Meyer lemon seeds, can they grow and how-to, please?

Nice Indoor plant people, I just got a Meyer lemon from a friend's son's tree; he's very proud of it. I got a dozen nice plump seeds out of it. Can I grow them? The plant is by itself and indoors all year round. If they can grow, any tips? (I also asked this in Tropical fruit forum)
Thanks!

Sallg,

I have grown trees from Meyer lemon seeds. I have been told that the seedlings should be true to type. I am not an authority on this, but I have another lemon fruit I intend to use for growing more seedling trees. So I was researching on the internet, and learned that it is best to use the seeds from a very mature, overripe lemon, but not one that has dried out. I plan to plant the seeds in a damp perlite and vermiculite mixture, and keep it moist. I think I remember that the seeds can take a long time to sprout, possibly up to a month. A book on growing citrus seeds says to plant the seeds at twice the depth of the girth of the seed. Keep the medium moist.

Good luck.

Susan in Minneapolis

Susan
(also my sister's name !)
Thanks for all the help. I can't imagine it cannot be true to type, since it can't have cross pollinated. I'll pot them soon and let you know if anything happens.
Thanks again
Sally

The reason why it might not come true is that Meyer lemon itself is a hybrid, and hybrids often don't come true from seed even if there wasn't another pollen source. However, I've found info before that says Meyer lemons do come pretty close to true from seed, so chances are you won't notice the difference in your seedlings.

aha- thanks for setting me straight, ecrane!

Sallg,
This may be way more than you wanted to know, but if you are able to produce a Meyer plant, be very watchful of an infestation of scale. They are very sneaky and there can be hundreds of them on the plant, and the eye doesn't see them. But the clue they leave is that they produce a sticky residue. They will live on branches, leaves, leaf petioles, etc. Unlike flaws in the plant, they can be peeled off with your fingernail. A systemic will kill them, but you don't want to use a systemic on the plant if you ever intend to eat the fruit. I keep a spray bottle with 1/2 isopropyl alcohol and 1/2 water that I spray on the part of the plant after I remove the scale.

Of course, by now you are saying to yourself, do I really want to grow this? But the smell of the flowers in winter is wonderful.

Susan

Hey, Susan, I don't mind extra tips. My friend has a Meyer lemon in her dining room, and I can hardly believe she has grown fruit on it, from the unfriendly place it has to grow but there it is! and she loves the fragrance, too.
Glad you mentioned not to use systemic on it. I have had scale on something, that sounds familiar, but its been awhile. May have been schefflera. I've been scale-free for awhile tho, knock on wood.

Pot of five nicked seeds and two that had slices from cutting the lemon, top of microwave- Three sprouts on day 23. Pot of six un-nicked seeds, windowsill, I sprout at 23 days also.

Two more sprouted on March 22, thats day 37 from sowing

This message was edited Mar 23, 2008 9:58 PM