Anecdotal, but I have a few friends that are members of more tropical fruit-based forums that have had good luck with certain Citrus and Fortunella spp. fruiting within a few years from seed, having been grown in pots. I’d imagine a whole lot of factors contribute to it, including the species and various cultivation practices.
I also have Key Lime seedlings.
Heard they are a small tree, but they’re also not Hardy.
A friend had some pot grown marumi kuquats fruit. Trees less than 3 feet tall.
This should help when they are in season, I was just reading December - April, the company grows Mandarinquats https://www.friedas.com/where-to-buy/
If not then you could try having some fruit mailed to you from this company Mandarinquats
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Has anyone tried growing, ‘Shangjuan Lemon’, supposedly it’s very juicy, supposedly it’s juice is like real lemon juice only vinegar like, not many seeds and that it’s cold hardy down to somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
I’m looking for Mandarinquat.
A Satsuma x Kumquat hybrid
Want to grow the seeds.
Should be fairly hardy.
I had that tree. It’s full of seeds though. But still a lot of juice. The zest is very Yuzu like in flavor…
The seeds are not available.
I know, it is probably impossible to find the seeds right now, yet they will have them available when the fruit is in season.
@alanmercieca this is great, I have never heard of this lemon! I am going to search for scionwood of it.
I grafted Yuzu, US119, Marumi and Meiwas kumquats, citrangequat Thomasville, citrange Morton and citsuma Prague last year and all will go to the ground next spring. It will be interesting to see if any of them can survive long term here in 7A/B. Loquats (got 4) and pomegranades (got 9) are fine without any diebacks, figs die to the ground every couple of years.
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I think that one of the things that makes ‘Shangjuan Lemon’ cold hardy is that it starts ripening fruits so much earlier than other varieties do. If only more citrus varieties would have ripe fruit at that time of the year, they would make great candidates for a cold hardy hybridization project.
I discovered the ‘Shangjuan Lemon’ variety because I was checking out what the nursery sells besides what I usually look for.
You can have ‘Fruitwood Nursery’ notify you when they are in stock, just in case they are selling it before you could find it from someone else.
I am not growing any cold hardy citrus right now, I did have some bitter orange seeds yet they never germinated.
I have loquat seedlings growing to use for root stock, I will eventually be testing different varieties of loquat in ground where I live, here it’s usually cold hardiness ‘zone 7b’ to ‘zone 8b’, yet occasionally it drops down to ‘zone 7a’ here. Many varieties of loquat can survive ‘zone 7a’, yet very few can actually fruit in ‘zone 7a’, some can though and that is why I will be testing. Also Someone located in NYC which is usually ‘7b+’ as well, will be testing loquat varieties in ground that I send them. Yet their winters being in the north east are different than our winters, so it will be interesting what they have for results. That same person in NYC will be testing varieties of fig trees in ground that I send them, same thing with pomegranates, all of which I grow in ground as well.
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Shangjuan Lemon otherwise known as ichang lemon. A poor quality lemon.
No one bothers to grow it here near Houston as meyer lemon grows here which
is much higher quality. “cold hardy down to somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.” Hardly. At best cold hardy citrus means cold hardy for a few hours not cold hardy indefinitely. So you 7a guys forget about shangjuan surviving, more like zone 8b at most.
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I overlooked the fact it’s Ichang, as mrtexas pointed out I can probably forget about that one.
I have a nice spot sheltered by walls from 3 sides. This place receives zero sun in the winter but full sun in the spring-autumn. I will put couple of cold hardy citrus trees there and lets see how they perform. Just one example why I want to try. I heard US119 is hardy till about 10F but one grower reported resistance of 5F or even lower if in sheltered spot. Lady living couple of miles away from me grows it successfully for several years in ground next to her house wall.
Definitely worth the time for me. At least I am not bored during the long winters
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It will be a trifoliat leaf with a large leaflet. Pretty much a mix of both types.
I made a cross with Ichang papeda and a Citrumelo.
But there are plants with 3 different leave type on the same plant too. Mono- di- trifoliate.
I dug up the Owari today from the ground. I planted it this spring. It went through 27F night fine, however the leaves are turning yellow. Not a good sign, so it is about time. The other one in ground is Miyagawa but it is less hardy. I dug it up about 1 month ago.
I am thinking to grow a trifoliate Orange in ground next year, to basically create a strong cold hardy base tree first. Then graft scions higher. Does anyone have a trifoliate seedling to spare? Thanks!
Does anyone have USDA 119 citrus? It is a dwarf hardy citrus hybrid usually grown in zone 9 up. It can be grown in colder climates in containers and brought indoors for winter. I see it available from onegreenworld.
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Check eBay later in the year that’s where I got cheap flying dragon seedlings. About 50% came true the other half reverted to standard trifoliate.
US 119. Tastes awful. Looks good. If you want oranges that look good buy ceramic ones.
I’ve grown thousands of flying dragon seedlings. Never had one revert to standard trifoliate. Have had a tiny fraction grow hybrid with more curvy and exaggerated thorns.