“Come play with us…”
(The Shining, dir. Stanley Kubrick, Warner Bros., 1980)
During the summer of 2024, I unintentionally acquired three types of citrus seeds: lemon, kumquat, and calamansi. With no experience growing any kind of tree before, I peeled off the outermost, beige colored, protective hull of each seed, then germinated the seeds by folding them into damp paper towels in plastic bags. That summer and up until February 2026, for every lemon I’d buy from the grocery store I’d keep a few seeds and plant the ones that sprouted. Before I knew it, I had dozens and dozens of seedlings growing in my Brooklyn apartment. Now, two years later, I have 28 total specimens currently thriving and growing.
I’m not especially experienced or skilled at caring for indoor plants, in fact more than one ZZ plant and a pothos has died in my care. I wasn’t convinced these would last very long when I started this on a whim, but once I got a few of them going, it became a lot of fun to keep up the progress. This has been a fun, low-ish cost, indoor hobby and I’m surprised by how much fulfillment I’ve found in caring for these growing trees. It turns out you don’t need lots of money or skills to grow something; just observant patience, willingness to do a little research and learn, and resourcefulness to improvise solutions.
That said, citrus trees are the opposite of a passive-care plant like a snake plant or a ZZ plant; you cannot completely ignore them for extended periods of time. Especially in Zones 6-7, and especially as immature specimens, they do require active attention year round.
They require significant amounts of sunlight (or a grow light), a very specific watering routine, and a soil mix that’s very well draining but also nutrient dense. In the beginning, I lost a lot of seedlings because I got one or all of these factors wrong, I’ve kept this blog as a way of tracking my progress, and as a reference for anyone else who wants to adopt one of these seedlings in the future.
Calamansi, Kumquat, and Lemon Seedlings Overview:
The first date is when I started germinating them, the second date is when I planted the sprouts.
Group 1: Germinated 6/26/24, Planted 7/2/24 (calamansi, kumquat, and 1x lemon)
Group 2: Germinated 7/2/24 and 7/7/24, Planted 7/16/24 (calamansi and kumquat)
Group 3: Germinated 7/17/24, Planted 8/4/24 (all lemon)
Group 4: Germinated 8/12/24, Planted 8/25/24 (all lemon)
Group 5: Germinated 11/12/24, Planted 12/6/24 (all lemon)
Group 6: Germinated 1/20/26, Planted 2/15/26 (all lemon)
The origin of these seeds are as follows:
Calamansi: seeds were saved from fruits that were available through work. I started with over a dozen shoots but now in 2026 only two have survived.
Kumquat: purchased packaged kumquat fruits from two sources, the supermarket in northwest Connecticut, and from packaged fruits from a street seller in NYC Chinatown. I started with almost 24 shoots but now all but one have survived.
Lemons: most info points to the lemons probably being either Eureka or Lisbon lemons, which are most commonly found in supermarkets (where I found these) but I am not certain. I started well over 60-70 lemon seeds at first in different stages, but today I have 25 surviving lemon seedlings.
Between July 2 and August 4, I planted the germinated seeds in basic 3.5 oz. plastic cups that I hand-cut drainage holes into, and sprouted them in makeshift mini greenhouses made of plastic dollar store bins. On August 25, I transplanted those seedlings to larger 7 oz. cups.
Today, half of the seedlings today live in clear plastic lidded containers that act as greenhouses with each seedling growing in a 16 oz. clear plastic cup with hand cut drainage holes, and the other half are too tall to be kept covered and are currently growing in plastic tree pots.
All citrus trees are rather vulnerable to diseases and fungal infections which become very difficult and costly to control. Using soil or tools that were exposed to diseased plants, or if you use containers that haven’t been thoroughly cleaned, the tree will have issues from the start.
Because citrus trees are so vulnerable to disease and pests, and because almost all the citrus trees growing in California are grafted clones with little natural built in protection against hitherto unknown diseases, the state of California highly regulates all citrus plants, fruits, and leaves entering the state via flight and freight. One can easily drive into the state with plants in a personal vehicle, nobody checks that anywhere, but you are running the risk of introducing pests and diseases to native trees. So, if you care about the health of tree species on a larger scale: Do not transport these trees into the state of California, it’s technically illegal.
