North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Just got back from visiting my folks in Florida, stopped on the way to see 
Chris Inhulsen's citrus (and other fruits) in southern GA.  I get blamed for 
a few of the trees I recommended or even sent him seed or budwood of, but at 
least I can take credit for recommended Kimkoji aka kinkoji, which is a very 
nice early pummelo cross.  It's sold around Houston TX as "Bloomsweet 
grapefruit", and is available from the Florida Budwood collection in Winter 
Haven FL.  Mind you, I think the minimum order out of state is $25, for that 
price you could maybe find a source for a whole tree.
   I guess I am pretty much the expert on trifoliate and it's crosses.  The 
recipe Lucky gave is a bit of an exaggeration, but to quote Chris, "With 
enough added sugar, even feces can be delectable."  Trifoliate is indeed 
hardy to Z5, someone once called me from a pocket of Z5 in the Chicago area 
and told me about a tree that cropped there for years.  It is a pity that no 
one has found a strain that is less packed with seeds, as there is very 
little room in the fruit for juice.  The sticky gum in the rind will muck up 
your juicer and I am told that only acetone will remove it.  If you want to 
play with it at the very edges of it's hardiness, it may make a difference 
whether you get the large flowered or the small flowered strain.  I believe 
it is the small flowered strain that matures earlier, and this was the 
reason for the phone call from Chicago, that the plant the guy had known 
about DID mature it's fruit, and his didn't.  This gets pretty esoteric, as 
few know which they have.  I CAN tell you that the Flying Dragon in the 
Winter Haven collection is the large flowered, and half it's seedlings will 
be normal, not twisted.  (They know this because visitors from China seem 
astonished and say, "This isn't regular Flying Dragon, this is CLOUD Flying 
Dragon!"  So unless all the US stock came from one source, the small 
flowered one is probably here somewhere.)  Flying Dragon carries one 
mutation for dwarfing and twisted thorns and branches, it is extremely 
picturesque especially in winter, and is easier to get along with than the 
normal trifoliates, but the fruit are also smaller.  Double genes for the 
mutation give a seedling that never grows.  Might make a nice little potted 
plant. ( I do have plenty of Flying Dragon on hand, but getting me to the 
post office to mail anything is like pulling teeth.  It's probably still 
possible if someone wants to try.  It's getting to be big enough to get in 
the way.  I have set out one for myself and the others are just there taking 
up space. )
   Crosses of regular citrus to trifoliate are mostly not very edible.  It 
seems that the sticky gum and the bitterness it carries are no longer 
trapped in the peel but are spread throughout the fruit.  The exceptions to 
this rule are Morton, US 119, Thomasville Citrangequat, and a cross to 
Siamese Sweet pummelo.  The fruit needs to be dead ripe to be good, so you 
need plenty of heat units to ripen it.  This means that even though the 
plants will generally survive 10 degrees or lower, forget the PNW for 
ripening the fruit.  I could go on, and you would think I was crazy.  But I 
really do think someone should be working with the existing crosses to make 
some hardier citrus.  We are overdue for an ice age, and this brief fling 
with "Global Warming" is a chance for some NAFEXers to play with citrus 
germplasm and maybe make some crosses that will be useful later.
   For citrus in general, growing from seed creates all kinds of problems 
with prolonged juvenility and excessive thorniness.  Always do your best to 
get budded trees or bud them yourself from cropping trees.  Many citrus will 
root, tangerines are the hardest to do.  Even a scrap of nurse root if you 
can get it from someone can be grafted and will get  you a tree going.
   I have to agree about the calamondins, I have seen them do well indoors 
both here and in England.    Donna