Citrus from seed ☔☔☔☔ ☼☼☼☼ ⚘⚘⚘⚘⚘

Indian sweet lime + palestine sweet lime + sweet citrus

Today We bring you our collection of citrus started from seed, We have recently decided to take the gamble as we could not find these varieties available in bud or tree form, 
( at least in canada that is ). 
While we dont expect fruit for many years, we are more interested in searching for something unique/odd, however much of a long shot that might be. 
We decided to search of all places... EBAY! The only issue was,  you never know if what your getting is the real thing, and heck, you never know if your getting that thing at all ( we were robbed 50 some odd dollars and this was through paypal of all things )
This could all be chalked up to some crazy mix up with paypal, of which we will never know, but alas, it ruined the trust we had and no longer felt safe ordering from this supplier, its a shame too as they had other citrus seeds we wanted to purchase. Besides this unfortunate event we found many interesting varieties that made it through shipping and propagation, everything from red fleshed mikan oranges to red finger limes and giant etrogs + Indian sweet limes,  which we will discuss below.

The palestine sweet lime or indian sweet lime ( pic above ) was another easy citrus from seed, along with its high tolerance of salinity, drought, and concentrated foliar blends, its seems to be able to take anything we through at it. It has been getting fair sun but currently resides under the canopy of our moro blood orange tree. We are presently on a mission to acquire as many of the sweet limes and lemons as we can, as we find there taste absolutely dynamic, the sambo lemon being one of our favorites.

Red Finger lime (australiasica sanguinea )

Our finger limes that grew from seed are really taking off, what really plays with our head is that We hear of people in the states whos plants grow an inch in a year, while ours grew 10+ inches in 1 growing season, in Canada!, keep in mind its in a greenhouse at 20c+ year-round. With growing these from seed in all honesty were hoping for mutation/variation, 
Like Maria Anne Smith, (original cultivator of the granny smith apple), were rolling the dice  .....?? 
come on sweetheart daddy needs a new pair of genetics! 

Giant etrog

Here we have our giant etrogs, while these will not grow true from seed, we wanted a traditional celebration etrog, no collection is complete with out it 
( and there are many to choose ).
While we are not jewish, we tried to stick within all the boundaries  involved, ( why not right, when in rome Israel! ) We ended up ordering again off ebay becuase we stumbled across the most perfect link, this seller had a good rep, good feedback, and to add authentic flavour, they came from Israel!, even claim to be kosher non transgenic seeds. Can we get more authentic then that?, other then picking a seed from a rabis hand this is pretty good. These trees have been the fastest growers of all the ones started from seed, and the most adaptable ( not to mention the most viable from seed ) the salty fish water that caused an issue with the mikan oranges seemed to only spur on vegetation with the etrog, ( go figure, tilapia water working with an etrog, next youll hear us say Egyptian sand boosts citron production, lol who knows... lets try! )  We have also noticed that during experimental foliar applications they did not burn when others did.

This seller can be found at the following link - http://myworld.ebay.ca/jerushop

Etrog + citron

I will provide progress reports on health, fertilizer applications, pests, disease ( if any ), growth and hiccups of each variety listed

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Jeruk limau AKA ■Citrus Amblycarpa ■or Nasnaran Mandarin ❂ grown from seed ✌

Jeruk limau AKA Nasnaran Mandarin

Our new citrus seeds arrived!, the variety is called - { jeruk limau }
and I tell ya, I love the name.
As you can see from the pictures, the seeds were very fresh, nearly every one sprouted, they seem to have a tendency to push there first leaves to the side and from inspection are polyembryonic. While they appear tiny, there root structure is quick and strong, probably the most aggressive roots of the varieties weve grown so far. Even at the size in this picture I still had to really pry them apart. ( was not expecting that at such a young age ) As stated around the web, these might have a good possibility for rootstock after production trials.

Far right is a visible sign of the second plant sprouting from one seed + polyembryonic + citrus amblycarpa

Jeruk Limau seedling + citrus amblycarpa

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GAC FRUIT VINE ❍ SEEDS ❍ Turtle from under the tree e

Exotic fruit seeds

So We were stumbling around the internet and think We found a few new seed varieties that would be interesting to grow, some are cold hardy and ready for Canadian winters, while others are packed with nutritional /medicinal benefits and could range anywhere from subtropical to Native Canadian in climate. These are not your regular trees, and the fruit does not show up in your local grocer, Infact, you most likely will not even see these at your farmers market.

Our first newbie is the ? Kaffir plum ?, while it tends to be more on the sour side, it carries many medicinal uses in dermatological ailments. Also, a unique wine cane be made from the berries.

Our second oddity is the » Raisin tree «
while this tree has more of an oriental background it has been proven to grow here in our Canadian climate, with recorded temps of down to -30c. The "raisins" range in taste from bitter to sweet, this all  depends on the lineage/ seed/ source budwood. It has been used as a hangover cure as well as way to reduce blood sugar levels.

