North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dr. Chiranjit Parmar" <parmarch_mnd@dataone.in>]

Dear Donna,

 

I am pleased to have your mail.

 

Natsudaidai DOES FLOWER in March and the fruits DO RIPEN in May.  There is NO doubt about it.  The fruits start turning yellow in December but are fit for consumption in May.  The word natsudaidai in Japanese language means "orange colour in summer". That is why it is also called Japanese Summer Orange.

 

It is a quite common fruit in Japan.  Another trait of this plant is that it grows in relatively cooler areas, even alongwith low chilling apples.

 

I was in Japan on a lecture tour of Japanese Universities and Fruit Research Stations in 1991 for a few weeks at the invitation of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science as their Senior Fellow.  I saw this fruit in Shimane Prefecture and was greatly impressed with its unusual maturity time.  So I decided to introduce in my area of India ( a hilly state).  I brought few seeds with me and raised about 50 seedlings.  I was working with in the Department of Fruit Breeding and Genetic Resources of the University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan.  I had a planned a trial of this fruit at the university.  But since I left my job with the university to work for company, so the trial could not progress.  I had, however, gifted some seedlings to few friends and they started bearing after a few years.

 

It is not like retaining Valencia oranges on trees after the season.  I have worked on Valencias and here in India, you cannot retain after 15th of February.

 

Oregon Exotics seems to have been closed now.  But I was greatly impressed by the owner Jerry Black, who had come to me at Solan in 1991 and was a very young man.

 

I am also sending pictures of Natsudaidai as attachment.

 

Dr. Chiranjit Parmar
Horticultural Consultant on Lesser Known Indian Plants
www.lesserknownindianplants.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Donna &/or Kieran

To: Dr. Chiranjit Parmar ; North American Fruit Explorers

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 8:25 AM

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Natsudaidai seeds.

Dr. Parmer,     

    I have heard of this variety, but even though it may be legal to import seeds into the US, it would not be legal (without a lot of paperwork) to import either seeds or budwood into any of the states where it could be grown.  I'm quite sure that Natsudaidai doesn't bloom in March and get ripe by May, a pity or I'd be jumping at the offer myself.  Citrus that hang on the tree till May of the following year, such as Valencia oranges, must be grown in areas where commercial citrus is grown.   I'm pretty sure that this variety is represented in the collection at Riverside California, and thus there is no excuse on re-importing it, even though I found it well nigh impossible to get anything out of Riverside. 

     By contrast, there are fewer restrictions on hardy citrus into states that can't grow commercial citrus varieties.  But I think most of the hardier citrus you know of were brought in by Oregon Exotics some years back, correct?  We'd be better off if those trees were propagated from now mature trees to work our way into what's known as an "old budline".  Seedlings just take too long to crop, especially for northerners whose growing season is short or those who have to give valuable greenhouse space to thorny non-productive seedlings.  But thank you anyway, it was a nice thought.  Is the fruit more like pummelo, or more like mandarin?  The seeds must be nucellars to give so many semiwild trees of the same variety.  Sounds like a parallel cross to grapfruit, which also has a lot of nucellars.       Donna

---

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