there is always risk of the the seeds not producing the same as the parent. That is why vegetative propagation is in almost all cases the best way to go. Rooting cuttings, grafting scion wood, air layering all will produce an identical clone to the parent and thus produce identical fruit

When your seedling does fruit(how long I dont know) the fruit will be either, as good as the original, better than the original, or not as good but ok. You have a 2 out of 3 chance of getting decent fruit.

mike

I understand the fruit from this plant is a total crapshoot. I'm referring to any fruit from the seeds FROM that fruit (i.e. "grandchildren" of the original clementine. Will THEY be the same as the "total crapshoot" fruit, in the event the fruit from this one is favorable?

Your chances of getting good fruit from a clementine seedling is excellent. The chance of getting an excellent fruit is 1 in a million. That is why grafting is popular!

Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

Think of the fruit as being the "momma" and the seeds being the "children". Each child gets half its genetics from it's "father" or whichever plant pollinated the flower that formed the seeds. So the grandchild has only half of the qualities from the tasty fruit, the other half come from whoever pollinated the flower. If it is the only citrus tree around and the pollen came from the same tree then your chances of the fruit being really close to the previous generation are very good.

Your bigger problem will be getting your seedling to bloom at all. Sometimes it happens early and sometimes it happens after 10 years and sometimes it takes longer.

What I do is grow the seedlings of oddball fruit to see if I can keep it alive. After a couple of years, if I like the way the plant looks and if everything goes well I buy a fruiting tree and throw the seedling away.

Hello Everyone...

Hi Brad...Congratulations on your new seedling!!! Sounds like its doing well....how are the greenhouses doing? Still look elike "glow worms" !!! LOL....My temp. greenhouse that i put up last year...that lit up the "Moon"..LOL..will be pulled out soon...

Just wanted to say hi...i havent seen you around...i have been busy myself too!!! Just wonderiong how my fellow "Virginian" is doing!!!

Take care everyone!!!

Laura in VB

Hi Laura. This seedling isn't new... it's a couple of years old and is basically a small tree. I have a key lime also grown from seed which is now about 4 feet tall and very bushy, and a lemon about 3 feet tall (but very well established and sturdy).

Only one greenhouse - the "glow worm" is MUCH stronger this year and just laughed at those tremendous winds we just had. But everything in it is very happy - key lime and lemon are LOADED with flowers/developing/almost ripe fruit, red naval orange and persian lime are just beginning to flower. Thompson pink grapefruit is so far silent. Cavendish banana has a developing bunch of 65 bananas right now. Guavas are from 5-7 feet tall now, ditto with avocados and star fruit.

Basically, my back yard is the "Jungle of Virginia". STILL no coconut palm, though :(

Oh and in spite of my efforts to keep my queen palm alive (out of the greenhouse, wrapped with lights) after last year's devastating winter, it died this winter. It put out only 1/2 a leaf this summer - not nearly enough recovery after the pounding it took last year. It's dead.

Have you noticed forecasts are ROUTINELY wrong this year with respect to overnight lows? They used to be pretty good, but whatever it says it will be, knock off 5-12 degrees. It is NEVER right, and ALWAYS colder then they predict. It didn't used to be that way. If it says overnight low of 21, I'll wake up and it'll be 10-15 (reported from the same weather station). Guaranteed.

Hey Brad...

I wanted to ask you a few questions about pine mulch that i am looking for... i will send an email with those questions if that is ok...

You are in Suffolk right?

Im sorry to here of the loss of your queen palm...these past two winters have been brutal here...lets hope for an early spring...we all deserve it!!

As far as the forecasted temps...i wouldn't put any $ on them..LOL...especially from one city to the next...remember when we had the weather watchers call in on the local news...i guess those days are gone...it did help people like us that are interested in gardening and our plants/trees in general...Miss that J. Cash..on the local channel here...he seemed pretty good...oh well...we just have to be out own weather watchers!!!

Please post pics of your your citrus and other great trees...i/we would love to see what you grow....I especially would like to see the key lime..lemons..Guava..Bananas..ok...lets see it all...LOL
Even..the "worm" That has really worked well for you...

It sounds wonderful..and you have done a great job!!!

Take care everyone..

Laura in VB

Thank you. I'm actually in Chesapeake, not far from Great Bridge High School, around 9 miles north of the NC line. I was happy to have spotted grapefruit flowers this morning, therefore every citrus (of flowering age) in my greenhouse is now flowering. I'll get some pictures.

Oh by the way Laura...

I posted a "Take a walk through my greenhouse" thread on the Tropicals forum. You can see it all in there.

Brad