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Cold Hardy Citrus / Calamondin x Poncirus
« on: December 09, 2019, 01:44:58 PM »
Hello,
I just want to share with you a picture of a Calamondin X Poncirus hybrid that I created. It is slow growing but look healthy. This plant, and a very tiny sibling, were the only seedlings of that year that grew under hot summer conditions in full sun and in mostly moist loamy soil. Root development was good. No signs of root rot at all. They did not grow well in half shadow and under cool conditions. Yet, they had no root problems under these conditions, either. The last growth, as you see, was not finished before winter. That is the reason for the yellow leaves.
Here the picture of the bigger seedling:
I had a few more Calamondin x Poncirus hybrids. But not all survived. Some germinated readily but grew only to the point when all nutritients from the seed were consumed. No obvious root problems. But finally they died. I suppose a genetic reason.
I am though very encouraged to try this type of cross again. Although Calamondin is highly polyembryonic I received some monoembryonic seeds and hybrid embryos from polyembryonic seeds. My pollination technics was quite superficial. I did not castrate the flowers. I did not even care that the flowers were newly opend and fresh. Bees were present all the time. But still I got a handfull hybrids from perhaps 30 fruits.
I also tried to pollinate Limquat with Poncirus. That also worked well. I had about three hybrids. But they died. The roots were too sensitive. But under different conditions I might have saved them.
Why did a do these crosses? Well, my idea was to produce something like a Citrangequat with higher Poncirus influence. I want to see to what degree Kumquat genes can suppress the bad taste of Poncirus. And I hope that my hybrids inherit from both Poncirus and Kumquat the feature that they bloom before shooting. If they do that would mean one more month for the fruits to ripe, that is one more month for fruit development before winter comes. I read it is hardly possible to cross Kumquat with Poncirus directly. So I tried Kumquat hybrids.
I just want to share with you a picture of a Calamondin X Poncirus hybrid that I created. It is slow growing but look healthy. This plant, and a very tiny sibling, were the only seedlings of that year that grew under hot summer conditions in full sun and in mostly moist loamy soil. Root development was good. No signs of root rot at all. They did not grow well in half shadow and under cool conditions. Yet, they had no root problems under these conditions, either. The last growth, as you see, was not finished before winter. That is the reason for the yellow leaves.
Here the picture of the bigger seedling:
I had a few more Calamondin x Poncirus hybrids. But not all survived. Some germinated readily but grew only to the point when all nutritients from the seed were consumed. No obvious root problems. But finally they died. I suppose a genetic reason.
I am though very encouraged to try this type of cross again. Although Calamondin is highly polyembryonic I received some monoembryonic seeds and hybrid embryos from polyembryonic seeds. My pollination technics was quite superficial. I did not castrate the flowers. I did not even care that the flowers were newly opend and fresh. Bees were present all the time. But still I got a handfull hybrids from perhaps 30 fruits.
I also tried to pollinate Limquat with Poncirus. That also worked well. I had about three hybrids. But they died. The roots were too sensitive. But under different conditions I might have saved them.
Why did a do these crosses? Well, my idea was to produce something like a Citrangequat with higher Poncirus influence. I want to see to what degree Kumquat genes can suppress the bad taste of Poncirus. And I hope that my hybrids inherit from both Poncirus and Kumquat the feature that they bloom before shooting. If they do that would mean one more month for the fruits to ripe, that is one more month for fruit development before winter comes. I read it is hardly possible to cross Kumquat with Poncirus directly. So I tried Kumquat hybrids.
