Seedlings from Variegated Citrus Fruits

[sc4001992]

Anyone growing seeds from citrus fruits that are variegated?

I remember Laaz mentioning that most of the variegated fruits seeds will end up as albino and die and only a very few varieties will not be albino. So I decided to try and germinate as many of the variegated citrus fruits I can find this year.

I have a neat variegated Satsuma fruits that I germinated seeds and all of them (100%) germinated as albino seedlings. Very interesting that the small seedlings are still alive after a few months. There were some that started to die but half of them is still alive.

If you have any variegated citrus fruits you are growing, please take a few photos of the seedlings and post it here. I have 3-5 different seedlings starting to grow so I will post them soon..

[Rispa]

  that's really unfortunate. Do you know for sure what they are crossed with?

[sc4001992]

No, just pollinated with the other varieties nearby is my guess.

[brian]

Albino seedlings have zero chlorophyll, right?  I guess there is enough energy in the seed to feed it for months

[sc4001992]

Yes, zero. These seedlings are going on 2-3 months now, should start to die off one by one. I have other variegated seedlings which are showing some green/albino so I'm hoping some of the greener looking ones will survive. It is interesting that not all of the seedlings from variegated citrus fruits are all albino.

I have a variegated lemon which fruits a lot and the seeds from those fruits are usually green colored leaves. I have a few older seedlings, 2-3yrs but one of my largest plant died from not getting enough water.

Sometimes if you are lucky, you will get a variegated seedling, then it should not die and you will have a nice variegated tree. I'm just looking to see how many of the seeds will survive that are not pure albino colored leaves.

[pagnr]

I found a variegated lemon in a carpark, it produces a mix of normal and albino seedlings, from two or 3 seeds per fruit.
There was a method of maintaining albino seedlings by feeding sugars /carbohydrates. If you G search that you mind find the info Scientific paper.
Nucellar albinos will be no different to non albino nucellar, so maybe not worth the effort to save ?

[sc4001992]

Its the neat color of the leaves and branches. Fruit is usually worse tasting than none varietaged citrus from my experience. The variegated satsuma fruit is not that tasty, milder and not as sweet as the normal green trees as Millet would say, the fruit is insipid.

[sc4001992]

pagnr, since you asked me about my FD seedlings, I just check some now.

Guess what, I got a variegated FD seedling growing, yah !

Here's a few photos of my seedlings, and the variegated one, which I don't think will keep the variegation when it grows up more.

[mattyboydesigns]

Variegation is a genetic mutation that can be inherited maternally. Which means the female variegated flower/fruit can pass down variegation to its offspring. However when one grows seeds out they almost always come up albino with some full green. But no variegated offspring. The problem is the mutation is getting doubled causing it to be dominant which creates Albinoism. If one can pass the mutation down recessively the offspring can have a higher percentage of variegation and almost no albinos. To do this pollen(male) from a non variegated plant must be introduced to the stigma(female) of a variegated plant. The offspring from this will come out mostly green or variegated with a very low percentage of albinos. Also the green plants will still carry a bit of variegated genetics so their offspring have a higher chance for variegation as well.

[sc4001992]

Matty, how do you explain the all albino seedlings I got from the variegated satsuma fruits. I got 100% albinos, that seems unusal to me. I have other variegated citrus seeds I planted and they hardly have only some albino seedlings.

[pagnr]

Apart from genetic variegation, there is also viral variegation and fungal seedling albinism.
Viral variegation often hits only one leaf. Fungal albinism can hit new emerging seedlings. It can be hard to tell if the seedlings of variegated Citrus are genetic or Fungal albinos.
There was also a report that Pythium fungal infection can induce genetic mutation in Poncirus seedlings at emergence, causing off type, stunted seedlings.
Poncirus Williams strain was said to be resistant to this.

[Ilya11]

Matty, how do you explain the all albino seedlings I got from the variegated satsuma fruits. I got 100% albinos, that seems unusal to me. I have other variegated citrus seeds I planted and they hardly have only some albino seedlings.

