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Messages - a_Vivaldi

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1
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / WTB Rubus glaucus plants
« on: March 10, 2026, 09:35:07 PM »
Hello all,

I'm on the hunt for some plants, rather than seed, of Rubus glaucus, mora de castilla. Anyone have any available or could in the near-ish future? I can pay or trade, I've got Mysore, PAF, Tayberry, Dormanred, Bababerry, and potentially Kiowa x Sweetie Pie seedlings I can trade.

2
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: The Citrus I have
« on: March 03, 2026, 09:03:19 AM »
Isn't shunkokan supposed to be sweet?

3
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / Re: Wtb honey crisp seeds
« on: February 19, 2026, 01:07:54 PM »
Isn't it seedless?

4
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Sweet Limes and Lemons
« on: February 03, 2026, 08:31:08 AM »
Thanks! I bought a tree last year but wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Hopefully, it fruits this year (if it's still alive, it's under protection right now because we've been having a horrible cold spell and winter storms). Is the flavor mostly orange-like or its own thing?

5
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Sweet Limes and Lemons
« on: February 02, 2026, 09:34:00 PM »
Quote from: JSea on February 02, 2026, 09:15:39 PM

Well where I live isn't quite perfect, and we have our challenges such as low Summer heat, e.g. we can't really ripen true grapefruits or pomelos here

On a related note: have you grown New Zealand Grapefruit/Poorman Orange? What does it taste like?

6
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / Re: For sale: Fresh Dunstan Citrumelo Seeds
« on: December 11, 2025, 10:24:48 PM »
Quote from: LagoCidra on December 08, 2025, 01:51:01 PM
Hi - I'd love to buy some seeds if you still have them available.  I would be 100 or more if you could give me some kind of discount like 25% off.

Thanks,

Doug

I have approximately 350 seeds left. That would've been $175 for all but I'll discount for bulk so let's just say $60 for all. PM me if this sounds good to you.

7
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / Re: For sale: Fresh Dunstan Citrumelo Seeds
« on: December 09, 2025, 10:19:57 AM »
Sure, let me count how many I've got.

I'm not sure how quickly mail will get to you in PR, I might partially dry the seeds so they don't mold.

8
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Thoughts on oryzalin experiments especially with precocious plants
« on: November 15, 2025, 07:18:35 PM »
I don't know about in the other plans but I'm Passiflora tetraploidy is useful. The flowers tend to be larger and the stems and leaves are more robust. The fruit I don't think are any bigger but it's possible the arils are a little bigger and so are more juicy.

The biggest benefit though is better fertility, especially with hybrids. Unlike Citrus, Passiflora is often not so tolerant of crosses, with high rates is partial or complete sterility in hybrids. Tetraploid hybrids are usually not as bad for infertility.

I myself recently treated some seedlings, not sure yet if the treatment worked.

9
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / Re: For sale: Fresh Dunstan Citrumelo Seeds
« on: November 14, 2025, 08:18:54 PM »






Not my tree but one growing in NC in zone 7b. Planted in 2009, about 25-30 ft tall now.


10
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / For sale: Fresh Dunstan Citrumelo Seeds
« on: November 14, 2025, 08:12:45 PM »
Hi all,

I've a decent quantity of Dunstan Citrumelo seed available from fruit I picked this week. I expect about one or two hundred seeds in total.

Free shipping, 50¢ per seed, minimum of $10. PM me.

Seeds will be shipped straight after cleaning and packaged in a slightly moist paper towels, sealed in a plastic bag, and wrapped in bubble wrap, they should arrive undamaged and fully viable. Paper towels will be treated with a very dilute bleach solution to prevent mold.

Sorry, no shipping to California, Florida, or Texas as my understanding is it's illegal.

Dunstan is a large, fairly vigorous tree, a trifoliate x white grapefruit cross. Seedlings are hardy to lower teens, established trees are hardy to around 0 F. Fruit are the size of medium grapefruit, ripen later Oct-Nov in NC, moderately seedy for a hybrid, and have a grapefruit/lemon flavor with some orange and trifoliate notes. Somewhat tart to sweet-tart depending on ripeness. Very juicy. IMHO a top five trifoliate hybrid.

11
Citrus Buy, Sell, & Trade / Re: Selling Japanese and Chinese citrus varieties
« on: October 21, 2025, 04:17:28 PM »
Quote from: Luisport on October 17, 2025, 07:27:18 AM
Hello everyone! Im anouncing that me and my chinese partner we are selling Japanese and Chinese citrus varieties. They are true and not from seed. For any informations please contact me.
Best regards for everyone!

Hi Luis!

I'm very sorry to have to say this, but what you are planning is illegal both in the US and in the EU. There are very harsh fines and the authorities will shut down your business when they find out about these citrus imports.

Please do not attempt it, the authorities are very strict and you will get in a lot of legal trouble.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Passiflora for sleep
« on: October 14, 2025, 11:25:49 AM »
I'll start by saying I don't want to scare you, I want you to have an objective view of what is safe and not safe and the degree to which the risks are known and not known so that you can make an informed decision on your own.

Passiflora incarnata flowers are what is used for sleep aid supplements. Only the flower and only this species are proven to not pose a risk of cyanide poisoning.

Some people use the leaves of Passiflora incarnata as well. However, doing has resulted in cases of cyanide poisoning: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10696928/ As for any other species of Passiflora, I personally would not consume any part except the ripe fruit. The literature shows mixed results if you look into if other species are toxic and what parts of the plants are or aren't, but it's not especially well-studied and there are a preponderance of studies saying other species are dangerous, even the flowers. Suffice it to say, only P. incarnata is known to be safe and only the flowers, not the stems, leaves, or roots. Maybe someone online ate some and was fine. Ok, lucky them, just remember that the dose makes the poison and there is not much way of knowing how much cyanide you've consumed until you start foaming at the mouth and go into paralysis and cardiac attack. Why push your luck when you can just limit yourself to the flowers of Passiflora incarnata and be 100% every time?

The ripe fruit is safe. The flowers of P. incarnata is safe. Anything else is dangerous.

Of course, that's just in regards to cyanide poisoning. The active chemicals in Passiflora are drugs after all, so there's always the possibility of drug interactions. If you're taking other drugs, either prescription or without medical supervision, then taking P. incarnata flowers poses additional risks. Not saying that you'll die, just that you should be aware that you're putting yourself at risk to some extent or other. And of course, don't over do it. MAOI inhibitors are good sleep aids, but it's entirely possible to overdose, and the effects ain't fun. There are no studies on how much or how long a duration of usage might be risky, so just use your best judgement.

If you're not taking any other drugs and you limit yourself to non-habitual and just reasonable amounts of P. incarnata flowers, then it should be completely risk free.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical raspberries
« on: October 05, 2025, 10:08:07 PM »
Rubus can be hard to germinate, and tropical rubus seeds are probably going to be old from most sources since it's a low volume thing.

Pretty much all Rubus species do need cold stratification and and some scarification. Scarification can be done with sandpaper, hydrogen peroxide, battery acid, vinegar, etc., lots of different methods, I don't have any experience in which one is best. At least a few weeks of cold stratification is better than nothing.

Then wait.

The Rubus I've germinated have taken a few weeks to a few months. It takes a while.

14
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: Redomestication of Cold-Resistant Bananas
« on: October 01, 2025, 10:28:03 PM »
Quote from: David Kipps on October 01, 2025, 09:40:53 PM
Does M. velutina possess the trait of being able to develop fruit in the absence of pollination?  If you made a triploid version of it, would it grow seedless fruit, or not grow fruit at all?

That I don't know.

It might be the case that you'd actually have to do some really complex breeding to bring over multiple traits from commercial type bananas into hybrids with M. velutina and then somehow try to segregate out the useful traits of both, if that's even possible. Or maybe M. velutina has most of the traits already and just needs a little tweak here and there and a triploid version for seedlessness, dunno. I used to lurk over at bananas.org and I roughly recall the species being discussed over there, but I don't remember any of the details.

I briefly considered trying to research and start a M. velutina breeding project, but I shelved the idea to focus on citrus and rubus, and because my wife thinks banana plants are gaudy looking and ugly haha

15
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: what are some tropical fruits for zone 8?
« on: October 01, 2025, 02:29:21 PM »
Quote from: Veitalise on August 23, 2025, 03:00:28 PM
I live in Zone 8 and want to know what kind of tropical fruit are good to plant :). if you know some, let me know. Also if you have some seeds that fit my zone I might have interest in them ;D.

