I guess my question is "Why?". If I don't misunderstand the question you'd just be taking a piece of the original tree and grafting it back to the parent, or vice versa- of course the seedling wouldn't be the same as the parent, but that doesn't mean there'd be any real advantage to doing it. Not to say it couldn't be advantageous, but the randomness factor sure makes it a crap shoot. I'd say that if you have a good fruit you'd want to put it on the most suitable rootstock possible, and if you have a super rootstock you'd want to find the best match for it also. But your project sounds like fun, and I'd be curious to know how it pans out! So I wish you good luck. :-)M

Hi Mike, What else can I explain to you because you seem to understand. I think the concept need's to be taken within reason. Total number of nodes or perhaps total number of contiguous nodes which would amount to a certain vegetative size or mass likely has to be fulfilled too. I think that idea of contiguous branching is the missing element in pushing a juvenile into fruiting. That could explain why some seedling citrus become vegetative giants in a tropical greenhouse without going mature. They have many contiguous nodes from unstressed growth but little contiguous branching from unstressed growth. Start stressing a highly vegetative tropical greehouse juvenile with some repeated droughts and it will often go fruiting. The drought stress kills the tip and new growth will be contiguous branching which seem's to follow a idea of contiguous branching being a factor. All I have ever read on the subject is that abstract which I found in a Google search several years ago. However it made perfect sense and my first trial a contiguous branching pruning seemed to work. I welcome you to buy that article and read it.

OK, Here is the interesting thing about citrus. Citrus can be poly-embryonic. What this means is that from a single seed you can get 2 or more trees, (there are other plants that exhibit this trait, but citrus are well known for this tendency); the really cool thing is, with citrus, the resulting seedlings from the seed can be either of the following: 1. Exactly the same plant as the tree that produced the fruit. OR 2. A hybrid between the tree that produced the fruit and whatever citrus happened to pollinate the flower that produced said fruit. And since many, if not most citrus are self fertile, there is a pretty good chance that the seedling you have will be exactly like the tree that produced the fruit you purchased at the market. With this said, the issues with raising most fruit trees from seed is that you'll have to wait several years before you really find out if the resultant tree will produce fruit that is good. But as long as you are patient, and willing to baby the young tree through drought, winter freezes, insect pests and other adversities, you may have a real winner on your hands. Remember that MOST commercial fruit currently being produced originated as a cross between two open pollinated plants that were either different cultivars of the same species or very closely related species in the same family or genus, (citrus example: the grapefruit, a natural hybrid between the pomelo, (or shaddock) and a sweet orange). good luck!!!

Hey guys! Just an update. Once my lemon started showing new shoots near the bottom of the plant I chopped it back. I cut off many of the weird sideshoot branches, anything that wasn't vertical pretty much. I left it with one main "trunk" branch and several smaller ones, now mostly without mature leaves. It just can't be so big inside and I figured if I kill it, I kill it, but the chop had to happen. A four foot plant just wasn't happening inside the apartment. It's been sitting in a foil lined cardboard closet with its own huge grow light. Once per week I've been drenching it in the shower and giving some Foliage Pro. I figured one it leafs out I can put it on the grow table with the other plants. Holy Hannah, this tree is *exploding* with growth. There isn't a single branch that isn't now pushing out new growth, new leaves. Every day I look there is more than the day before, and it's all growing SO fast. And, on top of that - FLOWER BUDS! On one of the only branches left that has any mature leaves (one of the few that didn't get chopped!) it pushed out a few flowers! I am SO EXCITED, it's been a long time and I feel like it's a testament to how much I've learned to keep this guy alive. I hope some of the new branches grow a few flowers to go along with the leaves! It's been years since it's flowered, and with half the plant chopped down (more than half?) it should have plenty of energy to produce new leaves and a few fruit. It's amazing how fast these plants grow. The flower buds were not there two days ago! Here's some pictures, one of some of the new growth along the bare chopped branches and one of the buds! (I wish the branches would grow some leaves instead of new branching but I'll take what I can get!)