Which varieties of citrus do best for own-root, grown from seed? I think there's something to be said for being natural. And I refuse to believe it is absolutely impossible to grow any type of decent citrus fruit without having to use grafting. Edit: Another discussion in this forum says that many citrus varieties can be grown own-root, but some maybe less sweet, and the roots require more frequent irrigation and are more vulnerable to disease. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg012036217931.html And for some citrus varieties, the fruit resulting from the seedlings may be significantly different from the parent. It's all luck of the draw with the genes, and once the breeders found a winner they simply resorted to clonal propagation. For planting citrus seeds, one of the really helpful things is to carefully peel off the slimy covering over the seed, it helps the seed begin to grow much sooner, otherwise it takes time for this protective layer to rot away in the soil. This post was edited by Socal2warm on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 21:14

Here is what I added to the tomatoville post. "As for getting nothing from the plant after color break, I'd like to see the scientific data on that." Me too! I think this was the stuff I majored in, back in the day. And I am an exit or two from UC Davis. They study a lot of grapes and tomatoes. Maybe it is the abscission layer. "Once the tomato has reached maturity an abscission layer forms between the calyx and the fruit, ultimately resulting in the fruit falling off of the pedicel." http://www- plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/tomato/Reproductive/dev.html "Development and regulation of pedicel abscission in tomato" "Tomato has been studied as a model system for abscission, as tomato plants develop a distinct AZ at the midpoint of the pedicel and several tomato mutants, such as jointless, have pedicels that lack an AZ. This mini-review focuses on recent advances in research on the mechanisms regulating tomato pedicel abscission... Abstract To shed unfertilized flowers or ripe fruits, many plant species develop a pedicel abscission zone (AZ), a specialized tissue that develops between the organ and the main body of the plan" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4462994/ "Before abscission, pedicel AZs attach the flowers firmly to the plant body, but when the AZ cells perceive an abscission-stimulating signal, the adhesion immediately starts to loosen. " Maturity and Maturity Indices - Fruit & Nut Research and Information Center "To most people mature and ripe mean the same thing when describing fruit. For example, mature is defined in Webster's dictionary as: "mature(fr.Lmaturus ripe):l: Based on slow, careful consideration;2a (I):having completed natural growth and development: RIPE (2): havingundergone maturation, b: having attained a final or desired state; 3a: ofor relating to a condition of full development." In postharvest physiol-ogy we consider mqture and ripe to be distinct terms for differentstages of fruit development (fig. 6.1). Mature is best defined by 2a (l) above as "having completed natural growth and development"; forfruits, it is defined in the U.S. Grade standards as "that stage which will ensure proper completion of the ripening process." This latter definition lacks precision in that it fails to define "proper completion ofthe ripening process." Most postharvest technologists consider that the definition should be "that stage at which a commodity has reached asufficient stage of development that after harvesting and post harvest handling (including ripening, where required), its quality will be at least the minimum acceptable to the ultimate consumer."Horticultural maturity is the stage of development at which a plant or plant part possesses.."

Kelley, the hardest part to all the grafts - that one included - was cutting pieces that fit. It’s like creating a little jigsaw puzzle with pieces of wood in a hurry. I only used that one on one because it was the only seedling that was actively growing. It was not more difficult than the others I think. In a way, once I got it to fit in, it was easier to tape up. The Teflon tape worked, but was hard to keep from wrinkling up. I’m interested to feel the difference between that and the grafting tape. Once I get it, I may graft a branch of my ST that is alive, but has been broken and is dangling. When I take the tree out, I’m sure it will snap off, so why not try to I graft it onto another lemon seedling.... I’m on a roll...;)

This type of graft is done on stumps(topworking), you have to use a stronger knife and a hammer, but what i do is incorporate in conjunction with a cleft graft. In mid picture you still see a split but that disappear when you use a rubberband first. I am probably the only one doing this.