Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus

Hardy citrus growing in the NCR / Help with sprouting seeds in bags

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Balu42:
Hi everyone,

I'm new to the Tropical Fruit Forum, and new to hardy citrus growing. I live in Zone 7b in the NCR. Previously I lived in Zone 9a where I had a sweet orange and lemon tree in ground. When I moved, I thought citrus will not survive outdoors without a greenhouse in Zone 7b, so for years I only grew them in pots, moving them indoors every year.  By now, I have Meyer Lemons, Yuzu, Persian Lime and calamondin in pots. 

Six years ago I tasted yuzu for the first time while I was in Japan used in dishes and also tasted the fresh fruit. I really liked the fragrance of the oils and the sour lemony flavor especially made into marmalade, ice cream and to flavor yoghurt. While I researched it, I read that it was quite hardy. So I got a few plants on their own roots and after a year I planted them outdoors about a foot away from the south wall of my house. I put some fallen leaves around the plants in the fall, but no other protection and by spring they were all dead.

I gave up on growing citrus outdoors again. I focused on other fruiting plants like persimmons, pawpaw, cherries, apricots, peaches, berries, kiwi and grapes in my yard and kept my potted citrus indoors for the winter. Last year after seeing the videos of @eyeckr aka the Virginia Fruit Grower and how some of his plants survived single digit temperatures similar to what I get here, I got interested again.

Over the past year I watched probably a hundred videos from him, @Mulberry0126, Tough Citrus, Stan and Sweet Home Alabama Homestead amongst others and I feel ready to try again.

Based on the reviews I bought a few grafted trees: Meiwa kumquat, US-119 and Ichang Lemon, all of which will be more challenging to keep alive and for 119 also to keep the fruit from splitting, and obtained seeds of flying dragon (for rootstock), Swingle, US-852, Ichang lemon and Meiwa kumquat that I am trying to sprout now. I have several more in mind to expand and probably to replace any of the non-survivors.

From what I read a large percentage of US-852 seedlings don’t come true to type opening up easier possibility of finding better seedlings like the Bishop than with highly nucellar hybrids. So I plan on growing out all the US-852 and most Swingle seedlings (some may become rootstocks) in ground unprotected, and select the best tasting ones from the survivors. I am also going to try to see if any Meiwa kumquat seedlings will survive in ground here while I may keep my grafted one in the pot. At a minimum I will use a barrel filled with water and frost cover for them but may also add C9 Christmas lights.

I need some help with my seeds:
Do you sterilize the seeds before sprouting? If so do you use bleach of hydrogen peroxide? What is the concentration and how long do you keep them in the solution?

Some of my seeds are in 40% peat moss, 40% perlite, 20% sand on heat mats and some are in ziploc bags with a damp paper towel. Out of the ones in the ziploc bag, some were soaked in 1.5% hydrogen peroxide for a couple minutes some were just washed under running water. I was worried that bleach or hydrogen peroxide might damage the seeds. I am seeing mold starting in some of the bags with untreated seeds and I know mold will quickly destroy them. Please let me know how do you sprout them and how to save my seeds.

Thank you.

Peep:
Regarding seeds;

I don't treat seeds with any products. I do peel them after soaking for 24+ hours in water. Peeling makes them germinate quicker, and I just have a better success rate with them.

I put the peeled seeds in a container with vermiculite. I make sure there is about 10cm depth for the roots, this way the roots don't hit the bottom and start to curl before transplanting, this is mostly important when growing seeds as rootstock.
I use clear storage containers for this, they come in all kinds of sizes. These container(s) I put on a heating pad with the lid on.

As soon as a sprout stick out of the vermiculate substrate (they would be 5 to 10 mm tall at this point) I dig them out and transplant them to another container that is not on a heated pad, but under a grow light.

Because vermiculite is fairly light, it should be easy to get them out without breaking the fragile root. Usually when they pop out of the vermiculite the roots are already about 5 to 7 cm long. I've also used sand, but it's heavy and makes it harder to get the seedlings out without damage.

If the container under the growlight is deep enough, I can just put the lid on, a bit ajar so there is some airflow, while still keeping high humidity inside.

If I used a more shallow box, I just put another box on top of it, but upside down, so it becomes a little greenhouse. You can also buy these kind of mini greenhouses, but clear plastic storage containers are just cheaper. 

I'll try to make some pictures tomorrow.

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