🌱Growing With Ben🌱 ~ The Chonicles of the Troublesome Seeds

Which fruits/vegetables have you successfully grown before?


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Feel free to share tips, tricks, and give us updates on how your garden and plants are doing, in this thread. Share tips on growing plants from seed and be sure to post pics. All are welcome.

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After multiple attempts at growing a lemon tree from seed, I have failed yet again. I have tried every method possible, and have had no luck.


Here’s what I did after scouring the internet to find the best methods for sprouting these various seeds.

Lemon

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Get a lemon from the store.
Preferably a Meyer lemon.
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Extract as many seeds as you can. Be careful not to damage them. I extracted 10 seeds from this lemon.
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Rinse seeds to get all the slimy fruit off.
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Soak in warm water for 1 hour.

Lay out a wet paper towel and spread out the seeds onto it.
Fold paper towel a couple times and place into a Ziploc bag and seal it closed.
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Let it sit in a warm, dark area (sock drawer, cabinet above the oven, etc.) for 5-7 days.

Yet again, I failed. No sprouts after 7 days. A couple even got moldy. :th

Orange

Some requested I grow an orange tree along with the lemon tree (in my other Lemon growing thread), and this time around, I found a pot and decided to finaly give it a shot.

Get an orange from the store.
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Cut and extract as many seeds as you can.
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I have no idea what was wrong with my oranges, but I got only 2 (.5?) seeds from one orange, and I found zero in the other one. :th

Rinse seeds.

Soak in warm water for 30 minutes.
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(in the photo- orange seeds on the left, lemon seeds on the right)

For the orange, they say to plant the seeds directly into soil after soaking, about two inches deep and make sure the soil is moist.
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No luck with the orange either. No sprouts after a week.

Cherry
This is the one I was most excited for.
It also happens to be the one that takes the longest to sprout.

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Eat some cherries, then rinse a few pits and get all the slimy fruit off them.

Use a wire cutter or can opener (I used a can opener) to crack open the pits GENTLY to get the tiny seeds inside.
Be careful not to damage the skin of the seeds.
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After you get a good amount of seeds, soak them in some warm water for 2 hours to rehydrate them.
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Next, soak a paper towel in water and lay it out flat.
Spread the seeds onto the wet paper towel and sprinkle cinnamon onto the seeds to prevent mold development and growth.
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Fold paper towel a couple times and wrap in some aluminum foil.
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Now store then in the fridge for at least one month.

Cucumber
Heck, this one’s short.
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I opened up at least 5 cucumbers, bit and small, from the garden and found no viable seeds. I tried cucumbers that were a little older, and still no luck. They are all not developed enough to be planted.

Anyone have luck with getting seeds from cucs?

Instead, I made this delicious, 4 ingredient salad.
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Cut up the cucs.
Mix in some sour cream.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

If you grow just cucumbers, or haven’t gotten any other veggies from the garden yet… try this salad. It’s a Slavic favorite.


Feel free to follow along as I attempt (in the future) to grow a lemon tree, after I get some tips from y’all.
Has anyone had success growing a lemon, cherry, or orange tree from seed?
How did you do it?

Tips for growing in general are welcome and encouraged.


Thanks for the tag.
As NatJ said, lemon grow time does also very depending on the type.
I also read that higher heat may cause slower growth,
This could be of no value, but im just going to type out a quick sheet that may be useful

TEMPS FOR TREES

Lemon: Shouldn’t be under 28 F (-2 C) Blossoms & young fruit die at 29 F (-1 C)
Cherry: Shouldn’t be under 50 F (10 C) or above 90 F (32 C)
Orange: Shouldn’t be under 32 F (0 C)

Keep in mind, im no gardening expert, i just thought this could be useful.
This would be for most lemons/cherrys/oranges.
Shouldn’t doesn’t mean can’t, just means shouldn’t.

GROW TIME
Im pretty sure this also depends on where you are.
eureka lemon - very few seeds, ideal for juicing. Full sun & water on the dry sides.
meyer lemon - smooth skin, more round, sweet and different taste.

Meyer: 3-7 years, cold hardy.
Eureka: 3 years, but not uncommon to see fruit for the 2nd or even 1rst year

this could be useful aswell

https://www.plantsnap.com/plantblog/types-of-lemons/

best of luck!
 
@R2elk, which of your fruit plants have produced fruit since you planted them?
Among others, I have a Yellow Chokecherry grown from a seed that I planted that had it's first fruit last year which proved that it is also a Yellow Chokecherry. I have lots of plum trees that have come up, some from seeds but most from runners that have produced plums in the past. I have currants all over the place that the birds have planted the seeds that are currently producing currants.

I have other cherry trees planted from seeds that are still a long way from producing any fruit.
 
Cherry: Shouldn’t be under 50 F (10 C) or above 90 F (32 C)
Part of this depends on the cherry but cherries are not tropical and handle much colder temperatures. The cherry trees that grow here can see temperatures down to -30°F during the winter and it is currently well over 90°F here daily. My cherries are probably within a week of being ready to pick.

Sweet cherries need warmer temps than here but I do not know of any cherry tree that fits the temperature range you have listed.
 
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Part of this depends on the cherry but cherries are not tropical and handle much colder temperatures. The cherry trees that grow here can see temperatures down to -30°F during the winter and it is currently well over 90°F here daily. My cherries are probably within a week of being ready to pick.

Sweet cherries need warmer temps than here but I do not know of any cherry tree that fits the temperature range you have listed.
all of this information was gathered off some sights, i have literally never grown cherries so have absolutely no clue based off experience.
 
Cherry seeds I stick in the ground in the fall and let them come up naturally in the spring.
So all you do is put them in the ground and in the spring you have trees? I have half a pint of cherries from a local farm stand that should be acclaimed to this NYS weather. Any other info that would be helpful please share!
 

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