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Messages - kumin

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551
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Jackson grapefruit
« on: September 09, 2019, 03:56:15 PM »
By looking closely, it's noticeable that most of the leaves on the right plant are cupped and the stem is thorny. The plant on the left has wider leaves with little cupping, no thorns. These small details can be useful in separating mixed zygotic/nucellar populations.

Sometimes the differences can be very subtle, others are very dramatic such as segregating wide hybrid progeny. 

552
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Jackson grapefruit
« on: September 09, 2019, 06:15:25 AM »
In addition to the presence of thorns on the one plant, the appearance of the one plant differs slightly. Perhaps it's transitional, or is one of the two zygotic?

553
The healthy, deep green foliage on the rootstock is a good sign. If both the scion and the rootstock can keep the present green color there is hope the graft may succeed.

554
I agree with Laaz regarding the undesirability of using scionwood having already pushed buds in the past.

It looks like the scion is alive at this point. My concern would be the long length of the scion in relation to the short rootstock. Eventually, the scion may grow, but the response and "push" might be sooner and more dramatic on a shorter scion with 2 buds or so. I don't know if there is any point in shortening it now.

As an aside, a cardinal rule in pruning is to not leave stubs, but rather to cut as close to the main branch as possible, but not to the point where the branch being pruned diameter begins to become larger. (Do not remove the collar where a branch enlarges at point of attachment to main branch or trunk).

555
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Insect Free Tree
« on: September 04, 2019, 08:08:39 PM »
Seawalnut, your label is a good reminder that Romanian is a Romance language, rather than a Slavic language.

556
Citrus General Discussion / Re: 7 on 1 inverted bud grafts
« on: August 31, 2019, 04:33:25 AM »
All 7 were bud grafted at the same time. Any graft compatible scion (bud) could have been used. Since this plant was specifically prepared for a colleague, the recipient will have to force the remaining 2 buds. When multi- grafting cultivars with disparity in vigor, the scions need to be managed to prevent the more vigorous ones from dominating and crowding out the slower growing scions.

557
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Trifoliata Seedling Questions
« on: August 31, 2019, 04:18:22 AM »
These seedlings are older than the newly germinated ones and are in the process of lignification. Even some annual plants lignify to a certain extent as they age.

558
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Trifoliata Seedling Questions
« on: August 30, 2019, 07:47:09 PM »
If the seedlings you dug and replanted were barerooted they will go through a period of adaptation known as "transplanting shock". As they are very small this period should be quite short. Once adapted, they should flush and might surpass the growth on your plants grown from seed.The transplanting shock is much more severe for older, larger plants. I've had bigger trees go 5-6 weeks to bounce back from a state of wilted leaves that appeared to be certain death. After reducing the leaf area dramatically, they recovered and are now growing healthily.

559
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Butterflies...
« on: August 30, 2019, 02:17:59 PM »
The Spotted Lanternfly is apparently not able to suck plant sap forcefully. It selects a position on the stem at a certain distance from the growing tip. It then pierces the epidermis in the location where the stem is under positive sap pressure allowing the insect to freely drink the sap. Under heavy feeding the end of the stem will show wilting do to loss of turgor.

560
Citrus General Discussion / 7 on 1 inverted bud grafts
« on: August 29, 2019, 12:22:41 PM »
Here is a photo of a bud graft of 7 individual scions onto 1 Poncirus rootstock. All 7 buds "took", and 4 quickly pushed new growth. A 5th bud began to push in the last week. 2 buds remain dormant at this time. They were budded using inverted T-buds. I had done several hundred T-buds in the past, mostly on Prunus cultivars. These were the first inverted T-buds I did and they did great.



561
Follow up photos as these grafts have developed further. I'm pleased with most of the scions' growth. Next concern is getting the new growth to harden off for winter. The grafts made lower on the Poncirus rootstock appear to have grown more than the grafts placed higher. I don't know if this is only a temporary response or not.







