Since winter 2013/14, I raise citrus seedlings of store bought citrus fruits. Here, I want to report about some odd observations, which often didnīt give plants. Usually, I put the seeds in a sand and peat filled pot, bag the pot and put it on a warm place with some light. Raising citrus seedlings plants is an easy task, but sometimes, unexpected facts result in failure.
Germinating seeds are very sensitive to environmental stress and pathogens. If the first and only growing point, the meristem of the shoot between the cotyledons, becomes hurt, there is no other meristem to continue the development.
2 cotyledons of a Meiwa Kumquat seed. Two and a half years old. It gets regularly watered, still alive, but unable to grow. Chances are small, it will ever become a tree.
This winter, I bought some exceptionally large Nagami Kumquats. So, I decided to raise the seeds. Six, out of ten seedlings, showed white leaves with only traces of chlorophyll. These plants are unable to photosynthesize and will die off, sooner or later. I wonder, if these Nagami Kumquats fruits have been treated in some way?
For unknown reason, some seedlings have a big problem to get the first leaves out of the seed coat. It can take a long time for the leaves to emerge and sometimes such seedlings fall prey to rot.
A Nagami kumquat seedling finally came out of the seed coat.
A 3 years old tangor, raised from a seed of Afourer/ Nadarcott. This tree shows a nice curved bump on the base of the stem, telling about its early days, struggling with seed coat.