Author Topic: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland  (Read 12372 times)

Zitrusgaertner

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #25 on: September 19, 2019, 08:47:23 AM »
Usirius, did you dare tasting the fruit last year?

usirius

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #26 on: September 19, 2019, 02:36:23 PM »
@Millet - yes, it is as thorny as Poncirus....partially thorns are growing longer!

@Zitrusgaertner - last year I did not taste the fruit. In the years before I did so. The fruits do not taste quite as unpleasantly bitter as poncirus fruits, nor as resinous, but they are really nothing special. They contain very little flesh instead many seeds. Therefore I consider a cross with a juicy sweet citrus to be very promising in terms of fruit quality, the winter hardiness of this HRS 899 is similar to that of Poncirus trifoliata.
„May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.“ N. Mandela

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #27 on: September 29, 2019, 01:09:09 PM »
My yuzu tree today


Some of the fruits


maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #28 on: September 29, 2019, 01:20:44 PM »
Here my keraji and thomasville with the sidewalls for winterprotection that I have put up yesterday.


Keraji fruits



Millet

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #29 on: September 29, 2019, 02:53:54 PM »
Maesy, the side walls being white also greatly helps increase the tree's photosynthesis. Looks like you have taken good care of the two trees.

lebmung

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #30 on: September 30, 2019, 06:38:12 AM »
Maesy, the side walls being white also greatly helps increase the tree's photosynthesis. Looks like you have taken good care of the two trees.

Should be the wall black in winter and white in summer? That would act as a heat sink during the day and increase temperature few degrees during the night when is cold.

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #31 on: September 30, 2019, 03:27:47 PM »
Maesy, the side walls being white also greatly helps increase the tree's photosynthesis. Looks like you have taken good care of the two trees.
Thank you Millet. They have a very previleged spot at the south-west side of the house where there is not too much sun in winter. That may also help and give them a good rest.

Lots of things are possible if you give enough effort.   ;D
« Last Edit: October 01, 2019, 04:53:12 AM by maesy »

SoCal2warm

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #32 on: October 01, 2019, 12:59:52 AM »
Should be the wall black in winter and white in summer? That would act as a heat sink during the day and increase temperature few degrees during the night when is cold.
I had that fleeting thought as well, but it would probably increase the heat differential between night and day, probably not such a good thing, we want the plants to seamlessly enter dormancy and not prematurely come out of dormancy.

lebmung

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #33 on: October 05, 2019, 05:55:50 AM »
Should be the wall black in winter and white in summer? That would act as a heat sink during the day and increase temperature few degrees during the night when is cold.
I had that fleeting thought as well, but it would probably increase the heat differential between night and day, probably not such a good thing, we want the plants to seamlessly enter dormancy and not prematurely come out of dormancy.

I think it would act as a thermal battery. I do it with black painted water bottles. You won't get new growth without sustained warm temperatures.

usirius

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #34 on: October 22, 2019, 02:10:03 PM »
Today the first fruit of my HRS899 seedling has fallen off. On the outside it looks very similar to Poncirus, the furry hair, the fruit size, the fruit colour....apart from that, the habitus, the spines and also the flowers have more in common with Poncirus than with any other Citrus.

Whereby I have not cultivated a normal Poncirus in the garden for some years, but only Flying Dragon, so I only have Flying Dragon as a basis for comparison.

left: Poncirus trifoliata 'Flying Dragon'

right: HRS899 seedling

















After the opening came the surprise!

Poncirus FD: thin skin, relatively little pulp, orange-yellow color, many seeds

HRS899 seedling: thicker skin, relatively much pulp, greenish-yellow color, few seeds

Fragrance:

Poncirus FD - as we know it
HRS899 seedling: less PT scent, slightly citrus-aromatic

Taste:

Poncirus FD - pulpe: resinous, sticky, little juicy, almost unpleasantly sour, a little bit bitter
Poncirus FD -shell: extremely unpleasant

HRS899 seedling - pulpe: not resinous, not sticky (on the teeth), juicy, aromatic, slightly sweet, hardly unpleasant aromas
HRS899 seedling - shell: Aromatic, not more than 1/3 of the unpleasant taste of the FD fruit.

Conclusion: I was very positively surprised! After having been winter-hardy for about 15 years, it is more like a replacement for Poncirus for me, it is for me for climate zone 7b (maybe also for 7a or even colder zones, I couldn't test it yet) without winter protection, a citrus cultivation value with which lemonades and jam can be produced safely.

I pollinated several flowers with lemonade from New Zealand. I will sow all seedlings, also the freely flowered ones. Let's see if I have the space and the patience to bring them all up to flowerimg and fruiting maturity!


« Last Edit: October 25, 2019, 01:40:16 AM by usirius »
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Bomand

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #35 on: October 22, 2019, 03:05:15 PM »
Love the idea.....just not willing to take the risk😂😁😥

kumin

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #36 on: October 22, 2019, 03:35:31 PM »
 Usirius, improved edibility while retaining cold hardiness is impressive!

usirius

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #37 on: October 22, 2019, 04:02:19 PM »
Yes, I think so also! For me it resembles a Poncirus with much better fruit Quality.