562
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: F2 citrange winter hardiness trial
« on: August 28, 2019, 07:28:00 PM »
Many of the F2 Segentrange back ups have made good growth after being bark flap grafted onto Poncirus. These are smaller plants than the original survivors which have been field planted in preparation for winter. The plants are numbered and are labeled "Conestoga" a local river named for a Native American group that inhabited the area in the past. Early Swiss - German settlers subsequently carried the name to Ontario, Canada during the 1830's and named a river and town the same, albeit spelled the name slightly differently at times.

This scion made excellent growth in a short time.



Conestoga #011 Deciduous



Conestoga #010 Deciduous



Conestoga #021



Conestoga #024



Conestoga #058 Monofoliate evergreen, this plant has pleasantly scented aromatic leaves when bruised.


563
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: F2 citrange winter hardiness trial
« on: August 27, 2019, 10:43:43 AM »
This is the same tree last year. The fruit ripens every year, but not before October.




564
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: F2 citrange winter hardiness trial
« on: August 27, 2019, 08:02:26 AM »
January low temperatures had no impact on the fruitfulness of Poncirus. This tree is full of fruit as usual.


565
I would separate cold hardiness from vigor. Vigor is displayed by rate of growth as well as duration of growth expressed by number of flushes and growth per flush. Cold hardiness consists of a number of factors: A. early initiation and retention of full dormancy, B. actual tissue resistance to freezing and freeze damage. I don't see vigor as being preventative of cold damage, and may be the opposite by exposing late, immature, succulent growth to freeze damage.

Recovery from freeze damage is a different matter, and vigor may indeed assist in repairing and overcoming winter damage. Therefore I would separate resistance to cold injury from subsequent spring recovery.

Vigor is desirable, but needs to by curtailed in the latter part of the season in order to allow the plants to achieve early and sustained dormancy in preparation for winter. A major difference between zone 6b Citrus and warmer areas is that achieving and maintaining dormancy is easier in the colder climates. The bottom line is whether the 6b plants can endure the cold under full dormancy.

An other factor is the plants ability, or lack thereof, to re-establish vigorous growth in the spring in cold wet soils after winter. Some plants appear to be stunted and slow in recovery.

In regards to Poncirus vs. it's hybrids, there are hybrid plants that are genetically more vigorous, as well as many that are stunted especially in the F2 generation. I find vigorous Poncirus hybrids to easily outpace pure Poncirus in growth. This may be a contributing factor in the greater hardiness of pure Poncirus.

Of the 69 survivors (with partial intact stem) out of 3,000 zygotic F2 citranges on trial, the tendency was for mid-range to dwarfish plants to predominate. None of the very most vigorous plants were survivors, these tended to continue growing too late in the season.

I am not a grower of pure Citrus species or cultivars and can't really comment on their vigor.




566
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Yuzu Seedlings
« on: August 08, 2019, 12:40:13 PM »
Millet, Bomand, your opinion. You are US-Americans. That obviously makes a difference. And you don't know much About Japan or Europe, I guess. Have a look at https://nielsrodin.com/?lang=en

Culinary tastes and preferences can and do change over time. Many of my favorite dishes were never tasted by my grandparents. Part of the experience can be enhanced by having the food prepared by someone familiar with and knowledgeable about the ingredients. I grew up eating foods I never eat today, due to overexposure and now strongly dislike them. I love some of the local foods and dislike others.




567
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Cuttings not rooting
« on: August 03, 2019, 12:46:35 PM »
Although foliage increases the transpiration rate and adds stress, a small amount of leaf surface can increase the stems attempt to generate root tissue. When a stem has neither roots nor leaves, stored reserves are needed to get the process going. I suspect a bit of leaf surface would make the cutting both more vulnerable to desiccation and more likely to initiate roots.

This is assuming there are no leaves on your cuttings. If the cuttings have leaves, my comments have no merit.

