Author Topic: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?  (Read 2819 times)

Perplexed

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Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« on: February 09, 2018, 02:20:50 AM »
What the title says. I don't wanna buy a seedling to take 10 years to fruit.

Perplexed

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2018, 02:28:19 AM »
Thinking of buying 2 dunstan citrumelos from woodlanders. Anyone ever ordered from them before? What are their plant sizes?

jim VH

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2018, 10:19:14 AM »
One Green World nursery in Oregon sells a Citrumelo grafted onto a Flying Dragon rootstock.  The one I have has survived 8F (-13.3C) with no damage.  I'm not entirely sure which variety it is, but it has spherically shaped fruit.  It tastes awful.

Jim

Citradia

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2018, 08:25:32 PM »
I've asked growers at southeast citrus expo to graft trifoliate hybrids and Ichang hybrids on dragon so those of us in colder zones can have something better than straight trifoliata, but I just get blank stares or they tell me to graft my own; they don't think about the fact that we don't have access to dragon rootstock nor are my seedling citranges old enough to produce fruiting wood yet. I've got probably ten seedling trees from woodlanders several years ago; they come in gallon pots about 1-2 ft tall. They have all grown well, doubling in size in a season. Trifoliate hybrids do experience winter die back here, losing newer wood that is not at least pencil thick, and sometimes dying back almost to or to the ground. If you have s bad freeze, down to zero or a late spring freeze in the mid teens after new growth starts, you may lose your graft and be left with dragon if not protected. You can ask Stan McKenzie of McKenzie Farms out of Scranton, SC to graft you a Dunstan citrumelo on dragon. Actually, the last time I asked him for Ichang lemon on dragon or Changsha on dragon, I think he said he had some Thomasville citrangequat on dragon. In 7b you may be able to succeed with a Thomasville. My Thomasville seedling came back from roots after polar vortex killed all my other citranges including Swingle citrumelo dead.

SoCal2warm

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2018, 09:52:00 PM »
One Green World nursery in Oregon sells a Citrumelo ...  I'm not entirely sure which variety it is, but it has spherically shaped fruit.  It tastes awful.
Unnamed citrumelo that tastes completely awful is probably Swingle.

Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
Logee's has them too.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2018, 09:54:28 PM by SoCal2warm »

Citradia

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2018, 09:43:43 PM »


I actually tasted a Swingle citrumelo at McKenzie Farms during one of the citrus expos and thought it tasted like a strong lemon. I'd like to try growing another one since they do make a large impressive fruit. And yes, I know zone 8b folks on the coast will say Swingle is trashy and only good for throwing, but if my neighbors drive by my house one snowy day and see a large citrus tree covered in these large "lemons", they would probably drop their teeth and come knocking on my door. I think more nurseries should start grafting trifoliate hybrids on dragon at least as novelties for those of us in colder climates.

jim VH

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2018, 03:25:41 PM »
Hi SoCal,

I'm not so sure that  the OGW Citrumelo  is Swingle;   That's why I mentioned the spherical shape.  I may be misremembering, but as I recall, the Swingle is elliptical or pear shaped, not unlike a hand grenade, which may be their best use.  The ones on my tree, on the other hand, were perfectly round.

As for taste, well, that is a subjective thing.  They weren't  **completely** awful, just unpleasant.  They had an aftertaste with Sort of  the culinary equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard, an analogy for those of us old enough to remember what a blackboard is.  Also, I personally find grapefruits in general to be rather distasteful;  I actually find the taste of Flying Dragon fruit to be better than grapefruit.


Citradia

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Re: Anyone know any sources of a nice sized grafted citrumelo?
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2018, 07:42:11 PM »
The spherical citrumelo is possibly a Dunstan which resembles a white grapefruit. I've eaten one before and it was a grapefruit as far as I'm concerned; an old fashioned sour white grapefruit full of seeds. The grower I got the fruit from labeled the seedling tree I bought from him s " Dunstan grapefruit ".  The trees I've grown from those seeds have proven to be more cold hardy than any other hybrid I have.