Are any of yall growing Prague? Its supposed to taste like a mandarin and be part trifolate and be cold hardy to as low as 3F or so maybe zone 7b!
Here is my young one:
No, but now I want to! Where’d you get yours? Not finding anyone offering these online.
Stan Mckenzie Farms in SC. He is out for now but he could have some this fall or next spring so you can email him:
http://mckenzie-farms.com/
As guys like me grow it out, scionwood will become more available so it wouldnt be bad to start growing some trifolate or Dragon rootstock for grafting
Stan also told me Prague is hardier than 10 degree tangerine. And it is more the taste of a tangerine. But both are good and both survived Stan’s damaging 8F blast that killed many of his satsuma etc.
Here are some copies of fb posts on it:
Here is a blog post with lots other info on it:
Interesting. Do you know when the fruit ripens in zone 7b? Hopefully before the temperatures drop below freezing.
Depending on season and heat units etc, i believe sometime in November there in SC. I imagine you can pick a few weeks early if frost looks bad enough to damage.
Ripens December through January.
Thanks!
Ok just another piece of discussion on this thing! A lot of speculation on it, the rumor is that no one knows its source or history, and there are several theories, and many speculate that it is not a hybrid but rather a chimera…, in some discussions they act like that is fact based on speculation…
I have seen reasons people think this… Like its weird leaves that are different on one limb than another etc… And he leaf turning yellow but the center staying green longer… Etc.
Keep in mind no one actually knows…
I am only speculating too…
But i see all of these same characteristics they describe and post pics of also on my Thomasville which is a known hybrid…, I see the leaf variation, the same 3 types of leaves, the different type leaf solid on one limb and different on the next limb, and as some begin to yellow the same green center.
So… I dont see how they are so sure of theories…
My thought, if Prague actually is a hybrid then it has tremendous possibility for new crosses!!
So… I am thinking cross it with an early ripening trifolate… And then back cross with an early ripening Satsuma like Armstrong!
What temperature is that for citrus?
It varies.
As a kid in Louisiana I had many types.
Key lime was my least hardy one, around 32 damaged it.
Washington Navel around 25 to 28.
Satsumas about 20 to 24 and some types down into the upper to mid teens. microclimate as well as for how many hours it is below freezing matters. The satsumas and mandarin at my parents place some years back took about 14 with very little damage some years back. But the lime and meyer lemon have been dead…
Meyer Lemon is almost as touchy as lime as far as dropping leaves and needing sun but its limbs can take a bit more cold maybe down to 26F but the Washington Navels fared better in the same conditions.
Satsuma and Mandarin are much more cool and cold tolerant though…
And Kumquat is a tad more hardy than Satsuma by a couple degrees.
But the hardy citrus can take a lot more…
Ten degree Tangerine and Prague both took 8F for Mr Mckenzie and he said Prague is hardier than Ten Degree so i imagine (depending on how many hours it is below freezing) Prague should be safe in the 8F to 12F range(i would play it on the safe side or at least have a 2nd copy protected since it is harder to get.
There are other reports of Prague taking 3F or so with some damage next to a structure.
I imagine when it gets some size, the thicker limbs can take mid single digits.
Based on what i have read.
I plan to plant every seed and see what happens!!
Prague fruits ripen in december and January. Fruits are damaged below 28F. !0 degree 2-2 ripens in October and will clear frost in most zone 8 (minimum 10F)
That is neat! 2-2 being earlier gives incentive to grow it too!
Just for information though, Mr Mckenzie obviously picked Prague by early Nov to send to mail it to this lady and I think she said it had been on the counter a few days before she cut it and then here is her post on Nov 9th so that might be a Nov1 pick date± so perhaps it was one of the earlier crop but at least they can ripen before Dec maybe picking the entire month of Nov it seems in SC:
2-2 will be on the want side of my scion list trade list for sure though(i ordered it from Mr McKenzie but he ran out…)
This also backs up the November ripening time of Prague my email from Mr Mckenzie i asked him both hardiness and about ripening time comparrisons of 2-2, Prague, and taiwanica sounds like they all are similar he said:
“Hi Paul, Thanks for the email. All of the varieties you mentioned are fall ripening types that are usually finished by mid Dec. Prague would probably be the hardiest of the 3 followed by 10 degree and then taiwanica. All of the above survived an 8 degree freeze we had in Jan of 2018. Right now, I am out of all of them but have a new crop grafted for late spring sales. Thanks again, Stan”
So according to my info Prague ripening time in SC is about Nov1-Dec15 and he could have been picking before that, the Nov1 date is based on the FB post.
Is that pretty true of all citrus in general?
That is true of all citrus fruits. If you get a 10 degree tangerine from Mr McKenzie Make sure it is a 2-2 The 3-3 ripens much later. My average first frost has move from late second week of October to November 1st (Global warming) over the past 55 years I have been gardening.
Update on my Prague, i uppotted it and its growing more:
It looks really unique so far!
Always good to see more growth on small plants before winter!
Thomasville looks weird too, mine has 3 main leaf types plus weird crosses between the types!
But then look at this limb it looks like a perfectly normal citrus:
Here is a seedling kumquat, I wonder what the chances are of good fruit?
Looks like some bud development on the Prague grafts I did a few weeks ago:
Any updates from anyone else who’s growing this cultivar?
On the chimera vs hybrid question, I’ve seen posts on TFF saying sometimes Prague will grow entire limbs that are full trifoliate or full mandarin, so if that’s correct then it would confirm the chimera hypothesis. Has anyone seen this happen on your Prague?
I have not. I have had limbs look more one or more the other, but they seem to be the same and grow both types off that limb, or else if you graft the limb thats full trifolate it would make a trifolate tree.
This march, I trimmed some twiggies off of my Prague grafts, and z grafted 6 more Trifolate rootstocks.
Then the rest of the Prague twiggies, and Trifolate trimmings I shoved in the 2 and 3 gal pots that have figs, citrus etc in them.
Trifolate twiggies root readily.
But I had read people questioning Prague’s ability to root if it indeed is a Chimera(unknown?).
Anyway, I see several of my Prague twiggies still look viable, and several of them are developing new shoots!!