I think citrus growing is an exciting area and a real passion, but it is still an exotic niche, at least for the time being, as long as there is only halfway edible fruit. That will certainly change abruptly as soon as the first hardy varieties appear.
I think after many years it's easy to understand if other things become more important at some point. Bernhard once said to me that now, with the tree care, there is finally a reliable income, something that was very reassuring. I can well understand that. Bernhardt now maintains a citrus collection (the former Fabian collection) beside the tree care where there are many of his own varieties.
Thank you Usirius for the information about Dr Frey, this is the first time I can read any information about him.
All this preparatory work by these many people brings me once again to the thought that I have been thinking about for a long time
how to deal with the possibility of an edible hardy citrus?
How can this breeding work be secured without a few, big ones, taking the credit and, above all, the financial harvest?
I experience this problem with other fruit varieties and have already had my negative experiences.
There are so many of us and an invaluable amount of preparatory work has been done without which this breakthrough would not be possible. I think it would also make sense to secure this work through open source licences in the interests of open exchange and cooperation?
https://www.opensourceseeds.org/en/breeder-informationWould this be helpful?