To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] P.trifoliata
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 14:14:35 -0600
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
Re: [NAFEX] P.trifoliata,
Donna &/or Kieran, 03/08/2007