Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 March 5

= March 5 =

Why do all the citrus seedlings I plant grow for a bit but then die?
Every time I plant a seed from a citrus like a clementine they grow for a bit and look healthy but once they are about three inches tall they turn brown very quickly a die. Why is this happening? it has happened to 5 different seedlings from different varieties of citrus. It happens in the same way to all of them so there must be a common factor. Thanks for your time — Preceding unsigned comment added by 181.211.145.226 (talk) 17:48, 5 March 2017 (UTC)


 * It goes without saying that they need lots of direct sunlight. Do they get that? Guayaquil should have enough of that. Night-time temperatures should not drop below 20 deg centigrade. You can determine that for sure with a Six's thermometer. If so, bring the pots in pots in at night. Finally, keep the soil damp (not wet). Is there anything above that indicates you maybe  doing something not quite right? --Aspro (talk) 19:50, 5 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Your planting medium is important as well. Citrus in general is prone to a lot of diseases (List of citrus diseases). Using a commercial premixed sterilized potting mix might help. Also, be aware that commercial citrus are often grafted and/or hybridized so not all citrus fruit seeds will produce trees that are true-to-type. All common citrus fruits are hybrids of just four species: mandarins, citron, pummelo and papeda. A lemon, for example, is a cross between a sour orange (itself a cross between a pummelo and mandarin) and a citron. It is possible to get a sour orange tree from some lemon seeds. Some citrus types are highly polyembryonic and will grow true-to-type from seed and some are monoembryonic and will not necessarily grow true-to-type from seed. A lot depends on what kind of tree pollinated the flower that produced the fruit from which you take the seed. Luckily for the home gardener, most common citrus fruits are polyembryonic and will likely produce a fruit similar to the parent (Hardy Citrus for the South East, McClendon). Mandarins are variable; some varieties are monoembryonic and some are polyembryonic. The clementine varieties (since you specifically mentioned it) are strongly monoembryonic and its seeds will likely not produce another clementine tree unless it was pollinated by a similar clementine tree. (see also Citrus taxonomy and Citrus hybrid)--William Thweatt TalkContribs 02:49, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
 * I believe kumquats are sometimes counted as a fifth grouping of citrus (species may be a bit of a misnomer. Taxonomy of agriculture products is notoriously messy anyways.  Usually biologists refer to such groups as a Species complex or "cryptic species") though I'm not sure that is universal either.  -- Jayron 32 16:45, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
 * "Species complex" is fine, but cryptic species often means something a bit different - that the species is hard to distinguish from another based on morphology, not that it is necessarily closely related. Something like a navel orange is a cultivar. I think "species complex" is the most general and commonly used term to discuss the groups of citrus. SemanticMantis (talk) 22:03, 6 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Sounds like damping off, which you won't find in a list of citrus diseases. Keep the young plant in a more active climate (warmer and not too humid) with a drier substrate - with a small plant don't water after 3 hours before sunset so it can dry down for the night. 2001:1970:5DE1:6A00:69C3:1A1E:3A97:4795 (talk) 01:01, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

Would Jesus hate me?
/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 179.51.61.112 (talk) 22:51, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
 * This make a change from Horse & Hound questions (above).   D b f i r s   18:39, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
 * The Reference desk does not answer requests for opinions or pretend to offer spiritual guidance. Blooteuth (talk) 22:58, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Keeping that in mind, I'm only going to point to articles about mainstream or historical Christian teachings on certain points (as if OP had asked "what are mainstream or historical Christian teachings regarding these ideas?").
 * Jesus's remarks about the workers at Tower of Siloam indicate that Christianity isn't about receiving worldly benefit or even safety. The Beatitudes doesn't give a timeframe for its promises of comfort.  That hasn't stopped New Thought-influenced Prosperity Gospel theologians from trying to think of ways around that, but they only approach mainstream in the United States.  As for the suggestion that the Christian deity would have created anyone to be hated, this would apparently contradict the plain reading of John 3:16, but that hasn't stopped a number of theologians who believed in Predestination from trying to find ways around that (always focused on other people, though).  A number of schools of Christian mysticism have discussed the idea of the silence or absence of God as a positive thing.  Negative theology teaches that our ideas of God are human misconceptions that need to be cleared away.  This idea is further developed in John of the Cross's Dark Night of the Soul, where such Spiritual dryness is seen as a precursor to deeper understanding of God.  Søren Kierkegaard wrote at length about the paradoxes of faith, more-or-less suggesting that true faith is ultimately absurd (but that that's a good thing, as it concerns truths that cannot be intellectually shared -- Fideism).  Ian.thomson (talk) 23:31, 5 March 2017 (UTC)


 * I have deleted the above question as a likely copyvio of the above links from over 19 months ago. Nil Einne (talk) 04:43, 6 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Jesus loves us this we know / For the Bible tells us so. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:08, 6 March 2017 (UTC)


 * 2 Peter 3:9 says that God does not wish any man to perish,but to be saved. Coupled with Genesis where God looks on his creation and it was good,then a loving God would not hate any of us.Is there some particular reason you feel God hates you-have you been running around wilfully committing evil acts? It is often said that God 'hates the sin,but loves the sinner'. Lemon martini (talk) 17:21, 6 March 2017 (UTC)