I used zest to try to avoid extraction of bitter substances in the albedo of the peels. And, yes, you wouldn’t want to “pollute” a good Texas limoncello with something impure like imported spring water from the French Alps or something. Nothing like good ol’ Lake Conroe water to impart a truly Texas flavor to limoncello. ROFL.
3 Likes
Thanks Scott for the cuttings and seedlings! Also great demo of the grafting!
1 Like
Glad you were able to attend the scion exchange today. Did you get any of the “Grogan’s Mill” Feijoa cuttings and/or seedlings? If not I will go gather more cuttings (I have some 1-year-old seedlings still) that you can get from me. I am in The Woodlands, so you could come by for an orchard tour sometime and get the Feijoa. My orchard looks a little rough now due to the recent freezes.
4 Likes
How does the fruit taste in comparison to the NZ varieties?
1 Like
I did got both the "Grogan’s Mill” Feijoa cuttings and seedlings, and one nice green papaya. Already set up to root the cuttings.
1 Like
They have Cocktail Grapefruit at the big Asian market that’s near enough to my work I drive over there once in a while to try some of the fruit I have never seen elsewhere. I kept looking at the Cocktail Grapefruit but never pulling the trigger because I haven’t liked grapefruit when I had them years ago (I should really give them another shot.) When I looked them up and found out they’re a Mandarin x Pomelo I finally bought a bunch and really liked them. Only a hint of the characteristic grapefruit bitterness I remember with lots of pomelo and a bit of mandarin flavor. Really good. Very seedy though like the UCR website mentioned. I hope more choice selections “escape” on them. 
7 Likes
The 2 hybrids that tastes very good are the Valentine pomelo hybrid and Cocktail /Mandalo grapefruit hybrid. I have a large tree of both, and they are very productive. Friends and neighbors that I give the fruits say it’s the best fruits they have tasted. One year the Cocktail grapefruit is the winner, this year it was the Valentine fruits.
4 Likes
I don’t have access to fruit from any named varieties of Feijoa for comparison. They simply aren’t any offered for sale in the Houston area nurseries, and I have never ordered any online to graft myself (I have had very low success rates with my Feijoa grafts, and zero success with rooting cuttings of it). I do have a very large seedling Feijoa I grew from seeds extracted from a New Zealand-sourced fruit in my local grocery store about 10 years ago. It produces many flowers, but only a few fruit if I cross-pollinate by hand. I think we simply lack effective natural Feijoa pollinators.
4 Likes
My wife is quite fond of the low-acid taste of my Cocktail and Golden Grapefruit. My Valentine hasn’t had any fruit for several years now (due to hard freezes), so she has forgotten she said she likes it too. Maybe this year all 3 will fruit!
3 Likes
Yeah, I got some fruits of the Golden Grapefruit to taste again from someone on FB. It was good, but on the milder flavor when compared to either Cocktail or Valentine. The inside flesh color is just different color and makes it unique for a collector.
3 Likes
8 Likes
Interesting. My in-ground Meyer (on Carrizo citrange rootstock) produces huge lemons, and my 30-gallon container-grown Meyer (on sour orange rootstock) produces much smaller fruits. I always tell people to plant Citrus in the ground here (Houston area) for bigger and more fruit. Maybe I need to rethink that advice? Here is a photo of my Meyer fruits from January 2020 (before our big 9 F freeze in February 2021), with in-ground fruits on the left:
5 Likes
Love to hear your thoughts on amoa 8.
2 Likes
I’d say plant citrus in ground is the best option for any even marginal climate. I get scale on my potted citrus and I’ve never seen one on anything in ground. I’ll take slightly smaller lemons for the ease of care, granted I only have to protect them a few nights a year like you, but I’ll take that over lugging a cumbersome plant into shelter. Especially a meyer that wants to grow in every direction except up, it’s very too heavy and constantly falling over. I will either sell or plant my potted meyer this spring.
3 Likes
I don’t know why none of my blood oranges (5 types) show hardly any red flesh, mostly barely a splash or along the skin. I also have many branches of Amoa8 and hope it gets some red inside. My Tarocco #7 doesn’t show any red, neither does Smith Red, etc. Only Valentine consistently has the nice red color if I let it hang until Feb.
1 Like
Your Amoa8 looks good, I hope it tastes as good as it looks. Can you describe the taste of the fruit.
2 Likes
Do you get any frost or cold nights? I see that you are in 10b zone and citrus get more colour/ blood when exposed to colder temperatures. Maybe its too hot where you are at. Blessings
1 Like
It’s not what i was looking for but it tastes similar to the Kings River raspberry oranges but with less acidity. It’s more mandarin shaped as well. I loved it so much that i bought a second tree. Maybe even a 3rd hiding somewhere in the garage lol. I have 2 in my living room right now.
You’ll need like, a month or cold temperatures to get them to redden up. I stuck mine in the unheated greenhouse then cold garage for about the beginning of November to the end of December with the heat off starting in the middle of November.
5 Likes
Pic of my ruby clementine fruit from over the winter period 
The taste remind me of orange and berry compôte. I liked it!
8 Likes
Do you live in the US or know where i can get one of the plants in the US
2 Likes