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  • From: "Peter Knop" <knop@erols.com>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] citrus dwarf, bearing, pollination
  • Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:39:27 -0400

I think you will always have "fruit drop" unless you hand pollinate. The
baby unpollinated fruits will always fall off. A qtip makes a great
pollinator or anything else which moves the pollen - I often just pick one
of the flowers and use it to dust everything. (unless you have a lot of b
ugs in your house :-) and even those do not seem to work too well in our
greenhouse where there are enough insects traveling around. Really need
bees.....)
As far as bearing size, I have a meyers lemon approx 18" high with two
branches - one the 18" "leader" the other about 9" side branch (plus a
little strub about three inches. In a one gallon pot. It has a 4x3" lemon on
it now and a 3x2 lemon. Not unusual in our experience, though visitors are
amazed, Plant is two or three years old and on its own rootstock as I
remember. Size of plant does not matter olther than branches bend over
until they hit something to support them.
Peter Knop, Clean Earth Foundation Zone 7 VA (We grow all our own
citrus, with lemons and limes year around, rest seasonal, though trying to
spread the season.)
----- Original Message -----
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To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 12:10 PM
Subject: nafex Digest, Vol 9, Issue 36


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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Potted culture; dwarf citrus (gorgon zolla)
> 2. Re: Potted culture; dwarf citrus (philip sauber)
> 3. Re: Potted culture; dwarf citrus (Lon J. Rombough)
> 4. Re: Potted culture; dwarf citrus (list@ginda.us)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:01:53 -0400
> From: "gorgon zolla" <lazolla@hotmail.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] Potted culture; dwarf citrus
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <Law15-F82YnZlmDVRXG0002cd97@hotmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> We do have three dwarf citrus potted up: a clementine, a Meyers Improved
> lemon, and a Kieffer lime. We have had these for a couple of years now,
and
> bring them inside during the winter months. These are grafted on
> proprietary dwarfing rootstocks, and we bought them as whips from
Northwind
> Growers in California. All have bloomed, while only the lime has set
fruit.
> The fruit fell off shortly afterwards, probably just as well given the
> small size of the tree.
>
> We have had to spray for scaly bugs a number of times.
>
> Maintaining the proper level of soil moisture has been an ongoing problem,
> in part because we started the plants out in fairly large pots. Rainy
> weather would overwater the plants at first.
>
> Overall, I find that they are rather fussy as houseplants go, but the
> foliage and flowers are attractive, and I'm hoping for fruit set one of
> these days. The trees readily go into a sort of state of shock when their
> cultural needs are not met, and then they drop leaves and lose vigor. In
> most cases they seem to come out of this.
>
> Steve Dunlop
> Nerstrand, MN
> USDA Zone 4
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 18:22:55 -0500
> From: "philip sauber" <mrtejas@lycos.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Potted culture; dwarf citrus
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <DDOKHNFPFOMEDIAA@mailcity.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Your citrus dwarfing rootstock is flying dragon trifoliate. It is only
slightly dwarfing. You can see pictures of a pink grapefruit on
trifoliate(25feet) and flying dragon trifoliate(8 feet) on my web site.
Both trees are about 10 years old. I haven't found flying dragon to be very
dwarfing. I have 4 satsuma trees that are 4 years old. The one on flying
dragon is as big as the 3 others on trifoliate. All are about 6 feet tall.
They are in the ground outside. Flying dragon rootstock bears excellent
fruit and bears early.
>
> I would recommend for your potted citrus a potting mix of 50% washed sand
and the rest can be store bought potting mix. I have killed many potted
citrus in 100% commercial potting mix because it doesn't drain well enough.
But it sometimes rains here 6 inches in a day and 24" in a week!
> SE Texas near Houston z8b/9a but 9b since 1989
>
> http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/
> --
>
> --------- Original Message ---------
>
> DATE: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:01:53
> From: "gorgon zolla" <lazolla@hotmail.com>
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Cc:
>
> >We do have three dwarf citrus potted up: a clementine, a Meyers Improved
> >lemon, and a Kieffer lime. We have had these for a couple of years now,
and
> >bring them inside during the winter months. These are grafted on
> >proprietary dwarfing rootstocks, and we bought them as whips from
Northwind
> >Growers in California. All have bloomed, while only the lime has set
fruit.
> > The fruit fell off shortly afterwards, probably just as well given the
> >small size of the tree.
> >
> >We have had to spray for scaly bugs a number of times.
> >
> >Maintaining the proper level of soil moisture has been an ongoing
