Citrus tolerant of 0 degrees

CCPP doesn’t say anything about not shipping to GA, only Florida and Texas, and I think they comply with all state regulations on importing citrus budwood:

mine has very small fruit (barely quarter sized), are seedy and I don’t detect much more to the flavor than sourness. We’ve used a few as a citrus component on broiled cod (and my wife would complain if she didn’t like it). I also don’t notice the resin that these are supposed to have in the skin

How big do the fruit get on your poncirus?

I do have a second plant that has bloomed (as of last year) but hasn’t held fruit to ripening. Maybe it will have larger fruit

Scott

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Tart is definitely good outcome for a citrange.

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I don’t have a precise size record of the trifoliate fruit I tried, but based on the pictures I took they appear to be greater than 1.5", but less than 2" wide. I grew out seedlings from this fruit, but so far haven’t produced the fruit myself. I only was able to taste the fruit from the mother tree, but given the low rate of variation in trifoliate seedlings they will probably be similar. I sold a bunch of the seedlings, but kept one for myself and have a handful of extras that I haven’t decided what to do with yet because they stayed too tiny to sell (maybe they ended up being dwarf?).

Oddly a friend of mine is also familiar with the mother tree I grew mine from and said when he had collected fruit from it in the past it was seedless, but the fruits I gathered all had seeds so maybe it varies from year to year depending on conditions… @swincher Did you get one of these seedlings from me? I think I recall you did.

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Yes! It’s been in the ground outside and seems happy enough, though it didn’t grow much last season. I was planning to graft it with Prague if I can get my hands on the real deal.

I’ve tried them from several different flying dragon trees and the taste has always been unpleasant. Plus the resin is pronounced, getting all over my fingers, the knife, really any surface it touches. I’ve cut into quite a few recently, getting the seeds for growing rootstock. All had the weird taste and resiny quality.

I experienced the same thing this fall. Every fruit I gathered from this massive flying dragon tree were seedless.

Are they the flying dragon variety? I think they look smashing as an ornamental. That they can provide an unlimited supply of rootstock seedlings is also pretty awesome.

I found this impressive flying dragon specimen growing beside an 8 foot feijoa about 1/4 mile from my place in Salem.

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I’ve found the amount of growth they put on in a year is STRONGLY related to availability water and fertilizer in the summer.

The mother tree was not a named selection. It was just the normal non-contorted form. There were a couple of ‘Flying Dragon’ elsewhere in the botanical garden, but not close to the tree I collected seed from. None of the seedlings are contorted either so I suspect they were the result of self-pollination.

Side note: For what it’s worth, I find most Citrus rinds (aside from kumquats) have an unpleasant taste due to how strongly flavored the oils are… Fresh at least; they can still taste good if fermented or candied.

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Funny you mention that about the citrus skins because I was just having that conversation with someone. We were eating a few of those ‘little cuties’ you can buy at the grocery when a small piece of the skin got in my mouth. I chewed it a bit and thought, not all that great, but not that bad either. I could taste just a hint of sweetness, consistent with the skin of a kumquat. I’m convinced the poncirus fruit is an excellent addition to any edible garden. I think it’s just a question of learning how to process them to maximize the ‘good’ qualities. So far acquiring this skill has eluded me. I know they are used extensively in Chinese medicine. Perhaps it would be worth talking to someone in a Chinese apothecary.

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Yeah, even some seed-grown kumquats I’ve tried have a hint of that resinous oil, and I can’t take much of it either. I decided to taste the peel of a kishu the other day because it seemed so thin and edible, but I almost gagged and the taste was on my tongue for awhile after that. I suspect that (much like the “supertaster” concept, or how cilantro tastes like soap to some people) some people have a much stronger negative reaction to the taste of certain citrus compounds than other people.

It got plenty of water, but just a small dash of a dry organic citrus fertilizer, so I’ll feed it more this year I guess. I usually try to keep that chore to a minimum so things sometimes get a little hungry in my yard. I’m much more diligent about watering, though.

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I think the rind on my ghouse kishu actually takes good! I cut up my 3 fruit in a salad and didn’t gag!
IMG_1530

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My method of fertilizing is fertilize generously in the Spring as soon as the danger of frost is past. I continue to fertilize until August 1st, then quit until the following Spring.
The concept is, of course, to minimize the encouragement of tender, late season flushes of juvenile growth.

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switcher, you can buy the following variety:
US 119 (DUNCAN X TRIFOLIATE X SUCCORY)
This fruit is supposed to be about the size of orange, tastes like orange/mandarin.
High resistance to cold (-10C in covered area).

I have it grafted but no fruits yet. You can get it from UCR, VI-489

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Wow, that’s a cool one I’d never heard of. I just read a claim from the UK that purports hardiness to -12 C. Are you growing it in Fullerton? Definitely not because you need cold tolerant citrus. You just like to grow rare specimens?

I was just out in the yard next to that trifoliate seedling, so thought I’d post a couple photos. It mostly defoliated in fall, but did push a slight winter flush on a couple branches in early January that has survived the frosts ok since then:


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Looks good. The trifoliate usually holds a few leaves through most of winter where I am. All my trifoliate based hybrids trees stay fully evergreen though!

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As far as the taste of US119 and citrange both of which I have tasted I describe it as “caution you are not being poisoned, it just tastes that way.”

You like to post that quote. I’ve seen you post it 3 times and I don’t imagine that’s the extent of it.