568
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Grafting
« on: August 02, 2019, 10:18:08 PM »
Brian, it helps to clear a 4-5" section of stem free of thorns, leaves, lateral branches, etc. Also, leaving a section of the leaf petiole attached to the bud can be used as a handle. This handle can remain on the bud and will indicate the health of the bud union. Green or yellow are good indications, black and brown often indicate failure.

569
The thought process that went into this graft/budding process is that a flap of bark loosened from the stem will heal back to the stem if immediately securely fastened to the stem. By inserting a thin scion with the cambium exposed on both sides, it will also be included in the healing tissues. When I initially started Citrus breeding decades ago, it was my only method of graftage.

570
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Grafting
« on: August 02, 2019, 07:25:08 AM »
I have success with a bark flap graft when the bark is slipping. These are done under active growing conditions and heals quite rapidly.
The process combines elements of budding and grafting. It's success is likely due to extensive cambium contact on both surfaces of the small diameter scion. I find Citrus as easy to graft as the pome fruits, certainly easier than persimmon.






571
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Flying Dragon Seedlings
« on: July 30, 2019, 06:44:55 PM »
Will2358, "rootstock" is a term used in the process of grafting. In grafting 2 or more plant parts in the creation of a grafted plant, rootstock refers to the lowest part of such a plant. It constitutes of the roots and the lower stem up to the point of meeting the scion, or interstem in a 3-part graft. In the process of grafting, the upper parts of the plant serving as the rootstock are sacrificed and removed. The scion portion of the completed graft determines most of the fruit characteristics, although the rootstock has a impact on hardiness, brix content, ripening, and other qualities influencing the fruit.

A plant  technically becomes a rootstock only when used for grafting purposes.

572
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Pruning Poncirus for root stocks
« on: July 26, 2019, 04:18:02 PM »
Walt, I suggest for rootstock purposes, to attempt to get a straight section of trunk with as few crooks as possible. If a rootstock is very crooked and contorted I cut the stem off directly above a vigorous sucker on the lower trunk.
I am attaching a photo of a plant that was branched and crooked this spring. I cut it off above a vigorous shoot in spring and it developed a nice straight stem.

I would prune any Poncirus destined for fruiting very minimally especially in regards to topping the trees.


573
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Winter twig die back.
« on: July 26, 2019, 04:03:54 PM »
Walt, are you finding the dieback in the most vigorous seedlings? I saw considerable dieback due to winter cold on the most vigorous, succulent shoots. A few trees haven't made new growth past last winter's dieback at this point.

574
Citrus General Discussion / Re: "Perfect" citrus fertilizer.
« on: July 26, 2019, 12:30:38 PM »
Soils vary greatly in available nutrients, therefore many growers will run soil tests to determine the baseline nutritional profile. Another factor is the seasonal nutritional needs for the plants/crop being considered. There is little point in overfeeding a nutrient that's in adequate or excess availability. Once the deficient nutrients have been identified, seasonal maintenance becomes important. Nutrients lost to leaching, adsorption by plants, etc. need to be replaced for optimal growth.

575
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: F2 citrange winter hardiness trial
« on: July 24, 2019, 07:43:41 AM »
Mikkel, I don't have backups for all the survivors at this point. I have multiple backups for the best survivors. My intention is to have a lot of flowers blooming for open cross-pollination as well as controlled pollination. The protection I reference is planting in ground, but within a structure that can be covered and insulated against record low temperatures. I find that nutritional needs are met more naturally in open soil. However, I want to maintain some control over extreme temperatures and precipitation. I selected the best drained location on the property and will begin planting very shortly, so the roots can establish before winter.

The trees won't be protected until December so the cold will remain steady until spring. In the event that there's an unusually warm period in the winter, the heat must be vented outdoors. The intent is not to provide warmth during winter, rather to protect during sub-zero temperatures.

In regards to soil fertility, this region of Pennsylvania has soils that range from mediocre to very fertile, with the limestone soils being especially fertile. The greatest challenge on my property is drainage, rather than fertility, due to the clay content in the soil.

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