Catherine, I just want to clarify that it depends on the store. I work for Wegmans produce, and we buy most all of our squash from local smaller growers in the fall. I've speak to the squash farmer that sells to the location I work at quite often and have saved seeds of squash, that were not hybrid, that have come true. The worry is cross pollination. Though his patches are very large of course there is always that chance. So if you don't have the space to take a chance, buy seed. Remy

Key Lime will come true-to-type from seed and may flower in as little as 2-3 years, with good care. Calamondin, perhaps not available at the grocery but maybe from a friend, can also bear from seed in a couple years. Lemons would take longer, and would likely be too big to grow inside the house before they bore their first flowers and fruit, but you could do that by growing a lemon seedling, then as the plant is approaching the ceiling, take a cutting or air layer from the top and using it to replace your original plant. That way the plant "thinks" it's getting taller, whereas you're actually keeping it shorter than the ceiling height. Oranges and grapefruit could be done the same way, but will take even more years (at least 8 for grapefruit; at least 10 for oranges, and that's under ideal conditions), and you'd likely have to go through at least 2-3 cutting/air layer cycles. Your Clementine seeds may flower in 3-4 years, but again, you may have to propagate from the top and so not end up with the original plant. Almost any other citrus that makes pollen (Tahiti/Bearss lime and navel oranges do not) could be used as a pollen source for it.

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

What will happen if you try to save and propagate propriatary seeds is the seed police will show up and arrest you, the seed police are related to the mattress tag police who are all related to Yahootie... You know him, he's the little guy that lives in your fridge and turns on the lite when you open the door. In all seriousness do save your seeds and try the ones you get with dried peppers I've found a lot of the peppers that I get from the Mexican markets up here are air dried and sprout just fine. I save seeds by air drying them on paper plates. I like to use the closet our water heater is in as it's warmish but not hot and there's good air flow in there due to the venting so I never get mold on the seeds. I'll leave them in there for several weeks so they get good and dry. To store them go and find some paper coin envelopes, they are about 2"x 4" and put your seeds in them, plastic will work but if there's any moisture in the seeds you'll get mold and it will kill them, paper mo betta bro. :) What works great is a good size Mason jar with the wire top and rubber seal, use silaca gel in the bottom and put your clearly marked and dated envelopes in the jar and have Yahootie store them in the bottom back of the fridge right next to that freeze dried something in the tupperware where it's cool and dark. If you can't get the silica gel pour 2 inches of fresh rice in the bottom as it will also absorb the moisture. I've kept seeds this way for years, I had some pepper seeds that were at least ten years old kept this way and had better than 60% germination from them.