North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John Smith <friendly27sw@yahoo.com>]

I checked my flying dragon seedlings in the garden,
they all appear to have died back at least to the snow
line, our low this winter was -2 F.  My seeds came
from Texas, perhaps seed from a northern source would
have been more hardy

zone 5b/6 Central Missouri
--- Donna &/or Kieran <holycow@cookeville.com> wrote:

> 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
> 
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list 
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> 
> Reproduction of list messages or archives is not
> allowed.
> This includes distribution on other email lists or
> reproduction on web sites.
> Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't
> claim you have permission!
> 
> **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
> Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed
> are discarded.
> No exceptions.  
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of
> this page (also can be used to change other email
> options):
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
> 
> File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
> TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER
> VIRUSES!
> Please do not send binary files.
> Use plain text ONLY in emails!
> 
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/
> 



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Get your own web address.  
Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL