The Tropical Fruit Forum

The website has pretty good info: http://citrus.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=8229&highlight=rootmaker&mforum=citrus

I ordered the 100ft roll from a hydroponics website and repotted all of my trees in them.  100ft should make around 25-30 1ft-diameter pots which are about the size of a 5-gallon nursery pot, maybe larger.  I zip tie sturdy landscape fabric to the bottom after assemblind the pots because I move them around a lot, but it seems once the roots take hold you don't even need a bottom. 




They are fairly expensive, I think I paid around $350 for the roll.  I'm not sure how much normal pots cost because all of mine were from other purchased orchard trees that I saved, I've never actually paid for pots aside from these so who knows.  They are sturdy and reusable and once the trees outgrow the assembled pots it looks like you can just join two pieces together to make a larger one.

They sell individual pots of all sizes but I've never tried them. 

I have to say I'm really sold on these.  Millet sent me a sample last year and it clearly fixes the circling root problem.  Thanks again, Millet.

# This is a moro blood orange on unknown rootstock from Home Depot.

Here is the tree last summer as purchased:



And today:

I just received a tree from them and it was exactly as advertised.  Details here: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=10129.msg133620#msg133620

I ordered direct from the lemontreecitrus.com site, not through Amazon.  Maybe the florida recall incidents were just a supplier issue after all.  My tree appears to have shipped from Lousiana, according to the tracking info.

I finally got a hold of Ruth at Harris Citrus on a number that an employee gave me.  She said they have Xie Shan grafted but they won't be ready for sale until July-August. 

Also, my Nippon Orangequat should be arriving from Lemoncitrustree.com some time today.  According to the shipment tracking it came from New Orleans, LA.  I'll post a picture when I get it.

They've definitely had plenty of water since they arrived.  I'm wondering if either they dried out too much during shipping, or if the <55F temps we've been having the past few days are preventing the roots from hydrating the rest of the plan.  I've seen this before but it never lasted more than a day or two and I'm going on five days now...

Ah.  It sounds interesting but I would want to see side-by-side proof before I do the additional work.  The more trees I have the lazier I need to be!  This sounds like an easy experiment to run on two trays of seedlings, though.

Brian ... that four winds website has Poncirus needing protection at 24°F / -4.5°C. As we all know that's not true. Couldn't link to citrustreesnola site for their info.

Cheers, Barrie.

Yeah that does sound off.  I'm sure there's better info out there.

I ended up ordering the Orangequat from the site you mentioned, I will let you know how it turns out.  Thanks for digging that up!

I also called Harris back today.  Same guy but I asked about Xie Shan and he said somebody would call me back tomorrow about it.

This site seems to have a sketchy reputation but if they are the only source I might order one from them.  I'm going to try to reach out to the only other potential seller I found (http://mckenzie-farms.com) but who knows how often the site is updated they might not actually have any.

I'm gonna sleep on it.

I bow to your superior drawing skills! 

In zone 6, I don't blame you for no in-ground citrus, but how about a persimmon tree?

I've tried them twice from the grocery store and both times I didn't like them.  Skin is a bit too chewy, inside too squishy.  Too sweet, not tart enough.  Also I read they can cause intestinal blockages because of some persimmon-specific phenomenon I can't remember the name of.

I plan to try more varieties if I see them for sale because everybody tells me how great they are but my experience has been all bad.

Hah you do that too? 




No in-ground citrus for me, though.

Yes, gibbereilllic (GA3) acid works great.  I use it most every year, both on my citrus and grapes. Two things to consider when using GA3 acid to pollinate your citrus.  The percent of active pollination is very high, so the tree will set a LOT of fruit when sprayed with GA3.  Much more than a tree being pollinated by natural means.  Therefore, you will get many more fruit, but because of the great number, the fruit will be smaller in size.  However, if you thin the tree a little the tree will produce the normal size for the cultivar.   Use a 1 percent solution.  If you don't want to by GA3 you can use tomato and pepper set.  In most brands, the active ingredient is GA3.  To be sure, check the ingredients on the label.  Spray at full bloom.  - Millet

Thanks for the info, I will check out the sprays available locally and thin out the fruit if it gets out of hand.

I just tried these for the first time this winter and they were probably the best store-bought citrus I've had.  I happened to find a grafted tree for sale locally when I was out yesterday and bought it.  I was looking into the variety online today and read that 1) it grows large, fast 2) it may require a pollinator.  I need to keep it under 7ft tall in a greenhouse in winter and it isn't likely to be pollinated in there if it blooms in winter like the rest of my greenhouse trees did.  I read in a CGF thread that you can spray gibberellic acid on it during bloom as a substitute for pollination.  Is this as straightforward as it sounds?