Hmmm. I am by no means an expert so if someone more autohoritative comes along I suggest you try their advice in lieu of mine. Having said that, I have a 5 foot lemon tree that I grew from a seed from a grocery store lemon that is a great healthy plant. So I have some suggestions based on anecdotal evidence. First, my 2 cents is take it easy on the miracle grow. A seedling does not need fertilizer. Just start the seed in some good potting soil. Even a mild fertilzer will probably hurt the plant. You have to resist the urge to do things to improve them, they are designed to do fine without you. I dont think yu need to worry about soil PH at this point. As for why your seedlings died, its probably the environment inside, your tendency to burn the plant with N-P-K or a combination of those. Is it too dry, inadequate light etc. Id just keep them in a sunny sindow sill and keep the soil moist (dont fertilize) and wait till spring to put back outside. Im sure you know citrus is not cold tolerant so wait until frost damage passes. Also someone on this forum more knowledgeable than I told me when I was in your position that a citrus tree started from seed may take several years to flower and or fruit. Smaller trees from a nursery are propagated from cuttings and have mature tree characteristics and will fruit when they are much smaller than yours. So if you dont want to wait 4 or 5 years just go buy one. If you want to experience growing one with your own two hands, resist the urge ot do too much.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and bring my potted citrus in each winter. Usually, I just put it in a poorly lit corner with an incandescent and minimal watering. Yes the fruit will hold, and I have an orange tree that will even bloom under those conditions ( much to my surprise ), but will not set fruit ( not to my surprise ). Don't let them get TOO dry, though. However, this year, I brought them into the living room and set up a lot of grow lights. I have two very small Meyer Lemons, one of the original type and on improved. Both are sharing 24" fluorescent grow lights with other plants, and both are blooming. You can buy these 24" fixtures, including the bulb for $10 or less at Walmart or sometimes the supermarket. The light usually has a reddish color. You can replace the bulb, and if you do, get a sunlight bulb, or, if you want to spring for it, a full spectrum bulb (garden shop). If you have a lot of space and want a bigger indoor garden, get a 48" shop light which holds two bulbs. Put in one sunlight bulb and one daylight bulb ( which will look blue next to the sunlight bulb ). Suspend this from a chain and hook in the ceiling. This gives a good light combination. Incidentally, YOU TOO will enjoy these lights, especially on dark winter days. If you are growing them with a lot of light, though, check the soil constantly. They can use a lot of water -- just don't over water. I don't know whether these can self pollinate. Maybe someone could tell me? Mona Everett

Hello Guys, racor 2006....I got my tree from www.riversendnursery.com . If you go to that site you won't find it listed in thier tree list. I was talking to them by phone and she just had one avaiable. Its name "TREC" comes from the fact it was developed at "Tropical Research Extension Cooperative" I believe that is the correct name. I think it is associated with the University of Florida. I have searched since for the tree and cant find another for sale. It may be I havn't looked far enough. Ohiojay...My greenhouse is made of western red cedar with poly carb and plexiglass glazing. It is a 10X20 model except I had 2 feet added to the plans to allow for more head room. It is a lean-to model and I had it built on the south side of my house where I also have a 12X20 sun porch attached. It is attached to the porch and I took down the south wall of the sun porch and made it one big room that is about 440 sq. feet and maybe 2/3 of that space has plenty of light for growing. The other 1/3 of the space is for supplies, for working on my trees. I find that during winter, this set up is perfect and can mantain 55 degrees as long as outside temps are 40 degrees with no heat. This works because of the attachment to the house. All houses slowly loose heat and in this case it leaks into the greenhouse and keeps it 10 to 15 degrees warmer than outside. I have a large electric heater that is designed to connect to duct work, but I have custom made vents on top of it, to blow heat out the sides. I keep the thermostat at 55 on it. I also have a back up vent free gas heater in case the electricity goes out. I went to a saw mill and got the cypress wood because they grow here locally. My friend helped me build them and really they are very simple to make. I have seen them online at prices that shocked me! I lined them in plastic to keep soil from touching the wood and made them were they could be taken apart. They will grow trees so large that I will not be able to root prune, any other way than taking off the sides and then take a saw and cut off part of the roots, when they become root bound. This idea was taken from the Versallies planter they had in France and England centuries ago, when world explorers came back with exotic fruit trees, and kings and queens had Orangeries built, to keep them alive during winter time. One last thing,the elctric heater is on casters so I keep it to the side, out of the way. When it gets real cold I roll it into the middle of the room to better distribute the heat. Some day I will get some pics of it. If you have more questions please let me know. Lyndle

How deeply plant roots grow where they naturally occur (even if it's in a garden) isn't a genetic trait - it's a response to cultural conditions. For example, rhododendrons are well known for root systems that are >90% contained in the top 3" of soil, yet in a 20" deep container of well-aerated media, they happily colonize the entire root mass. Roots are opportunists. They don't grow toward water or nutrients, like most growers think, they simply don't grow where the supply of water, nutrients, or air are insufficient. If you use a medium that provides a rhizosphere that in its entirety favors root growth, the plant will colonize the entire soil mass and put its agreement with conditions on display regardless of soil depth. That means that soils supporting tall perched water tables (a soggy layer of soil at the bottom of the pot) will be a problem. Do make sure you shade the container because soil temps will be a factor. Al