North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Moyer, Richard" <ramoyer@king.edu>]

Scott wrote:
Someone has mentioned that there are some "improved" trifoliate oranges 
running around somewhere.  I'd like to locate some for a backyard 
breeding project--selecting for "slightly less inedible" to see how much 
improvement could be made.  
Thanks, 

Scott 
Lancaster, PA 
zone 6b/7a 

My reply:
Some catalogs list them as edible and some as inedible; there is a wide
variation in flavor, and some (most?) are truly nasty.  Worth contacting the
source and talking with someone who's tasted them before buying.
See https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex/2003-May/003873.html for an
earlier discussion on this.  If you write me in October, I can send you some
seed.  The fruit from the original site in Augusta, GA, has better flavor to
my taste than grown here in Zone 6, perhaps due to more heat there. 

Thanks for the excellent review Phil, let us poor Zone 6 folks know if you
identify any very early ripening trifoliate.

One of Scott's challenges will be finding trifoliates that ripen in Zone
6/7.  I've asked Jim Nottke in Zone 7 NC to keep an eye out in his 1000+
trees for early ripening, marginally edible fruit.
We're growing out seedlings here looking for the same trait.  Here in east
Tenn, we rarely get into the 90s and most summer nights are in 60s.

Anyone with exceptionally early ripening trifoliate, even if marginally
edible, please chime in.

Thanks,
Richard Moyer
East Tenn, Zone 6