How To Grow Orange Trees From Seed
 (Read 500+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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As a very young child my mother would cut an orange in half and hand it to me, seeds and all. I would suck on those two halves until they were quite dry of any pulp. What did I do with the seeds? Well, I would poke them into my mother’s house plants whichever one was nearest at the time. As she had them all over the house I had my pick and did my own version of Johnny Apple Seed going from pot to pot planting my seeds.
Months later when these seeds would actually sprout forth a tiny seedling my mother would stare at these tiny trees in utter bewilderment.
“How did these get here?” was voiced as she watered her plants. I might have confessed if I had recalled but as it was several months later I had totally forgotten about doing any such thing and could truthfully, or so I thought, answer, “I dunno, Mommy.”
She would invariably blame my father saying he was simply too lazy to throw the seeds into the trash like any normal person. Surprisingly she wasn’t angry. No, this merely gave her another house plant, or several actually, to care for. Who would get angry about that? Certainly not my plant-loving mother.
That was my first lesson in planting an orange tree from seeds. It was, in fact, my first lesson of planting any seeds and from there came a slow going but powerful love of plants which has now culminated into near obsession. Not that I’m complaining. It has had its advantages, this obsessive love of plants. It has given me knowledge that I can pass on to others so they too can become happily obsessed with plants.
With this in mind here are easy step by step instructions and a few tips for growing your very own Orange tree from seeds.
Obviously you’ll need to get seeds to start but Orange seeds are not something easily found on those flower and vegetable seed racks at the garden center nor in mail order catalogues. The best thing to do is to go to the supermarket or farmstand and buy some nice looking oranges, the ones that aren’t seedless, of course.
The seeds of the orange are very hard and therefore will take an exorbitant amount of time to germinate normally in soil. For faster germination soaking the seeds in warm water should speed things up a bit. When they seem to pulp up a bit, a few days at most, the seeds are ready to plant. Take your average potting soil and fill a small 6-8 inch clay pot. One seed for each pot is preferable but up to five seeds could be spaced evenly in a pot.
Plant the seeds one inch deep packing the soil firmly over them. Water well and keep consistently moist in a warm sunny window. Germination should take place within 7-14 days.
Orange seeds first send down a long tap root but will soon bring forth the first leaves. These will be glossy, bright green and will have a distinct scent of orange when rubbed. Of course rubbing these new leaves is not recommended until the seedling grows a bit. Rough handling could kill the little guy or at the very least stunt its growth.
Orange trees like room both for their roots and their branches so as soon as they do sprout a few sets of leaves it is best to move them to their individual pots. This will give them all the room they need for their first few months of life. They can grow relatively quickly if conditions are right and could require transplanting into bigger pots or outside if you live in a tropical region.
They like plenty of sun but harsh sun can cause their leaves to burn and dry out. In the north an indoor orange tree can grow very nicely on a sunny windowsill but the growth will be slower for the tree confined to a tiny pot and indoor living. In the south it may be necessary to grow it in the dapple shade of another tree or shrubs.
Prune the branches to a shape you like. Orange trees can grow densely packed with many crossing branches so thin these out to provide ample air flow. Feed the young tree regularly with a weak compost tea or any liquid fertilizer made for houseplants and it should grow to be a rather lovely houseplant or patio plant.
As I found out as a tiny little kid growing an orange tree from seeds is easy. You barely have to do much more than poke it into moist soil and leave nature to do its thing. Hopefully with these tips you’ll be able to do it with some semblance of control and quicker too. If you do it right your mom may not go blaming your dad and you can take all the credit for growing such a great little orange tree all by yourself.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
For amusing short stories visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782. For an intriguing novelette-in-progress visit: http://www.myspace.com/glorygarden.
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