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Messages - brian

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101
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Yuzu & Sudachi
« on: February 24, 2017, 03:56:32 PM »
I appreciate all the ideas and look forward to trying yuzu flavored dishes & drinks though I'm not sure I'll be trying to make these myself as I generally just eat fruit off the tree.   I have had ponzu sauce which I think is soy sauce with yuzu and it was good but didn't have a strong citrus taste to me.

102
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Yuzu & Sudachi
« on: February 23, 2017, 04:33:39 PM »
Thanks for input.  I will skip yuzu, though I am still curious about sudachi

103
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Yuzu & Sudachi
« on: February 23, 2017, 03:35:32 PM »
Thanks for your experience.  I was under the impression that yuzu and sudachi are quite similar in taste, can you elaborate on why you prefer sudachi?

104
Citrus General Discussion / Yuzu & Sudachi
« on: February 23, 2017, 02:19:04 PM »
Anybody have experience with these varieties?  Their reported unique flavor always sounded interesting to me but I don't have much use for juice so I'm not sure what I would do with the seedy fruit.  I looked online for the fresh fruit for delivery but can't find any.  There is bottled 100% juice available but not sure if its good representation of fresh. 

I'm running out of space right now but I still have the itch to try new varieties. 

105
Citrus General Discussion / Re: The best way to clear grass under trees
« on: February 22, 2017, 03:50:18 PM »
Here's a PDF that has some information on groundcover competition with fruit trees: https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id=56cd57e97dfbf9dd2b8b4584&assetKey=AS%3A332551907495936%401456297961407

"For example, weeds or grass growing in the orchard will compete with fruit trees for water, nutrients, and sunlight. One experiment demonstrated that grass growing near the trunk of apple trees delayed fruiting and reduced trunk diameter and shoot length when compared to trees surrounded by an area that had been kept weed-free with mulch, cultivation, or herbicides. Also, grasses were more competitive than broadleaf weeds or brambles. In another experiment, adding more nitrogen did not overcome the competition imposed by grass. "

106
Citrus General Discussion / Re: spring in winter greenhouse 2017
« on: February 20, 2017, 01:05:04 PM »
Good to know.   I will have to take some temperature measurements aroud the floor to see where is best.

107
Citrus General Discussion / Re: spring in winter greenhouse 2017
« on: February 20, 2017, 11:27:28 AM »
The temperature ranges drastically from 75F on sunny days to 35F on very cold nights when the heaters can't quite keep up.  I don't have any supplemental light, though the entire greenhouse is quite reflective inside so the light that does hit gets good coverage.

108
Citrus General Discussion / spring in winter greenhouse 2017
« on: February 19, 2017, 01:08:22 PM »
Most of my citrus trees are blooming now, in what should be their last winter in the old greenhouse.  Kumquats are still dormant as usual, but everything else is pushing new growth, even the pummelo I got a year or more ago that until now hadn't put out *any* new growth.

Marsh grapefruit



I forget what this one is, perhaps the Flame grapefruit


Chandler pummelo



And a mango tree I bought last summer looks like it is about to break buds.

109
Citrus General Discussion / Re: The best way to clear grass under trees
« on: February 13, 2017, 10:00:59 AM »
My citrus are in containers but for my in-ground fruit trees I use glyphosate (roundup).  Only the leaves soak it up so even accidently spraying the trunk bark a bit causes no harm.

110
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Vaniglia Blood Orange
« on: February 07, 2017, 10:18:36 PM »
If you've ever had "orange drink" that's what the one I ate tasted like.  I'd certainly eat a few more before I make up my mind but I'm not expecting it to be a favorite.  My interest started in this when someone mentioned they heard it tastes like mango, which I love.  I don't detect any mango taste though

111
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Vaniglia Blood Orange
« on: February 07, 2017, 03:19:38 PM »
I bought a 1yr Vaniglia last year and it arrived with one fruit.  It ripened looking somewhat like your picture, though clearly not up to its full potential it was tasty enough.  I'm looking forward to next year as I will let another one or two fruits remain if it blooms.

112
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Kumquat varieties update
« on: February 01, 2017, 02:00:14 PM »
The centennial in the picture looks nicer than the ones on my current crop.  Hoping it improves next year.   My first crop of Meiwa was very poor, but subsequent ones have been great.

113
Citrus General Discussion / Re: What caused my meiwa died?
« on: January 30, 2017, 12:09:31 PM »
Because he mentioned "peat (or coir)" I assume he's lumping them together and saying you effectively have a 100% moisture retaining potting medium when it should only be 20% so. 

114
Citrus General Discussion / Re: What caused my meiwa died?
« on: January 29, 2017, 01:46:00 PM »
Did the leaves drop off first?  Or did the branches die with them still attached?

When I've had trees die of wet roots the leaves yellowed and dropped first.   When I've had trees die of thirst the leaves dried out in place and stayed attached

115
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Kumquat varieties update
« on: January 27, 2017, 02:21:51 PM »
I feel that meiwa, marumi, nagami, and fukushu are all a cut above the rest and personal preference makes the final call. 

116
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Sunwest introduces new Mandarin variety
« on: January 26, 2017, 06:48:31 PM »
I'm looking forward to trying these!

Though these names are getting way too generic.  I just tried a new apple variety... "Sweet Tango" (it was very good btw). 

