Elementary Orange Trees

...We have had a few visitors...

So far, we have caught 2 birds and a ton of frogs in our greenhouse. The birds I could not identify but they were small like a sparrow, each with different colorings. They were beautiful and I felt SO bad for trapping them. However, I opened the front door and let them free. I wouldn't mind if they came back for a visit.

This little guy, however, was making itself comfortable inside of my plastic Tupperware cup. I let him be, but I stole a photo to show you how handsome he is. If you're looking for prince charming, I think I found him?

Its been 2 months and 2 days since I first planted the seeds. Joey took out 2 of the seeds in the dirt because he thought they weren't going to grow, but 7 of the 10 that remained pushed through and made it to sprouting. Their roots were getting long, so it was time to transplant them into bigger pots.

There were some pots left over from transplanting the four gigantic mint bushes. Those were planted on the side of the garage where it is half shade and half sun, and though they were growing crazy when they were in full sun, they are stable in their new climate. The other pots were 3 leftover black plastic pots from a small landscaping project, a coffee can (thanks mom!!!) and a white vase/pot that I have no idea what to do with and that I have had since my high school agriscience class. The only downside is the coffee can and the white vase/pot don't have draining holes, so I planted the weak trees in those in case they just don't make it from over or under watering. The soil I used was MiracleGro, a bag 2.5 cu/ft or 70.5L. I only used 1/2 the bag for these.

Here are the mint plants that were transplanted. They have plenty of room to grow now. Joey said their roots were crammed together, and that was only after a month of watering and sitting in the sun. He also fertilized the plants with an attachable MiracleGro water hose head.

Well, it's been a beautiful day and happy blogging, but I must get going! LaLaLaaaa...
Join in next time for another episode of N4N in a few weeks (:

-D

Life After Death

It's been 31 days since the last blog, and the orange seeds have had some time to decide if they want to live in this crazy world, or just stay in their coma and pass on to the afterlife.

Fortunately, 4 seeds have shown some strength in hopes that their fruits would eventually continue their tree family. These seeds were the ones planted in soil. We are still waiting on a few more to come through.

As for the seeds in the refrigerator, on the windowsill, and on the top of the refrigerator, they will be omitted from this experiment, because they have all decided to hang out in the afterlife. The seeds that were wet became moldy, while the one that was cooled had missed its coming to the world event, because my own life events prevented necessary timing for planting. Oops :)

Here are the new tree sprouts; there are three that are recognizable, and one where the very beginning of sprouting is happening.

Now, let me tell you, we moved the tray from outside, into our mud room in which we converted into a green house. Here we are growing herbs and veggies.

We (Joey and I) had a little help from a few friends to build the planter box, and the construction of the box varied slightly when we had to take into consideration the slope of the floor in the mud room. Knowing the wood we chose was pressure treated and may contain chemicals, we were weary about the choice of wood, but it was the cheapest and also the most sturdy and "bang for your buck" wood. The soil we used was bags of miracle grow; we contemplated digging up some soil/dirt from the yard but we didn't want to deal with the bugs, and this soil we bought had fertilizer in it to start. First step after assembly was to drill random holes in the bottom for drainage. Next, we laid down river rocks on the bottom of the planters, added a layer of weed barrier and then added the soil on top. Then, we added the plants that were planted in the starter kit. The starter kit did not have seeds, but it had soil and slots for the dirt. The dimensions of the planter was (all approximate) 8' length, 2' depth, and the depths are 8" for the top and 12" for the bottom. We raised the bottom planter off of the floor approximately 1.5"for drainage purposes. Our water source is conveniently located between the top and the bottom planters. The top of the planter box sits directly underneath the window.

We have windows that are between the exterior and interior of the house, but only on one side of the mud room, so we were able to find some lighting that our friend had used for his plants in the past who did not need them anymore.

A close up on some of the herbs:  Big Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Dwarf Parsley, Oregano, Cilantro, Mammoth Dill, Dukat Dill, Sweet Basil, Chives, Lemon Lime Basil. On the other side, (not pictured) we have Arugula, Romaine Lettuce, and Spinach.