Unfortunately, you're in zone 8 in Germany rather than zone 8 in Japan or the US South.

That will make almost all tropicals and subtropicals much harder to grow. On the bright side, it does make growing far southern hemisphere plants easier. There are a lot of zone 8 plants from Chile, Australia, and New Zealand that hate hot weather that people like me in a subtropical zone 8 can't grow, but someone like you in a maritime zone 8 can grow. Luma, monkey puzzle, guava berry, various Tasmanian and NZ species, and perhaps some PNW plants as well. And of course pineapple guava, fuchsias, and some tree fern species will probably do well in your climate also.

But things like true guavas, passion fruit, citrus, bananas etc. are probably going to be harder to grow and ripen even with the hardy varieties. Piera loquat would be an exception because of its unusual bloom period, you might want to look into that one.

16
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: Redomestication of Cold-Resistant Bananas
« on: October 01, 2025, 02:11:20 PM »
Quote from: Lauta_hibrid on September 21, 2025, 04:56:07 PM
I don't know which is more resistant, M. basjoo, M. velutina, or M. sikimensis... Have you ever compared them? My project is based on what I have here in my country. If anyone wants to send me seeds, they're welcome. I'll see if I can get my hands on some M. basjoo; I think a collector here has some. But you also have to keep in mind that flowering must be rapid, and velutina already gives me that characteristic.

Musa basjoo is, by far, the most cold hardy if that's what you are asking. But it does not usually flower and fruit in colder zones.

M. velutina is much less hardy, but it can flower and fruit in colder, shorter seasons than basjoo normally can, and is much more reliable at fruiting and ripening. I think M. sikimensis is variable and depends a lot on the cultivar, but regardless it's not as reliable as either of the other two.

M. veluntina is probably the only one that realistically could be bred for producing cold hardy edible banana. But even then it's going to be a lot of work. Odd ploidy could be used for seedlessness, sure, but M. velutina also has the issue that the fruit will split open when ripe which is not a desirable trait.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: September 02, 2025, 09:14:55 PM »
Quote from: gardenGnostic on September 02, 2025, 01:55:53 PM
Quote from: K-Rimes on September 02, 2025, 01:27:29 PM
The small yellow guavas are probably lemon guava, which is an offshot of strawberry guava - both psidium cattelianum.

If you find "tropical guava" aka psidium guajava with white flesh inside, with a real sweet flavor you might have Mexican Cream, but it is kind of unlikely.

The small yellow guavas you can get from grocery stores where I live are always white flesh tropical guavas that are very sweet. Chewy and crunchy varieties show up sometimes but usually the little yellow ones are the only kind you can get?
I've never seen lemon guavas available before.

We have the same in stores here, especially Wal Mart and Tropicana.

I grow lemon guava, and the ones at the store are not lemon guava. They have the typical "guava" flavor, are fairly sweet with little to no tartness, some astringency, very hard seeds, and a soft, somewhat mealy texture like a European pear, not at all the succulent, juicy texture and moderately soft, small seeds of lemon guava.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: August 30, 2025, 09:24:01 AM »
Quote from: Anto989 on August 29, 2025, 06:19:30 AM
as far as you know guys, are there psidium ripening in july-august? I grow guajava,cattleianum,robustum,longipetiolatum in Italy but they start ripening in september

My cattleianum often ripen in late summer, or earlier if I give them a head start in the spring and we get a hot, rainy summer. But I'm in a cold winter climate which I think triggers blooming as soon as spring warms up. In Italy they might behave different.

No fruit from robustum or longipetiolatum yet, can't comment on how they behave.


Mid August for this one.

19
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Pigmented Trifoliate Cross
« on: August 30, 2025, 09:11:19 AM »
I wonder what the odds where with that seeding? Cara Cara rarely has seeds at all, let alone viable ones. And this one ended up being a zygotic seed. And it just so happened to be pollinated by a citrange of some kind.

20
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Pigmented Trifoliate Cross
« on: August 29, 2025, 08:31:24 PM »
That's awesome! How old is the cara cara seedling?