The only thing is that the HRS899 seedling bears not as many fruits than Poncirus normally does. But maybe one reason is that it now is starting fruiting and from year to year it will bear more fruits - I will see. The other reason for this could be: The HRS899 seedling is growing below a big peach tree and because of this the HRS899 seedling wouldn't get as much sunshine as he'd get under unshaded conditions.
„May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.“ N. Mandela

lebmung

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #38 on: October 24, 2019, 05:56:06 AM »
My yuzu tree today

in Switzerland you have cold temperatures I guess.
If a you have a freeze let's say -5 C , does the yuzu fruit get damaged before it's ripe ?

It's cold tolerance is it valid for the fruit as well?

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #39 on: October 24, 2019, 01:41:13 PM »
I can not tell you for sure. They so far always matured before it went down to -5 degrees celsius.
If there is such a temperature forcast, I would either protect the tree or harvest the fruits. Anyway, the spot where the tree is growing is very sheltered and therefore a short freeze should not be a problem.

Zitrusgaertner

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #40 on: October 25, 2019, 10:45:39 AM »
Usirius, do you know which one of all those 899-cultivars you have. They are very differnt. I have 4 of them, but non has fruits resembling Poncirus. All fruits are smooth and shiny.

usirius

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #41 on: October 25, 2019, 01:12:42 PM »
@Zitrusgaertner...very interesting....are your four HRS899 cultivars also hardy to -17°C? How is the taste of the fruits? Which cultivars do you have?

I am not sure which cultivar I have. Maybe in my case only the rootstock survived, and I think it would be a HRS899 cultivar ;-).  Joking aside, it's definitely a HRS899 cultivar because the place of refinement is still clearly present and visible. Only which number it is....that is the question. The label is lost....

It was still quite in the early days, when Bernhard Voss started with citrus, I had helped him this time to refine everything received from USA, and was several days with him on site in village Jork in the region "Altes Land" (translated: "Old Country") in Northern Germany. In this time also the book of him "Citruspflanzen von Tropisch bis Winterhart", Humbach & Nemazal, 1997, ISBN 3-9805521-3-6 originated, with which my experiences flowed up to this time also.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2019, 05:10:25 PM by usirius »
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maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #42 on: October 25, 2019, 03:11:31 PM »
Btw, what is Bernard Voss doing today?
Has he lost his interest in citrus? There is not that much coming from him anymore.

usirius

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #43 on: October 26, 2019, 03:26:32 PM »
It came what was to be expected, the market for special citrus plants is simply too small, particularly nursery Otto Eisenhut in San Nazzaro (Suisse) by the spatial proximity to botanist and frost-hardy citrus lecturer Dr. Edwin Frey with frost-hardy citrus was long on the market. Bernhard Voß has exchanged plants for sale in the other nursery, but this business hasn't really gone that well. The Eisenhut nursery does not have Citrus as its main pillar, but many other special plants such as Camellias, Magnolia and much more, which he has propagated in Italy, and for which reason customers come by bus. Bernhard Voss has    Bernhard Voß has at times also a cooperation with the Grape nursery Steinmann (Sommerhausen, Germany) by selling grape vines at him in York and buying citrus plants in the Rebschule Steinmann. In the meantime, Bernhard Voß' main focus of activity has shifted to the special field of tree care. In addition, he also runs his pottery with individual handcrafted pottery products, which he sells at pottery markets. Citrus has become less of a secondary matter.
„May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.“ N. Mandela

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #44 on: October 26, 2019, 05:31:45 PM »
@usirius
Thanks for explaination. I have always wondered.

Zitrusgaertner

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #45 on: November 15, 2019, 07:13:11 AM »
Bernhard Voss update
He does not work in his pottery any more but takes care of a big Citrus Collection and still works as an arborist. His nursery was damaged during a storm and he did not rebuild the tunnel. But you can meet him at the Vienna citrus-fair (Wiener Zitrustage) in Schönbrunn Castle im Vienna.

Tetrao

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #46 on: January 25, 2020, 08:59:47 AM »
Hi,
also a swiss here. I am not sure if I should post this in the "trade" thread or the "swiss" thread, tell me if I should move it.
I am looking for seeds of cold hardy citrus, Poncirus trifoliata, to be grown outside in Zollikofen.

Anyone knows where I could buy or get some fresh seeds?

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #47 on: January 25, 2020, 09:32:49 AM »
Hi and grüessti Tetrao

Welcome to the club!

I dont have any poncirus seeds, but what I have are dunstan citrumelo seeds/fruits. Dunstan is a hybrid between poncirus and pomelo.
Otherwise, the best place to buy any citrus in Switzerland is the nursery Eisenhut in ticino.

Marcel

Tetrao

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #48 on: January 25, 2020, 03:15:01 PM »
Hoi Marcel,
thanks!
And about the citrumelo: are they growing outside? are you in Luzern inside the city? And untill when do you have them available?

I wonder how many of the offspring will be based on apomixis and identical to the mother, and how many based on recombination...

maesy

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Re: Hardy citrus growing in Switzerland
« Reply #49 on: January 26, 2020, 04:20:42 AM »
Yes my dunstan is growing in ground. It is hardy to at least -15°c.
I still have some fruits left which contain usually between 5 to 10 seeds. You can have some if you want.
I live near Sursee, so if you want to come over and see my citrus in ground, you are welcome.
I still have some keraji and thomasville citrangequat fruits hanging on the trees as well.

Here you also can find lots of infornation about my trees and many others.
http://www.exotenundpalmen.de/t1228f5-quot-winterharte-quot-essbare-citrus.html
« Last Edit: January 26, 2020, 04:23:28 AM by maesy »