[Brad26]

Was just wondering is it possible to grow a plant from a manderin pip or would it just be a waste of time? I have a heated green house but not sure whether the seeds would even germinate or not.

[barney rubble]

You can always try.... pips and stones are very hit and miss  and you're likely to be  waiting some time before anything happens and even longer for fruit.

Different species, I know, but I've managed to raise 5 damsons from stones this year. Thats after two years of waiting and out of literally 10s of kilos of fruit. More happy occurance than by design.

Good luck - you've nothing to lose by putting it in a pot on the shelf and waiting

[Quetzal]

IIRC, there's a high likelihood that anything you grow from a store-bought mandarin pip would be sterile. It also takes a long time for citrus to fruit, so it would be pretty annoying to wait years and still see nothing but not know whether you need to wait longer or you've got a bust. Also also, I also have read that citrus don't breed true to type, so you wouldn't necessarily get mandarins from it, but instead some generic citrussy fruit.

[calibra]

Pips from citrus will generaly grow quite easily, most grow true to type but not mandarins/clemantines they are always a new variety each time they produce seed.
They are quite easy to grow, and generaly a mandarin will be some type of mandarin, but it could be full of seeds, seedless or very bitter, or realy nice!, it depends what it was crossed from
mandarins are usualy quick to fruit (for citrus) at about 5 years, not as quick as something like key lime (2-3 years), but much faster than lemons (about 10 years) and grapefruit (about 35 years) , the important bit is to feed them a citrus feed, never water unless they are fairly dry, keep them warm and to never ever prune them (pruming will stop them fruiting)
The best way to germinate , takes a few days, in a plastic bag, betwen paper towel soaked in water, leave it over night, then crack the outer shell off the seed, then leave it inbetween the paper towel at about 27C , check every day and after a few days it will grow a nice straight root one way and a shoot the other way, at that point plant it in perlite and citrus compost 50/50

[barney rubble]

Thanks for that - I might try them if they are that easy - its worth it just for the smell of the blossom - even if they do turn out to be inedible

[Brad26]

Hi thanks for that detailed advice but i feel a bit silly now as i decided to just go ahead and do it anyway for a bit of a laugh, so i've just potted them up in normal compost in a pot and chucked them in the green house just to see what happens. But thanks for all the advice guys. I won't be holdin my breath on them though. lol