problem,
> >in part because we started the plants out in fairly large pots. Rainy
> >weather would overwater the plants at first.
> >
> >Overall, I find that they are rather fussy as houseplants go, but the
> >foliage and flowers are attractive, and I'm hoping for fruit set one of
> >these days. The trees readily go into a sort of state of shock when
their
> >cultural needs are not met, and then they drop leaves and lose vigor. In
> >most cases they seem to come out of this.
> >
> >Steve Dunlop
> >Nerstrand, MN
> >USDA Zone 4
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
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> ------------------------------
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> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 16:27:17 -0700
> From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Potted culture; dwarf citrus
> To: "mrtejas@lycos.com, North American Fruit Explorers"
> <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <BBBF0365.14A82%lonrom@hevanet.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Bob Duncan in B.C., a member of the B.C. Fruit Testers, has gone one
better.
> He has a dwarf citrus orchard in the ground, inside an unheated
greenhouse.
> He gets quantities of citrus you wouldn't believe. He grafts everything
on
> P. trifoliata, but high up on the trunk.
> -Lon Rombough
>
> Your citrus dwarfing rootstock is flying dragon trifoliate. It is only
> slightly dwarfing. You can see pictures of a pink grapefruit on
> trifoliate(25feet) and flying dragon trifoliate(8 feet) on my web site.
> Both trees are about 10 years old. I haven't found flying dragon to be
very
> dwarfing. I have 4 satsuma trees that are 4 years old. The one on flying
> dragon is as big as the 3 others on trifoliate. All are about 6 feet
tall.
> They are in the ground outside. Flying dragon rootstock bears excellent
> fruit and bears early.
>
> I would recommend for your potted citrus a potting mix of 50% washed sand
> and the rest can be store bought potting mix. I have killed many potted
> citrus in 100% commercial potting mix because it doesn't drain well
enough.
> But it sometimes rains here 6 inches in a day and 24" in a week!
> SE Texas near Houston z8b/9a but 9b since 1989
>
> http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/
> --
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 22:28:46 -0400
> From: list@ginda.us
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Potted culture; dwarf citrus
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <F5853F0E-0692-11D8-A326-00039312C3A0@ginda.us>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> I have a meyers lemon. I find that I don't have too much trouble
> maintaining appropriate soil moisture when the pot is indoors - I just
> water it well every week or two - but I do have trouble outdoors, when
> the soil gets too hot in the sun and too wet in the rain.
> Unfortunately, I can't keep it inside year-round, as I don't get much
> indoor sun once the oaks are in leaf.
>
> I solved the problem by planting it in the ground in the summer. It's
> cold hardy to about 20F, which means I don't have to panic when the
> forecast is for frost in the fall. I resisted this solution for a
> while, because it seemed like a lot of work, but it hasn't been too
> bad. For whatever reason, the roots don't seem to grow much outside of
> its "space" in the summer, and I just lift the whole thing with a
> shovel and slide it into a pot around now. (Tomorrow, weather
> permitting.) Not all that much soil sticks to the roots, so I need to
> fill the pot, too. My backyard is pretty well drained, with
> rocky/loamy soil, and the lemon rarely needs to be watered in the
> summer, and hasn't drowned, yet.
>
> Ginda
> eastern MA, zone 6
>
> On Friday, October 24, 2003, at 02:01 PM, gorgon zolla wrote:
>
> > We do have three dwarf citrus potted up: a clementine, a Meyers
> > Improved lemon, and a Kieffer lime. We have had these for a couple of
> > years now, and bring them inside during the winter months. These are
> > grafted on proprietary dwarfing rootstocks, and we bought them as
> > whips from Northwind Growers in California. All have bloomed, while
> > only the lime has set fruit. The fruit fell off shortly afterwards,
> > probably just as well given the small size of the tree.
> >
> > We have had to spray for scaly bugs a number of times.
> >
> > Maintaining the proper level of soil moisture has been an ongoing
> > problem, in part because we started the plants out in fairly large
> > pots. Rainy weather would overwater the plants at first.
> >
> > Overall, I find that they are rather fussy as houseplants go, but the
> > foliage and flowers are attractive, and I'm hoping for fruit set one
> > of these days. The trees readily go into a sort of state of shock
> > when their cultural needs are not met, and then they drop leaves and
> > lose vigor. In most cases they seem to come out of this.
> >
> > Steve Dunlop
> > Nerstrand, MN
> > USDA Zone 4
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
> > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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  • [NAFEX] citrus dwarf, bearing, pollination, Peter Knop, 10/25/2003

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