Something to show y'all

So, a few days ago I Tweeted something, and Peggy replied to my Tweet since she was curious. I told her she had to wait a few days since I was really busy, but I gave her a clue. :p Anyone familiar with that godawful image that's called Lemon Party? LOL, no, I had to tell her it wasn't that. Anyway, more than a month ago I juiced some Meyer lemons and oranges for a drink.

Now, I'm fairly educated about plants, and I know what grows true to seed, so I washed the pulp off of the lemon seeds and placed them in a glass of cold water for a few days. This caused the remaining pulp to turn into a gelatin like substance which I wiped up. I used the nail on my thumbs to tear open the coating, then placed the seeds wrapped in wet tissue paper. I then placed it outside in the yard under an area that gets sunlight from 9 AM till 7 during the summer time.

About a few weeks ago while repainting the house, I noticed that they'd sprouted. Well, 2 of them, I had 4. So, when I was done, I transplanted them and their tap root carefully into some potting mix. I thought they might die, but a week ago I was walking around cleaning my pool when I spotted little leaves in the container!

So anyway, here are the pics. Ask any questions you've got.

 

What root stock are you planning on grafting these to?

While the plant may grow true to seed, the root stock of that variety might not be a decent healthy variety. Almost 100% of all fruit trees in the United States are grafted on to sturdy root stock.

You might luck out and get a great tree out of it but I am always leary myself because I live in a suburb myself and it has traditionally bad soil. I would like to see it in a year.

Unfortunately we cannot grow citrus in my area. It gets too cold in the winter and kills the flowers before the fruit can form. They can grow to the north in Bakersfield and to the south in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire areas but don't grow here with any certainty. I have been thinking about getting some miniature lemon and mandarin orange trees grafted onto a sub-dwarf rootstock so they only grow about 3 feet tall. Than I can bring the containers inside in the winter for fruit. Though, I'll probably have to do paintbrush pollination.

 

I might graft it onto my meyer tree in the fruits section of my other yard.

At the house I grew up in, which is about 20 minutes away, there's a few fruit trees that I just planted when I was a kid. They give terrific fruit surprisingly. I've pretty much lucked out every time I've planted something out of boredom.

I could graft it, but I don't mind waiting a few years for something, I've got other citrus I can get fruit from.


I am trying to figure out a way to graft this flower shrub of the same species, except mine gives off a deep red color while my neighbor's gives off a creamy white one. I need to buy some grafting wax, though. As far as soil goes, this area has some rich soil. I do end up putting in compost and other goodies. If I juice some fruit, I end up mixing the dry pulp with some soil and using it as bedding. I don't like dealing with fertilizer unless I need it.

 

I might have to get rid of the smaller plant at the end of July if I don't see some improvement. Which is a shame really.

I actually threw in some cherry pits about 4 years ago and they grew fast, but one winter we got some major rain and they fell over breaking their midsections. I was pretty pissed but nothing major.

They were Persian sour cherries, which if you've ever had them, they're not so sweet but really tart. I don't waste time with regular cherries, I'd rather buy a tree.

 

How cool is that!


And I love persian sour cherries. They're grrrrrrrrrreat in a margarita!

 

Hmm, seems everything tastes good in a margarita, except guava juice. :p


There's a Minnesota variety of the Persian sour cherry, except it's sweet but tart, and has flimsy flesh. I need to get some Florida grapefruit soon, gotta have the good pink lemonade this summer.

 

Nice, bet that was a surprise. I don't like trees too much, especially fruit trees. I know they are used in recycling oxygen and such but otherwise I would cut all mine down.