Ive heard that oranges from seed may take 10 or more years to bear their first fruit. If I grow an orange from seed, will grafting it make it bear fruit sooner?
That depends on what you mean by grafting it. If you plan to cut a scion from your seedling and graft it to another root system, then no, youre not likely to shorten the time to bearing significantly. But if you have access to a mature, bearing tree, from which you could cut a scion, and you graft that mature scion onto your seedling, using your seedling as the rootstock, then yes, that would result in a fast-bearing tree. This is how commercial citrus trees are produced — mature scions are grafted to young rootstock seedlings. Theyll often bear a fruit or two in the 2nd year, and be in excellent production by the 5th year.
