Citrus polyembryony

In this article, I'm going to discuss a particular property of citrus fruits: polyembryony. This can allow you to avoid the often complicated step of grafting if you want to grow a lemon tree or other citrus tree with the goal of producing good quality fruit.

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The theory:

Some citrus seeds can contain several embryos. If this is the case, one of them will certainly be a cloned embryo, while the other(s) will be fertilized embryos.

The cloned embryo will have exactly the same genetic characteristics as the tree from which the fruit came. If it is grown, it will produce the same variety of fruit, which is what we want.

The fertilized embryos, those that are alone in a seed or that accompany the clone, are subject to genetic variability and mutations. The resulting variety cannot be known, and it could be a pleasant surprise or a nasty one, with inedible fruit. Since it takes many years to obtain fruit, it's not a risk anyone wants to take unless they have the time, the space, and a sense of adventure.

Nature, through this mechanism, ensures the propagation of a variety (clones) and the creation of new varieties (genetic variability of fertilized embryos).

In practice:

We know that the clone in a poly-embryo seed is more robust than the fertilized embryo.
Therefore, simply observe its growth after sowing and keep only the strongest one.
Then, all that's needed is patience and care to obtain a tree and good fruit, identical to those from which the seeds came.

It's at the germination stage that you can see if you have a poly-embryo; there are two radicles (more rarely three). I took a macro photo.

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To germinate your lemon seeds (or other citrus seeds), simply place them in damp paper towels inside a closed container; I use food containers. Open the container to ventilate, checking for mold and the paper's moisture level every two days or so.
Germination occurs at room temperature.
After a few weeks, you'll achieve germination with a 90% success rate, according to my observations.
And of the seeds that germinated in my case, 10% were polyembryonic.

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Fungus gnats:

This isn't directly related to the topic, but you might have noticed a saucer in the first photo of my lemon tree.

I'm having a problem with a fungus gnat infestation.

The saucer is a trap; I put sugar water and dish soap in it. The gnats that come into contact with it get stuck and drown.
In the photo, you can see that I catch a lot of them.

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Cross posted on Hive blog with a french version:
https://ecency.com/hive-140635/@servelle/citrus-polyembryony-en-fr

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