Grapefruit seed still a seedling

Question

The story of a non-green thumb, trying to grow things…Planted on November 3rd 2015. It is now April 2nd, 2016 as I’m writing this.

Found a grapefruit tree while exploring some abandoned neighborhood about five months ago. It seemed to be in good shape and the fruit smelled good, so I picked a few. There were only four seeds from the two good grapefruits I had.

After peeling away the protective cover of each seed, I planted them in their own little makeshift greenhouses out of plastic water bottles. (I’ve always had problems with mice destroying my seedlings before, so this seemed like a good idea).

I labeled each as:
Grapefruit #1/4, Nov. 3 2015, Largest Seed
Grapefruit #2/4, Nov. 3 2015, Large Seed
Grapefruit #3/4, Nov. 3 2015, Small Seed
Grapefruit #4/4, Nov. 3 2015, Smallest Seed

I sprayed just enough water to dampen the soil and let them be in a warm dark spot (I was told that they didn’t quite need sunlight just yet, I kinda doubted that was the case but I went with it), checking on them every few days.

Sometime in early December only the largest of the seeds had sprouted, so I put it in the window that had the most sunlight throughout the day. It was a proud little thing, and I was proud for having sprouted my first seedling.

Fast forward to where my stepdad went on a “cleaning” rampage, I think it was late December or early January, he threw out all my little plants. I WAS SO ANGRY AND SAD, I was just an emotional wreck. I went through all the trash outside looking for it, cutting my hands on pieces of glass along the way. When I found it, it was in tiny little pieces. But next to it was the other three bottles I had forgotten about. And one of those three had a small sprout, it was #4, the smallest seed.

I moved it to a new tiny pot with new soil from the store. Since then it hasn’t grown much. It’s way smaller than the first sprout, not to mention it’s been about five months now and it’s just under an inch tall. It has plenty of sunlight, water, and seemingly good soil. It has three leaves, two “baby” leaves, and one leaf that is a bit more developed with a bit of shine to it’s topside. It looks healthy and is not drooping in anyway. Why is it still so small after all this time?

Answer 1

Ack! I had this in neat little paragraphs, what happened!?