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winter insanity. 12 years 1 month ago #3928

  • Pinkham
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Hi folks,
Have any of you successfully grown fruit trees from lemon, avocado or papaya seeds from grocery store produce?
I have been so bored lately that I started some of them. I did research on the easiest seeds to grow, and they were among the easiest.
I'm not kidding myself into thinking that these will ever bear fruit. I just wanted to see if I could grow them.
I have tried avocado before but they never sprouted.
This is what winter has done to me. Spring can't come fast enough.

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Re: winter insanity. 12 years 1 month ago #3929

  • leatherback
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Hi,

Yes. I have tried to grow them. Papaya I never got to work, but they should.

Avocado.. I had a long slender 4 feet (1.2m) stem in my windowsill at the end of summer. I bend this down, and now it is a jungle of over 50 growing points and branches. This is my inside bonsaid experiment, which is doomed to fail as the leaves hardly reduce.

Citrus grew up to a few inches then misteriously died on me. I suspect there are some fungi in the soil it needs, but never been able t lay my hand on it.

In winter I usually pre-grow veggies such as pepper and tomatoes inside. Also, you can do a lot of wiring now. Don't worry. Spring is around the corner. The budds are swelling very rapidly here. A week of 2 ago we were looking at obver 10 degrees frost. Today I suspect we will reach 12 degrees celcius (about 52F, i guess). With these temperatures a lot of trees should start to come out of dormancy over the next 2 weeks.

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Re: winter insanity. 12 years 1 week ago #4123

  • Vnolan
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I'm trying to grow some orange seeds right now,I've read that they take a long time to germinate. (here's hoping!). I soaked them and removed the outer layers. They are currently outside in a cardboard egg carton, now that it is in the 60s and 70s out there. Before I Put them outside I had them under some grow lights and on a heat mat. Not much action yet but I'll let you know!

Ive grown lots of avocado seeds. :). I suspend them with toothpicks over a jar of water so that the pointy end is up and the flat end is about 1/4" under the water or so. And I put them on a sunny windowsill. They sometimes require a lot of patience but they sure are fun! The leaves I've seen are huge, though, like inches in length. And they probably don't like cold windows in the winter.

I hope your winter projects are coming along! I just noticed yesterday that some of my arabica coffee seeds are sprouting. Those should be interesting. :)

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Last edit: Post by Vnolan.

Re: winter insanity. 12 years 1 week ago #4131

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Not much has happened with the avocado, lemon, or papaya seeds. I'm still waiting...patiently. I did however successfully root a few geranium cuttings in water.I put them in water last week (10 of them) and 2 have already started producing roots.I have many other inside plant projects... I realized yesterday that all of these seeds and cuttings are going to need extra attention within the next few weeks. That's just about the same time that my trees are going to start needing re-potting. I created so much extra work for myself by starting these things when I did. Next year I think I'll do this in november. haha

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Re: winter insanity. 12 years 4 days ago #4399

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I ran into the same train of thought when I was on the back deck yesterday, thinking about the many seeds that would soon be sprouting, and wondering what have I done! :) Some of them, the himalayan pine, orange, silk, mimosa and oak trees are beginning to sprout. I still have the larch in the fridge, and gave in and planted the hinoki cypress and a couple others yesterday. They'd been hanging out in the cold and in some water for a bit. I also bought about 45 seedlings of japanese black and white pine, which by the way are a lot of future trees! How are your seeds doing?

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Re: winter insanity. 12 years 4 days ago #4414

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Nothing has happened yet.My avocado seeds are splitting, so they may sprout soon... On another note, I got most of my trees re-potted, and now I'm waiting....again. haha.
I was given the news today that I couldn't start any more seeds or cuttings until I get rid of some of the existing ones. I counted....I have 30 containers with seeds and cuttings in various stages of rooting. I also just received at least 150 birch and chinese elm seeds in the mail. How's that gonna work? haha

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Re: winter insanity. 11 years 11 months ago #4577

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Yahoo...A papaya sprouted a few days ago and a lemon seedling is breaking the surface of the soil.One of my avocado pits didn't do anything. It just wrinkled up. one of my other ones is split and I can see the white root getting ready to pop out. the third one is split, but I can't see a root yet.
I don't know how I ever made it to 43 without ever starting any of these before. A lot of people I know say they did this is third grade. Where was I? I never did that. Haha

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Re: winter insanity. 11 years 11 months ago #4677

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A lemon bonsai would be really cute! kawaii bonsai, :P. I think fruit trees make interesting bonsai. My first bonsai attempt was a lemon tree but it didn't work out for me. Post pictures of your lemon and papaya progression as they get older and we will find them inspiring!

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Re: winter insanity. 11 years 11 months ago #4694

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The lemon tree is staying with me. I'm giving the papaya away because they grow tall and fast, and you can't reduce the leaves.I was really more interested in germinating seeds. Now that they've sprouted I'm pushing them on my co-workers, to give to their children.
I'm now sprouting a birdhouse gourd in an egg shell. I might keep this one...along with the lemon, and 2 avocados.

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Re: winter insanity. 11 years 9 months ago #5951

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So here they are almost 4 months later. The lemon is coming along just fine, The avocado are finally sending up shoots.
I put 6 lemon seeds in a damp paper towel...inside a sealed container last week and they are already sprouting. I find it odd because the lemon took soooo long to sprout this winter.
oh yeah, the papaya sprouted and died soon after. They sprouted first though....that's something I guess. haha

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Last edit: Post by Pinkham.
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