Next.... ? Blue Sausgae fruit ?!!, aka dead mans fingers, Another cold hardy fruit tree, this may be used as an ornamental considering the fruit is so vibrant in colour, but being it has deliciously sweet pulp its worth it for the view or the food.

?Cassabanana? was just planted 2 days ago and its already sprouting!!, such a large interesting fruit we thought we would give it a shot, we will post picks of it growing, were also thinking maybe a hydro bucket?.

Another new one is the ? purple apple berry vine ? A small Australian vine found in moist areas from south Wales to tasmania. All I can gather from from my research is the berries are edible, sweet, with a texture and shape like apples. I will update on the exact taste when it comes, for now, Im loving these Australian bush foods.

We have a few more we are starting from seed but I will save those for later, our last one of the day is the ? elephant apple ?. While I have heard it can be an acquired taste, it has been said to be everything from sour and sweet to taste, and with the right amount of sugar, a very refreshing dish. As with most other bitter fruit, there tends to be health benefits, go figure right?.

Our new plant we just picked up is a  ? Gac fruit vine ?. It is known as a superfruit in the health industry, well... maybe the tropical/Asian/ ayurvedic health industry. Im not sure its truly made the way over here other then in a few supplements. Gac fruit is so dense in nutrition it rivals most native fruits and vegetables, With over 70 times the lycopene content of tomatoes and beta carotene levels 10 times that of carrots, in fact, the highest levels of beta carotene in any fruit or vegetable, you can see why we should be consuming a little gac once and a while. While being nutritionally dense, they also carry many medicinal benefits. They have been used to boost the immune system, aid in coronary repair/strengthen eyesight, repair dermatological issues such as burns, psoriases and more, along with benefits to prostate and heart health. We are only listing the tip of the iceberg in what this wonder plant/fruit can do, and so we wish to pass this on to you, We will be taking cuttings once it grows out and will have them available as soon as possible

( we also need to nurse this one to health, as it did not arrive well ?? spider mites, scale, and 1 mealy bug, its ok, theres nothing We cant handle organically ? ??, but with a little care and good food We are starting to see it bounce back now).

Gac fruit vine

Turtle in Holland Landing

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⚘Companion ❀ planting⚘ ϟ

WOW,  I just stumbled across a very comprehensive list of companion planting ideas and I In no way intend to fill the internet up with more junk or steal someone elses hard work, so all I am doing in this post is linking to there site, ENJOY!.

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html


We personally practice companion planting here at Simpson Eco farms, and while sometimes we get the opposite reaction of whats suppose to happen, there are some that work flawlessly, We grow mint around our haskap ( blue honeysuckle ), basil, dill, and rue with our tomatoes/peppers/tomatillos/ground cherries,  pansies and johnny jump ups around lettuce, hot peppers under our citrus, as well as peppermint and mint rose geranium.
This year we will be experimenting with our fruit trees to see what we notice, We will update how its going in the future and let everyone know of our results.


Will? post ? some ? pics ? when ? it ? stops ?raining ???????????

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Dragon fruits from seed ☐☐☐☐°°°°°°❚ ❚ ❚ ❚°°°°°°☐☐☐☐

Purple dragon fruit from seed

Here is a collection of our dragon fruits from seed, they seem to be growing at a reasonable pace, with the white dragon fruit under a fluorescent bulb growing the quickest. While I find the dragon fruit delicious, the white one is not my favorite, very little sweet taste, almost bland ( Im sure fresh off the plant comes into play but only so far when in comparison to other dragon fruits )  and to be honest,
I havent even tried the purple/pink ones yet, but I tell ya, it will be hard to beat the yellow dragon fruit.
The yellow pitaya is so sweet, I find the taste similar to a table grape but 10x the punch, the seeds are an interesting addition, they have a little more crunch then kiwi seeds do.

We had to make multiple orders online as only a few varieties sprouted ( there were no specific variety names, just white dragon fruit, purple dragon fruit and the yellow one I bought from the store ).
We went through one supplier in Hawaii and nothing sprouted at all, I found it to be very suspicious as all my other seed packs sprouted quite easily, so after some researching We came across a post where someone said they irradiate most products coming out of Hawaii, We cant confirm this yet but be advised, Hawaii is already known for there GMO invaded island,  most people We know avoid food from there as its the playground for genetically engineered crops,
not to say We here in Canada arent screwing around with this as well.

With the way this world is headed on GMOs, We figure its just a mater of time before they go after dragon fruits, so weve been in a scramble to collect all the species we can, in the hopes of preserving some original genetic material for future generations.

Yellow dragon fruit from seed

Purple dragon fruit

White dragon fruit from seed

White dragon fruit

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