Growing Citrus in Central Texas
by Chris Winslow
Have you ever thought about picking oranges from your own tree? Or
having the fragrance of a lemon grove wafting in through your bedroom
window?
Although we are a little far north for commercial citrus, I have found that
central Texas home gardeners can quite easily enjoy themselves growing
lemons, limes, grapefruits, and oranges from seed. The trick is to sow
the seed while it’s moist and fresh.
First of all, visit your grocery store and buy a fruit which appeals to you.
You can then store the seeds in the fridge keeping them moist. I often
place them in a coffee cup with a moist paper towel in it, and accumulate
seeds over time.
I then take them to the nursery and place them in seedling cell trays, filled
with a soil-less germinating media of peat moss and perlite or vermiculite.
After covering the seed lightly, you should water them in with a fan
sprayer and place in a sunny, warm location.
The first seedlings will germinate in about 20 days and will continue to do
so for a month or two. I then transplant them to 4” pots when they get 4
to 5” tall, using a good container or potting soil like Metro or Scott’s. I have
been growing key limes from seed this way for years.
Citrus grown from seed can take up to five years to flower…so be patient.
If you want fruit faster, the best way is to buy grafted citrus. Grafted trees
bloom in their first year. Some of the most popular ones are calamondin
and meyers lemon. Calamondin is a cross between a tangerine and a
kumquat.
These slightly sour fruits are used to make a lemonade-like drink that’s
popular in the Philippines. Meyer’s lemon – large and sweet - is a cross
between a lemon and a mandarin orange.
Citrus is best grown in a container because our winters get a little too cold.
Citrus is threatened when the temperature drops below the mid twenties.
If you are going to plant them in the ground, look for a protected location
on the southside of the house preferably close to a rock wall. Northern
exposure is pretty rough on them. Some gardeners protect their citrus by
covering them during the coldest nights. A customer on Capistrano in
Shady Hollow has built a two wheeled cart and he rolls his citrus in the
garage when the temperature drops down into the twenties.
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