant or two on-line. Since NY is not a commercial citrus state, you should be able to have plants shipped to you from just about any other state.

Good luck, have fun, and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Kent

Well, I think I just want to try getting some seeds for the moment. But how would I go about germinating them? Or should I just pray for a sprouted seedling in the fruit?

If you plant them immediately, they would have better chances at germination. You can start out with limes, they fruit much quicker than others.

As Joe says Limes. But you will need Key limes, Bearss Limes have no seeds.

So I don't have to soak them in wet paper towels or anything?

Rinse them off and plug them in, into the potting mix. Then water.

Alright, cool. I'm going to do it right now, thanks a lot everyone.

One more thing. What should I do about temperature?

Hey man, I'm 15 too and Ive had awesome success with chili peppers and i aswell live right near a Whole Foods. My grandma got me a 6 inch tall lemon tree a few months ago and its doing superb. good luck on your project.

Rama, Temperature speeds things along. I planted some Ugli fruit seeds which did nothing for 2 months on it's own. Then I used a heating pad under the pots set to medium on the new seeds. Bam! 2 weeks.

Your parents should have an electric heating pad somewhere in the house so you don't have to go spend the $9.99 to buy one.

4-7 years for fruit Rama. You have that kind of patience?

Thanks man. I read somewhere online that putting them in a little ziplock bag with some moist soil and putting it on a computer will help it germinate quickly. I put it on my cable box and I also planted some in a little pot, just in case.

Also, do I need to worry about it being too humid? I sprayed the bag with water and it's extremely wet in there.

Forgot to mention. You want to keep it moist. You'll see a boatload of condensation on the baggie. That's ok, but you don't want to keep it so moist that the seed will rot. If your dirt looks dry, water some more. If not, leave it alone.