Buying trifoliate rootstock

General Fruit Growing
1

Do you guys have any recommendations for buying trifoliate orange seedlings to serve as rootstocks? From some brief Googling, I can’t find anything under $10 each, which is a lot steeper than apple or pear rootstocks I’ve purchased in the past.

2

I ordered a bunch of seeds on Etsy like $5 for 25-50. But not sure what timeframe you’re looking for haha

3

I believe the higher price is because of different production methods from apple rootstocks. In an apple rootstock stooling bed a graft ready crop can be produced in a single growing season. For Citrus rootstock which are typically produced via seedlings rather than stooling it can be a couple years or more before they’ve grown large enough to be large enough for grafting.

4

Being that you’re in Georgia, you will be very limited on your source options due to your state’s requirements for importing Citrus stock (including even seeds).

From GEORGIA SUMMARY OF PLANT PROTECTION REGULATIONS published by Georgia Department of Agriculture:

RESTRICTIONS:
Citrus plants entering Georgia must meet the following criteria:

  1. Plants must have produced in a facility under a citrus certification compliance
    program with either the relevant state plant regulatory organization or USDAAPHIS-PPQ,
  2. The state plant regulatory organization has been issued a Master Permit by the
    Georgia Department of Agriculture, Plant Protection Division,
  3. Scion trees or mother trees have been tested at least every three (3) years for the
    graph transmissible pathogens listed in these Rules and on the Department of
    Agriculture’s website at http://agr.georgia.gov/. Rootstock seed source trees must
    be tested for Citrus greening (or huanglongbing; Candidatus Liberibacter
    asiaticus), Citrus Leaf Blotch Virus (CLBV), and Citrus Psorosis Virus (CPsV)
    at least every six (6) years;
  4. The citrus plants are shipped directly from the approved exclusion structure to
    Georgia.
  5. Seeds must originate from a state certified seed source tree.

Budwood from the following facilities may enter Georgia without a Master Permit

  1. California Citrus Clonal Protection Program,
  2. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bureau of Citrus
    Budwood Registration
  3. Texas Citrus Budwood Certification Program, and
  4. USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates (USDAARS-NCGR).
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5

For $15 you can get Florida Certified Citrus rooted cuttings from Briteleaf.

We have Satsuma, Lemon and an Tangerine from them. Good folks who love what they are doing.

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