On the lower level, we have potatoes! This is very exciting for me, because as a kid growing up, when the potatoes went "bad" they started growing leaves and we just threw them away. This time we decided to plant them, and look what we have! :) There is also garlic on the bottom, but it hasn't started to show yet.

Outside we have a variety of plants. Top photo, from front to back: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Lemon tree (a gift from my best friend Hillie). Bottom photo: from left to right  - Avocado Tree (grown from the pit, started in a moist paper towel and plastic bag on away from sunlight), Apple Mint, Spearmint, Basil, Parsley, Orange Mint, and the smallest, what we think may be cilantro or a weed. (:

Also...

These little grasshoppers are EVERYWHERE and they keep eating my flowers...
Its all black and then it has red parts on the middle abdomen. I can't figure out what type it is, but they are swarming everywhere, like dozens of them. They like to eat the petals on my Dianthus plants !! :(

So far, I am happy with the results of the orange seeds. It will be exciting to see how many more will continue to pop up! I'll keep posts periodically so make sure to check back! =)

- D

Day 1: Planting the seeds.

After doing a bit of research through Google, I took information from all of the websites, and conducted my experiment.

One website *here* was very informative. It explains that if you have seeds from an orange, you need to refrigerate them for 3 or 4 weeks because the store-bought seeds are usually shocked too. It said to wrap the seeds in towels but it did not say if you should wet them or not. It also said to test the seeds in a cup of water... the seeds that sink will be able to sustain themselves to grow (hardy seeds), while the ones that floated (bad seeds) weren't hardy enough to sustain themselves. This information is new to me, but I accepted the challenge.

Another website *here* reads that you can use the paper towel method to start germination, but using soil cups are more effective.

So we now have a few options to grow the seeds:
1. Chill the seeds for 3 weeks dry, then plant them in soil
          (I chose 1 hardy seed)
2. Chill the seeds for 3 weeks wet, then plant them in soil
          (I chose 1 bad seed)
3. Grow seeds paper towel wet, then plant them in soil
          (I chose 1 hardy seed in the sunlight, and 1 hardy seed in the dark)

*OR*

4. Grow seeds in soil from the get-go, cross your fingers and hope the most logical application works.
          (I chose 12 bad seeds) [These are exposed to direct/indirect sunlight]

Extra: A website *here* described how oranges are a perfect flower, meaning they have both male and female parts, and that you can grow an orange tree indoors, but they get very large and there probably isn't enough sunlight (duh). However, you can make bonsai trees (see *here* ) with orange trees (very exciting!).

So, here's to day 1.

-Dee

Orange Seeds

Walking down one of the rows of our orange grove, I spotted what appeared to be the most beautiful orange I have ever saw since moving back to Florida. It was on the ground, but it was bug-less and it smelled very citrus-y, so I decided I would take it inside and butcher it.

Unfortunately, it did not occur to me that when things rot, they become very sour. Now, this orange was VERY sour tasting, but it didn't look rotted, so how was I to know? Sheesh.

Since it was such a beautiful orange, I didn't want to waste it. I decided I would try to grow the seeds to make more beautiful oranges, and use those trees to replace the ones that have died in the grove.

As I "googled" "how to grow an orange from a seed", I came across a few websites in which I read, and gathered information on how to grow myself a tree from a seed. What was unexpected was that many people had different ideas on how to grow their own seeds, and I was definitely confused on what would be the most successful way to grow my trees. So I decided to do a little experiment and grow these seeds a few different ways to help clarify the best way to grow the seed. I thought it would benefit the world if I cleared up a few things (or just make them more complicated) by keeping a blog for the progress of the seeds. After all, I'm obviously no professional.

Note: My idea was to put a seed in a bag with a paper towel and set it by the window until it grew roots, then plant that into a pot, and let it grow for a bit, then replant it in the ground. Simple.

So, throughout the weeks, I will be blogging about my seeds. What works, what doesn't, what I've done and have not or will not do. Hope this benefits someone out there...

-Dee