First off I would like to apologize for having to post here, but it seems I cannot make any new threads in the citrus forum.. I have a question about my grapefruit seedling. It sprouted last friday, and has been growing really quick (it actually surprised me). It stands about 4 cm tall now (about 1,6 inches), and two leaves are forming. And it's these leaves that are a bit worrying, since they seem to be growing a bit misshapen.. I don't know if this is normal (since I'm totally new at growing anything at all), and if this is going to straighten itself out in time. Maybe I'm just too impatient, who knows. Unfortunately I can't take any pictures right now since I can't seem to locate my camera, but let's just say that one leaf is double the length of the other one and has a weird bend in it, and the shorter leaf is about as broad as it is long and doesn't have a nice "leafy" shape either. It's getting about 2 hours of sun every day, since I don't want to expose it too much yet.. So the question is, is this normal? Or is something wrong with it that's causing this? Thanks in advance.
It's probably okay. Are these the true leaves that are funny shaped or the first 2 leaves that were from inside the seed? Either way, give it a month or so to get bigger and see what kind of leaves come in after that. If they are still funny shapes after you get more than 4 leaves that are darker in color than the new growth, hope you have found your camera and post some pictures! Also the citrus forum was closed to new posts so this is probably the best place to post questions about them. If you like the way your little grapefruit is going and you want more to try, I suggest key limes! They mature pretty fast for a fruit tree (somewhere between 2-5 year maturation from seed?). If you remove the outer hard shell when you plant them they will sprout sooner than about 2 weeks, but I do not know what the long term or even short term consequences are of speeding this process up by doing that are.
Thank you for the response. As they are the first two leaves on it I assume they are the two leaves from inside the seed. They started changing from a lighter greenish hue to a nice darkgreen one since yesterday.. What happens to the leaves from within the seed actually? Do they grow to full sized ones or do they fall off? I'm planning on experimenting a bit more with various types of citrus, though the initial plan wasn't to get fruit from them. I know they might take a very long time, so for now it's just because I think they look very nice, and ofcourse because I want to see where this leads. Growing something is actually more exciting than I thought!
They should eventually fall off when the seedling reaches a bigger size, but it may take them months to do so. If they bug you that much, you could take them off when it has more leaves...I wouldn't though as they still help your plant and it will lose them when it is ready to. If you have a southern window that gets a bit more sun your seedling should be okay there. Have fun with that and remember that a lot of citrus seeds can grow more than one plant from the same seed. If you try lemons you should remove the hard outer seed coat to prevent molding before germination (unless you're a pro at this it appears to negatively affect your chances...I'm 0 for about 20 on those at the moment so I'm trying it) and soak them overnight in some water with a bit of Epsom salt if you have it. If you are a coffee drinker, start drying out and saving those used coffee grounds for your plants. Eggshells make good home plant supplements also if ya dry them then run them through a blender.
Oh they don't bother me, I'm just curious since this is all new. As stated before it's getting about 2 hours of sun each day before I take it out, since I have no idea how much sun it can already stand..Is it okay to leave it out longer? I'll start saving up on used coffee grounds too, shouldn't be too hard considering the amount of coffee I'm drinking on a daily basis, hah!
Just remember...more dirt than coffee.... And it should be fine with about 6-10 hours of sunlight in a day. But make sure you adjust it to that gradually. If you want it to grow faster you could cut the top off of a pop bottle and put it over it to make a little greenhouse cover for it (make sure you cut holes in it near the bottom of the cover though for air venting). If your plant starts developing molds in the pot...take that pop bottle off because it could die if the roots mold. A little bit of surface mold isn't horrible, but if you see some you should take the lid off permanently and sprinkle it with powdered cinnamon. I made the mistake of putting the lid back on with my limes and lost one of the mystery citrus (volunteer citrus with shallow, branched roots instead of the long root that seems to be universal in my other key lime seedlings) to mold and gnats that got in when I took the lid off but did not start eating my plant until I put the lid back on.
