How to Make an Orange Seed Sprout

A seed from a locally grown orange is ideal as it is acclimated to your region.

Half the fun of sprouting an orange seed is taste testing different oranges to find the one you like the best. Sweet oranges produce seeds that grow into trees exactly like the mother tree. It may take seven years or longer for you to get your hands on that first orange, but you'll have a pretty, ornamental tree in the meantime. For your best chance of success, plant the seed as soon as possible after removing it from the orange.

Things You'll Need

• Bowl
• Small nursery pot
• Sand
• Soilless seed-starting potting mix
• Spray bottle
• Citrus potting soil

Instructions

1. Place the orange seed in a bowl of room temperature water to soak for 24 hours.

2. Prepare the nursery pot while the seed soaks by filling it with equal parts of sand and a soilless seed-starting potting mix. These mixes help avoid fungal pathogens that attack seeds and seedlings.

3. Push the orange seed ½ inch into the mix then moisten it gently to avoid disturbing it. Water spritzed onto the soil from a spray bottle is an ideal way to keep the soil moist and the seed in place.

4. Keep the nursery pot in an area of bright light, but not in direct sun. The indirect sunlight should keep the soil warm. If the pot is in a window, move it away from the glass on chilly evenings. Don't let the soil dry out. The orange seed should sprout within six weeks.

5. When the orange seedling reaches 6 inches in height, transplant it into a larger pot filled with a potting soil recommended for citrus trees. Wait until the orange seedling reaches 2 feet in height to place it in the garden.

Tips & Warnings

• The seed often produces three sprouts, according to the experts at Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension. Only two of these are genetically identical to the mother plant. Identify the one that is different by its weaker, spindly appearance. It generally grows between the other two. Pull it from the soil carefully, to avoid disturbing the other two sprouts, and dispose of it.

References

• University of California; Sweet Orange Germination and Growth Aided by Water and Gibberlin Seed Soak; R.M. Burns, et al.; December 1969
• Texas A&M University: Orange
• Plants For a Future; Citrus Sinensis; (L.)Osbeck