It is possible to grow a bonsai from fruit pits. Photo: Chen Ximeng/GT

Next time you cut up a lemon, why not do what 23-year-old Zhang Yangyang did and use the lemon pits to grow a lemon bonsai tree.

This May, Zhang saw a post online of how to grow bonsai fruit trees which went viral recently on China's micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo. Excited by the possibilities of growing her own plant, she decided to try it by herself.

"Initially I used the pits of a cherry, placed them in the soil and watered the pot every day. But after one month, still no buds had come out," said Zhang, who was a bit disheartened but didn't give up.

 Zhang decided to try again by using  several pits of lemon this time. Planting them in a small pot of soil, she watered them every morning. Two weeks later she finally saw results when green buds emerged from beneath the soil.

Rose Xu, a Shanghai-based horticultural writer has extensive experience with the bonsai trees.

"Home gardeners can grow a tree from just a tiny pit taken from fruits," she said. "They can keep the plant small with the gardening practice known as bonsai, which involves the growing and pruning of a small shrub or tree to resemble larger trees growing in nature."

Theoretically, the pits of a fruit can be grown with almost the same speed of growth that is expected in a bonsai. For example, the fruit pits from a citrus lemon, orange, grapefruit or kumquat are all very suitable.

According to the report by the Chinese nature and geography magazine Bowu, the author tried himself to grow a bonsai lemon tree, dragon fruit tree, and longan tree from their pits and succeeded. 

"It is very easy to do. What you need to do is make the pits clean before embedding them into good soil. Then spray the soil twice a day and wait for them to sprout," said Xu.

Many Web users commented after the post by asking whether the self-made plants can produce fruit in the future. Xu said that they can but it would take over three years to produce them. Therefore growing fruit trees by pits is only suitable for the art of bonsai, which is more of a feast for the eyes than one's appetite.

"However, if the skin of the pits are very thick and hard, then you will find it very difficult for them to sprout and break through the soil," said Xu. "What's more, it also has a lot to do with the freshness and nutrition level of the pits."

Talking of her first failure, Zhang attributed it to the hard skin of the cherry pit. "Fortunately, I did not give up with the second attempt," she said. "I have put the bonsai tree on my desk and every day watering and watching it grow brings great joy to me."

Steps:

1. Pick out the pits from the fruits   and wash them thoroughly.

2. Put them evenly in a pot with good soil.

3. Water it every day twice or three times with a spray.

Tips:

1. The pits must not be embedded too deep. You can only cover them with a thin layer of soil.

2. Keep the soil wet and the temperature moderate. Too high or too low a temperature will not be good for sprouting.

3. After the pits sprout, ensure enough sunshine to help the growth of a plant.

4. Tend to the bonsai according to  common plant habits.