Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus

Thomasville v. Morton?

<< < (2/6) > >>

tedburn:
Hello Mikkel and Poncirusguy,
I have a Thomasville in ground in Northern Italy and in Germany zone 7 and I have to confirm that Thomasville is very attractive concerning frosthardiness in Germany, because it survived ,- 15 ° C during 4 consecutive frost days and concerning the fruit, I harvested in March in Italy a fruit which I found one of the best tastes of my citrus plants, it tasted a mix of Pomelo and Orange, very delicious.
@ Poncirusguy, yes Fukushu isbalso very delicious with other taste, I have both and like the tadte of both.

Florian:
I also enjoy Thomasville, it is sweet when fully ripe. Haven't tried Morton.

manfromyard:

--- Quote from: jim VH on November 14, 2022, 12:31:09 PM ---Hi Bussone,

     I have both Morton Citrange and Thomasville Citrangequat, both on Flying Dragon rootstock.  Both are about eight feet tall.  They are two completely different animals.  (Animals?  Well, they both do have a bit of a bite to them.) 
     The Morton Citrange is a 50-50 hybrid of an orange and a Poncirus Trifoliate and has large orange sized fruit that typically ripens in late November, here in my short growing season location.  It tastes like an orange, with an off-flavor I don't enjoy at all.  But that's subjective; a local board member loves them and comes to get them in December.  It bears relatively heavily; I get fifteen pounds or more, most years.
     The Thomasville Citrangequat is a cross between a Citrange and a kumquat.  It has kumquat  sized fruit that can be harvested green in November, here.  The flavor is like a Key Lime–a lime flavor with a touch of bitter–which I enjoy and use in a number of culinary applications.  It's rather shy bearing; I typically get less than five pounds.
     The Morton Citrange is much hardier than the Thomasville Citrangequat.  A two week arctic blast in January 2017, with one low near 8F, caused extensive small twig damage to the Thomasville; the Morton Citrange snickered at the cold and had no discernable damage.  Based on this, I'd guess that the Morton could survive down to Zero Fahrenheit, or maybe a bit lower, making it a zone 7 plant, whereas as the Thomasville is more of a zone 8 plant.  Although, being in Pennsylvania, your arctic weather events would last much longer than mine, based on my experience in living in Michigan for thirteen years, so that may have a bearing on survivability of the Morton in your location.  The Thomasville wouldn't survive at all in your location, without protection.
     Hope this helps,

Jim

--- End quote ---

I'm shocked that it's a shy bearer for you. That has to be  a heat thing. I've frozen ice cube trays full, made pies, used the acid for jams and jellies, given bags away and I feel like I've barely made a dent this year. And this is normal production for me. I'm seriously concerned that the plant is pulling nutrients out. I will be cutting some branches off and grafting to some other varieties in the spring. My Meyer lemon comes close, but it takes years off..

I planted mine when we were still 7b in an unsheltered location, and it did great..

manfromyard:
Taste wise, I think the Citrangequat is pretty good. I also have a Sudachi because I thought it would taste better, but that's not the case. The Citrangequat has larger fruit, is a better producer, starts earlier and basically has fruit on it from Late June till January most years if Frost doesn't take the fruit. The only minus is that the Zest really doesn't have that many applications. My family also preferred the  Thomasvile as the Sudachi has a mandarin/orange undertone.

A little zest in pies works fine, but I haven't figured anything else out. I'll try some marmalade this year since they look like I'll have some ripe ones before the hard frost..

All the citranges I have tried have that trifoliate funk at the end.

jim VH:
Hi manfromyard,

     Thanks for pointing that out about the heat; I do believe you hit the nail on the head.  Here at my location in the occasionally frozen north, I only have 2000 growing degree days, whereas most areas in the citrus belt have roughly twice that or more; even parts of Colorado have more than we do.  When I thought about it, I realize that the Thomasville has never had a very heavy bloom, unlike the rest of my citrus, which may well be due to the 50% kumquat ancestry.  Kumquats, if I recall correctly, require significantly more heat than most other citrus and our lack of it may be the reason for the light bloom.

Jim

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page