Citrus > Citrus General Discussion

Recommended citrus for a public garden

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KarenRei:
So, as you probably know, I'm involved in a project to build a series of greenhouse domes in Reykjavík combining normal commercial space (restaurants, coffee shops, workplaces, etc) with active cultivation of exotic tropicals. And to that end I've been accumulating data about every "interesting" tropical edible under the sun that comes onto my radar, to aid in plant selection.  Since I've recently been working on citrus, I thought I'd ask: what citrus varieties would you recommend?  :)  We're as always looking for the best mix of taste, productivity, precociousness, attractive appearance / scent, ease of cultivation, interesting history/stories/other uses, and so forth. Fast  growing and shade tolerant are plusses, but not essential  :)  Small fruited is probably better than large fruited, as it makes it easier to offer "samples", but this is further down the priority list.

So far the ones that sounded interesting to me were:
 * Finger limes (shade-loving and neat appearance, although need to be careful with cultivar selection to avoid a soapy taste)
 * Bergamot Orange (everyone knows it because of Earl Grey, etc, but few know the actual fruit)
 * Kaffir Lime (the leaves being if anything more in-demand than the fruit)
 * C. limon "Kannu'on" - got to love any lemon whose smell gets described as "Fruit Loops cereal"  ;) Most lemon cultivars I've seen info on are described as producing all year, although I don't know about this one.
 * Meyer Lemon - just because they're generally well appreciated, as far as "lemons" go.
 * Buddha's Hand Citron (I also considered etrog, but after talking with a rabbi realized that I wouldn't be able to grow them kosher, so there would be no point)
 * Mandarins - they're not spectacular or exotic, but they're a Christmas tradition here.
 * Ponkan - like giant mandarins, so see above.
 * Blood oranges - anthocyanin-rich and look neat.

Anything else that should go under consideration?

Millet:
Most every cultivar you mention, would offer varieties that are little known to the public, and of little taste value.  Of all the varieties you list, I would go along with Ponkan.  I have a Ponkan tree it is a larger mandarin fruit than normal with good taste, but also some seeds.   I would think your needs would be for dwarf trees.  Any mandarin grafted upon Flying Dragon rootstock would fill the bill.

KarenRei:

--- Quote from: Millet on June 06, 2018, 11:15:39 AM ---Most every cultivar you mention, would offer varieties that are little known to the public, and of little taste value.  Of all the varieties you list, I would go along with Ponkan.  I have a Ponkan tree it is a larger mandarin fruit than normal with good taste, but also some seeds.   I would think your needs would be for dwarf trees.  Any mandarin grafted upon Flying Dragon rootstock would fill the bill.

--- End quote ---

Little known is a good thing (we're not going to be even close to competing on price with commodity citrus from Spain, etc, and "new experiences" / aesthetic appeal is part of the draw). But you don't like the taste of any of the above except ponkan?  Of the above, I've had kaffir lime, meyer lemon, mandarins and blood orange, and like them all. I also like citron in general after cooking and sweetening (never had the Buddha's Hand variety), and love bergamot smell / flavour (though I've never had the fresh fruit).

If you don't think any of the above are good except ponkan, what would you recommend?

We have no shortage of roof height, but obviously we want to maximize diversity. To what degree that involves dwarfs, pruning, or multiply grafted trees is yet to be decided.

Millet:
Karen of the ones you listed I like the taste of Blood Oranges, mandarins and finger limes.  My favorite mandarin is a variety named Xie Shan.

SoCal2warm:
For more of an academic interest, you might be interested in some of the more obscure Japanese varieties. These types may not be as easy to find. Keraji, Kinkoji (known as Bloomsweet grapefruit in the U.S.), Kunenbo (likely you will have to go to a Japanese botanical collection for that, quite a history behind it).
Some other uncommon interesting ones to grow would be Duncan citrumelo, pomelo (C. maxima, the ancestor of grapefruit), citron (the ancestor of lemons, and there's a Giant Etrog citron variety that may be interesting), and Ichang Papeda.

I don't know if there's any possibility of using the greenhouse space as a dual use citrus breeding space. I realize Iceland is too cold to grow citrus outside, but there are people growing certain species and hybrid citrus in England and Germany. Maybe you could use your space to try to breed cold-hardy varieties that taste better. That doesn't really require much work, just knowledge. Most of the work is just in growing and taking care of the plants, which you're going to do anyway. Maybe get a volunteer citrus breeding expert in there to collaborate on the project. This citrus guy could, in turn, get advice from many people in other countries on what different crosses to try to breed. Your greenhouse could turn out to be pretty valuable for posterity.

I'm doing cold-hardy citrus breeding work and wish I had some greenhouse space to leave my small seedlings until they grew into bigger fruiting plants. Then I'd do the pollination of the flowers by hand and collect the seeds from the fruits, to grow new hybrid seedlings. Growing little seedlings doesn't take up much space and I can do it in my home, but growing all those big fruiting plants would take a lot of greenhouse space. Someone to keep them watered (which you're going to be doing anyway in your project). Unfortunately I don't live in Reykjavik.

For mandarins I would recommend Satsuma and Shasta Gold. A lot of people love Page too, which is pretty similar to Minneola tangelo (also very delicious and a good one for your collection).
Kishu mandarins are also very easy to peel and very small (seedless too if they don't get pollinated), very fun.

Another thing I'd suggest to really save on energy during the night is using geothermal heat banking. This basically fans air through pipes running into the ground, so heat during the day gets stored in the ground. There are several videos on this, you might look into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2NtBCS2_WQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZghkt5m1uY

A good depth would be 3.5 to 10 meters.

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