Growing a Lemon Tree from Seed vs. Planting a Grafted Tree (2024)

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If you want to harvest your own lemons, using seeds is not the best course of action. Growing a lemon tree from seed takes a long time—up to ten years—and there is no guarantee that you will end up with beautiful, tasty lemons after the long wait. However it's still a fun educational project to do with children. Lemon seeds are relatively easy to germinate, so you will likely get results. Growing a strong, healthy-looking little lemon tree from seed is possible, but don't count on getting lemons. You also might want o grow lemon trees from seed if you know how to graft. Growing a lemon tree from seed can be an economical way of producing rootstock forgrafting.

Propagation from Seed vs. Planting a Grafted Lemon Tree

Like most citrus trees, lemon trees are grown and sold as grafted trees where a scion is grafted onto a rootstock. The scion is chosen from a lemon tree cultivar that consistently produces high-quality fruit, and the rootstock ensures a strong lower trunk and root system.

There are several advantages of growing a grafted tree. First, the quality of the fruit is consistent. The lemons you will get are the variety of the scion. Second, the tree produces more fruit than one grown by seed. Starting with a grafted tree from a nursery also considerably reduces the time before you can harvest the first lemons. Depending on the size and age of the grafted tree, you can expect a first light harvest of lemons as early as three years after planting.

Finally, a grafted tree is often less prone to problems because the rootstock selected is resistant or tolerant to many diseases.

Growing Meyer Lemon Trees from Seed

Meyer lemon trees are not always grafted but that does not make them more suitable to start from seed. Meyer lemon (Citrusxmeyeri) is ahybridbetween a lemon and a mandarin orange. The seeds from a hybrid plant don’t produce offspring that is true to the parent. For that reason, the seeds from a Meyer lemon won’t grow into a Meyer lemon tree and the result will likely be disappointing. The way to propagate a Meyer lemon tree is fromsemi-hardwood cuttingstaken from a healthy tree in the late spring or early summer.

How to Start a Lemon Tree From Seed

After taking into consideration the cons of starting a lemon tree from seed, if you still want to try your hands at it, here is how it’s done:

1. Cut a mature healthy-looking lemon in half and remove the seeds. Discard any seeds that are small, shriveled, nicked, or blemished.
2. Rinse the seeds under cold water to remove any pulp attached to them.
3. Place them in a bowl with cold water. Any seeds that float are not viable; discard them.
4. Soak the remaining seeds in a bowl of water for 24 hours to soften the hard seed coat.
5. Wash the slimy coating off the seeds. You can either do this in the bowl by gently rubbing the seeds between your fingertips and under running water, taking care not to flush them down the drain.
6. You can also remove the hard white seed coat. Nick the seed coat at the pointy end of the seed using your fingernails, nail clippers, manicure scissors, or a craft knife. Starting at that opening, you can peel off the seed coat. It is important not to damage the seed inside. If this turns out to be too finicky, skip this step; it is optional.
7. Fill a 4-inch container with damp potting mix. Plant about 5 seeds in the container, 1/2 inch deep.Water until water drips out of the drainage holes.
8. Place the pot in a warm location at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit in a south or west-facing window or under grow lights. Keep the soil moist but not soggy and make sure it never dries out, as this can halt the germination of the seeds.
9. The seeds should germinate in a few weeks. If more than one seed germinates, cut all but the strongest seedlings at the soil level (do not pull them, as this can damage the roots of the seedling you want to keep).
10. Keep the seedlings well-watered. Once it has outgrown its pot (look for roots coming out of the drainage holes), you can replant it in a larger pot with fresh potting mix. For further care, follow the instructions for growing a lemon tree.