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Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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Posted by
greenchic 7 (
My Page) on
Fri, Aug 7, 09 at 12:55
| I bought a few limes the other day from the supermarket, and thought I'd try to grow the leftover seeds. However, the limes produced very tiny seeds that dont look like what i expected.
I bought lemons and they are already sprouting. Are these tiny, lime seeds going to sprout or should I try again? How can you tell which lime fruit have normal seeds? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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- Posted by dicot Los Angeles (My Page) on
Fri, Aug 7, 09 at 21:11
| Yeah, they pick the limes WAYYY before they are ripe, so the seeds are often immature. Lemons are slightly better, but in both cases, neither seed type will produce true to their parent since all commercial citrus trees are grafted. I strongly recommend (from past experience) that if you want a lemon or lime tree, spend the cash to get a 2-3 year old tree. If you are just planting them for fun, rinse the seeds in some peroxide and have at it. |
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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| thank you for responding! So thats why the seeds are so tiny? I did notice the limes were kinda small too. Im doing it for fun, but if I ever came across a nice size lime tree i would buy it. My neighbor across from me showed me hers the other day-what a beauty! She said she grew it many years ago from seed. I thought I would try it too. I wrapped the seeds in a wet paper towel. Can a seed be too immature to sprout? |
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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| Actually the seeds may produce true to parent as most citrus seeds have polyembryonic seeds with extra nucellar embryos which are genetically identical to the mother plant. The reason most citrus trees are grafted is to get more disease resistant rootstocks and to bypass the loooooong juvenile stage of the trees which can last for many years. George |
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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| What geoforce said, plus the fact that the tree will be a full size standard, much larger than most of us want. Al |
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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| Even though the seeds are tiny, will they sprout? |
RE: Tiny Lime Seeds from Supermarket
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- Posted by dicot Los Angeles (My Page) on
Sun, Aug 9, 09 at 14:36
| Go ahead and give them the float test. Not every seed that sinks to the bottom is viable and not every seed that floats is immature, but it is one cheap, easy method. I would think that choosing the largest, ripest store-bought limes could help as well. |
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