How to Grow Orange Trees From Pips
Growing plants from their seeds is easy, and orange pips are among the simplest to grow.
If you live in an area warm enough for the orange trees to grow outside, you might one day be rewarded with an orange, but the University of British Columbia's Botanical Garden website cautions that citrus trees can take 20 years to bear fruit.
Grown as houseplants, oranges have shiny, dark green leaves. Given a sunny window and good fertilizer, they grow well indoors if kept moist in well-drained soil.
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Things You'll Need
- Pips (seeds) from an orange
- 4-inch clay pot
- Potting soil
- Garden trowel
- 8-3-9 or 8-2-10 (at least 3 percent magnesium) time-release fertilizer
- 6-inch pots
Instructions
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Pick a mature orange of a variety that has seeds and grows in your zone. Remove the pips and keep moist. Soak them in warm water for a few hours while you prepare the pot.
Fill the clay pot with potting soil and moisten it. Lay the pips well apart on the damp soil and cover them 1/2 inch deep.
Keep the soil moist, but not wet, and put the pot near a sunny window, but away from cool breezes. -
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Watch for germination within two weeks. They will not all sprout at the same time; this can take up to three months.
The seeds will grow rapidly at first.
Keep the soil damp but not wet. Allow to dry slightly between watering as the seeds grow. The University of Florida recommends fertilizing six times a year with a 8-3-9 or 8-2-10 citrus mix once they are well established. Cultivate the soil in the pot to keep it loose. Orange trees can grow to a foot or more in a year. -
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Separate and transplant the seedlings once they have established a good root system.
Prepare 6-inch clay pots by filling with potting soil and moistening it. Loosen the seedling's roots and lift out gently. Dig a hole in the new pot's soil and spread the roots, covering them to the depth at which they had been growing. Firm the soil around the roots and make sure the trunk is upright and straight.
Place by a sunny window and keep moist. Your orange tree will need more repotting as it grows. If you live in a warm climate, you can put it outside in a sunny area when all threat of frost is past, but begin by putting it in the shade for a few days to prevent the sun from burning the leaves. Continue to fertilize with a time-release citrus mix and watch for insects or scale on the leaves.
If your climate is Mediterranean, plant your tree outdoors in a sunny spot with well-drained soil and fertilize four times a year.
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