21
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: very old trifoliate, maybe poncirus
« on: August 27, 2025, 12:26:49 PM »
Quote from: BP on August 27, 2025, 10:56:03 AM
Quote from: SoCal2warm on August 27, 2025, 01:05:21 AM
I want to quickly point out that I believe Poncirus grows slower in the PNW climate (due to the growing season that has a shorter span of heat).
For this reason, BP's and jim VH's observations may not be the most relevant to the situation in Indiana, which despite the much more bitter cold, nevertheless has a longer growing season for citrus. I think it likely that Poncirus may grow much faster in Indiana, if it can survive the winters.

My personal observations in the PNW is that Flying Dragon and most Poncirus hybrids are extremely slow growing (even slower than other non-Poncirus hardy citrus varieties).

Yea its tough out here, I think this explains it somewhat but I am always learning more, we just dont have the juice up here that other places have


The solar map doesn't fully capture just how stark the difference in heat and moisture is.




The entire South gets as much heat as the infamously hot Central Valley, all the while getting more rain than almost anywhere in the country outside of the PNW.

22
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Pigmented Trifoliate Cross
« on: August 27, 2025, 09:43:22 AM »
If some of my partially zygotic trifoliate crosses bloom enough this coming spring I might try some crosses with Amoa-8 or with an unlabeled blood orange.

23
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: PT-plusXValentine cross
« on: August 21, 2025, 09:58:26 PM »
Those are looking good and healthy!

One of those grapes in the background look to have leaves like some of the American species. What variety is that?

24
Cold Hardy Citrus / US-852 seedlings in Greenville NC
« on: August 13, 2025, 10:36:42 PM »
I was trying to find a good thread to put this under but none of the existing US-852 threads seemed appropriate so I'll just start a new one.

I have some very interesting changes on some US-852 seedlings I planted a year and a half ago.

Initially, both were highly dwarfed and had really strange looking trifoliate leaves. One was tiny and very dense, the other one had whispy, long, thin leaves.

The whispy one is growing slowly still and has proven a favorite of the grasshoppers unfortunately.



Now the dense one is suddenly after a year of almost no growth sending up two water sprouts–with monofoliate leaves! Usually it’s the other way around where slow growth is monofoliate and fast growth is trifoliate. I'm honestly a bit confused by this plant. Will it revert to dense trifoliate growth when it slows down again? Did I get a really weird bud mutation?







If I get time I’ll graft some material from these up on some vigorous rootstock to hopefully get them going a little faster. It’s somewhat late in the year to be grafting through as new grafts tend to be winter tender.

Additionally, I tasted the leaves to see if they had much bitterness or skunky flavors or whatnot and... they're mostly tasteless. Which is also weird. The only other really mild tasting citrus leaves I've had were from the JC Raulston Ichang Papeda. I'm thinking it might just be because the plant, while pretty old, is still very much a juvenile seedling. I'll keep an eye on it. I meant to taste the whispy seedling but haven't yet.

There's a third off type seedling from the same batch but it has mostly normal leaves. It's just painfully slow growing and very nearly died this spring. I might cull it if it doesn't do anything interesting. A fourth one is almost completely normal except for shorter then normal internodes. All the other seedlings from that batch were most likely nucellar and are just normal US-852.

The weird seedlings survived temperatures in the teens this past winter, which is nothing special for US-852. Both suffered some dieback but they were also both sickly little things in small pots so it's good they survived at all.

25
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Clementine x Thomasville 2024 in Greenville NC
« on: August 06, 2025, 11:07:08 AM »
Quote from: Solko on August 03, 2025, 02:59:58 AM
Quote from: a_Vivaldi on July 23, 2025, 10:31:37 AM

I have zero expectations of hardiness from this cross. At best, mid-teens. However, I suspect I'll get something close to 50/50 plants with zygotic seed which will make backcrossing with trifoliate hybrids easier.

Do you have a particular thought or reason to suspect these seedlings will have that percentage of seedlings that will produce zygotic seed in turn? Does Thomasville have a parent that produces zygotic seed?

My recollection is that Thomasville's female parent was one of the zygotic kumquats. I could be wrong about that though.

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