As pagnr mentioned there were multiple sources of variegation in plants. The type observed in  your variegated satsuma was due to periclinal chimerism.
Basically the citrus leaves are derived from three layers of cells. One of them (L2) is mutant in this variety and does contain cells without chlorophyll.



https://chimeraav.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/HortScience-Chimeras-and-Variegation_-Patterns-of-Deceit.pdf

The cells from this layer also compose nucellus, the tissue that gives nucellar seeds most common in satsumas. That is why these  seedlings are white.
The FD partially albino seedling above is most probably due to fungal infection and finally will become completely white and will die. This is rather common in poncirus seedlings.

[sc4001992]

I also have many albino branches on some of my lemon trees. These branches don't just die like some say. My branches contnue to grow each year, also has fruits on them the ripen.

[Epiphyte]

i recently sowed some seeds from a variegated kumquat, most have germinated and they've all been albino.  one seedling seems to have a hint of green but it's probably my wishful thinking. 

last year i sowed seeds from a variegated calamansi and the seedlings were all albino. 

[Rispa]

That's pretty cool. I wonder how hard it would be to identify the fungus that's causing it in your yard. So many different plants showing it I'm suspicious of a fungus not genetic. Maybe before you sell the next set of seeds you can try cooking the soil in the oven to kill everything

[kulasa]

I also have many albino branches on some of my lemon trees. These branches don't just die like some say. My branches contnue to grow each year, also has fruits on them the ripen.

I do too on my variegated limetta. Long albino branch that just keep growing.

[sc4001992]

Did you get any fruits on your variegated limetta?

[kulasa]

Yes, I did two seasons ago.  It is fruiting right now, even the completely albino branches fruit.  I also have a variegated volkamer that I think was a seedling.  It has one flower for the first time in 5 years I have had it.

[sc4001992]

Nice. I also have a variegated volkamer and I have it in a pot for much longer, still no flowers or fruit yet. i think mine was a cutting.

[kulasa]

Nice. I also have a variegated volkamer and I have it in a pot for much longer, still no flowers or fruit yet. i think mine was a cutting.

Why do you think they are taking forever to fruit?

[sc4001992]

Don't know, it was small for the longest time, but now it started getting taller (3-4ft) so maybe it will eventually flower. I did graft it to my other larger in ground tree and those grafts are growing better so maybe it will flower first.

[sc4001992]

I have a large volkamer rootstock tree so I might graft a few on that tree since it has lots of fruits every year. I'm growing out the volkamer seeds so I can use the seedlings as rootstock for some other varieties.

[kulasa]

Don't know, it was small for the longest time, but now it started getting taller (3-4ft) so maybe it will eventually flower. I did graft it to my other larger in ground tree and those grafts are growing better so maybe it will flower first.

It does grow very slow. I didn't think of grafting a branch, I should have done that. I do not care much for variegated citrus. The variegated sanbokan is also growing pretty slow, maybe it is also due to it being grafted onto an FD?

[poncirsguy]

The variegated parts of the leaves do not produce food for the plant.  The reduces the amount of food for the same amount of living tissue.

[sc4001992]

kulsa, I have the normal green leaf Sanbokan grafted on my Bearss Lime tree and it is a vigorous variety. It always gets large fruits hanging in bunches up to 2-3 and weighs a lot for the size of the branch (grafted). Also, if you use Sanbokan as a rootstock, it works very well for other varieties that might be slow/hard to graft.

Yes, I feel the same now, I use to have all of the variegated citrus in my collection, but the uniqueness is gone. I prefer to have an excellent tasting fruit instead. The best variegated citrus I had/have is the variegated Buddha's hand, the fruits are also variegated but the graft really doesn't grow much (weak) so I'm not to happy with it. I prefer my variegated Valencia orange since it grows strong, has tons of fruits and keeps fruiting most of the year. I still have lots of ripe fruits now on my tree.