117
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Kumquat varieties update
« on: January 19, 2017, 12:28:25 PM »
My centennials still have a slight striping and are not as dark orange as my other ripe kumquats, yet they come off the tree with only the slightest effort and sometimes drop on their own.  Maybe the tree is struggling and trying to shed fruit rather that mature it fully

118
Citrus General Discussion / Kumquat varieties update
« on: January 18, 2017, 01:20:13 PM »
I've accumulated pretty much every kumquat and hybrid that I can find.  Here's my impressions so far...

Nagami (Nordmann Seedless) - excellent taste.  Sometimes a slight soapy taste if not 100% ripe, somewhat astringent also
Nagami - excellent taste but has seeds.  More sour than nordmann because its fatter and so has more juice.  Sometimes a slight soapy taste if not 100% ripe,   somewhat astringent also
Marumi - excellent taste, some seeds
Meiwa - excellent taste, some seeds.  Less sour than other kumquats because it has more flesh than juice
Fukushu/Changshau - my personal favorite.  Initially mine were about the same size as marumi/meiwa and nearly seedless.  More recent crops have been much larger, about the size of a golf ball, and with significantly more seeds.  The smaller ones were better in my opinion.  I'm hoping that limiting pollination or using giberellic acid would help reduce seed count and also fruit size.
Hong Kong - not really edible because of tiny fruit size, no juice, all seeds.  I did eat a bit of the flesh on one and it is somewhat sweet but this is a pure oranamental & breeding parent
Indio Mandarinquat -  poor taste for two years in a row.  Skin is thin and dry, not enough sweetness to offset sour juice.  Off taste similar to Rangpur but less spicy.
Centennial Variegated - poor taste for me on my first crop.  Similar to Indio Mandarinquat.  Thin is skin and dry, not enough sweetness to offset sour juice.  Off taste similar to Rangpur but less spicy.    This variety supposedly has a reputation for good taste so I'm hoping it will improve next year but I don't expect the character to change.
Nippon Orangequat - decent but somewhat bland taste.  Skin is thick and bland, whole fruit is a bit sloppy as the flesh is soft and juicy.  Not worthwhile in my opinion because skin is not sweet like more common kumquats, size is as large as a navel orange, taste inferior to navel orange, and has seeds.  You'd be better off with another kumquat or a sweet orange.
"Excalibur" Red Lime - UCR mentions likely Kumquat/Rangpur hybrid.  This one was a surprise to me.   I couldn't locate one forever and ended up trading with Lorewren on this forum who lives nearby to me.  I've been eating the first crop over the past four months and they keep getting better the longer they hang on the tree.  They are now dark orange and about the size of a Clementine.  They taste quite good, like what I was expecting from Nippon Orangequat.  The skin is sweet and relatively thick.  When first turning orange 3mo ago they were sour but now they are sweeter and I eat them out of hand.  There is a bit of the Rangpur taste but not strong.  Seedy, though.

Lakeland Limequat - typical lime flavor.  Thin rind that was rather dry and not at all sweet.  Few seeds.   I wouldn't recommend over a Bearss lime unless you need the cold hardiness. 
Sunquat -  bright yellow like a meyer lemon, and tasted similar.  Thin skin, not sweet but not too dry.  Much sweeter than a true lemon.  Again, if you need a lemon I'd stick with a real one, but the Sunquat fruit is very attractive looking as it's perfectly round and bright yellow.   I'm thinking I will keep this as an ornamental.    (RyanL - you called it)

119
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Plant ID
« on: January 16, 2017, 11:36:06 AM »
Definitely looks like meyer lemon.  Fruit is way too large to be mexican lime, and I've never seen mexican limes get quite that bright yellow.  Fruit shape looks like meyer lemon also.

120
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Newbie question - yield and tree size
« on: January 14, 2017, 02:46:24 PM »
It seems very easy to end up with far too many lemons and limes.  Also good to think about getting multiple varieties or ones known to hold on the tree well, as the sweet citrus tend to all ripen at the same time so if you don't use the whole crop quickly they go bad. 

Right now I have dozen kumquat trees with fruit I can just barely eat it all.  Once they get larger I'll have to start giving some away.

121
Citrus General Discussion / Re: new greenhouse planning
« on: December 28, 2016, 11:45:12 AM »
I got about 80% done the concrete forms before it got too cold to work outside  :-(   

I am now stuck waiting until spring to resume.   All my trees will have to remain in the old garage-attic-greenhouse at my old place until then. 



122
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Another myth...
« on: December 16, 2016, 02:20:56 PM »
Not bad at all! 

123
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Another myth...
« on: December 16, 2016, 11:58:16 AM »
Nice to see you again, Laaz!

Changshou/Fukushu is my favorite citrus.  Nice to see a full grown one.  How long did it take to reach first fruit from seed?

124
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Refrigerating citrus?
« on: November 21, 2016, 11:31:23 AM »
I've always refrigerated mine.  I think it tastes better cold.

125
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Giant Key Lime
« on: November 09, 2016, 03:47:08 PM »
I expect I will do something similar... as I run out of space I will consolidate lemons and limes down to likely one Eureka and one Persian on the eaves of the greenhouse (5 1/2 ft tall).  Having too much fruit is a problem I look forward to having.

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