Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus

Winter bloom on indoor Ponciris.

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Walt:
My Ponciris+ is blooming.  It is indoors in a 5 gallon pot.  So why is it inside?  It should be out in the ground.  But My wife and I are moving.  It has been planned for some time so one of my Pt+ has been in a big pot for a few years.  So this is the first time it has bloomed.  So what to cross it with.  Kishu Seedless mandarin will be blooming soon, but too late to use its pollen.   And using Pt+ pollen could be saved but using it on Kishu Seedless would be a waste of time.  Hong Kong kumquat is always putting out flowers but it is said to be tetraploid so the resulting seedlings would likely be triploids of very low fertility, useless for further breeding.  Meyer lemon has buds but Meyer x Pt+ exists and more seedlings from that cross really isn't needed.
So pollen will be saved for later.  And the Pt+ will be planted in its new home as soon as spring gets here.

kumin:
Meyer lemon is fully zygotic, so there should be hundreds of new novel characteristics be waiting to be revealed. Meyer is itself a hybrid, so there should be should be great variability among its seedlings. Meyer ripens early an its seedlings won't necessarily be required to be sweet. Hybrids with Poncirus Plus can't be expected to be phenomenally hardy as they'll be 50 % Citrus, however a percentage should be predominantly zygotic potentially making them valuable as parents in further crosses.

Walt:
Folks might be wondering why this tree isn't outside.  Two summers ago the town of Ellsworth forbid washing of cars, the filling of swimming pools,  the watering of lawns and trees and some other things that use water.  Watering potted plants and vegetable gardens was still OK.  The problem is common in the drier parts of the USA.  Rights to use a certain amount of water were set during a rainy series of years, then a series of dry years happen and there isn't enough to give each group the water they were promised.   This happens in other parts of the world too.
I have the use of an acre of land outside of town and I could drill a well there.  But it is near 4 abandonded salt mines and several wells in the area give salty water. 
So possible solutions include plant a vegetable garden with trees interplanted in it, or using bath water for watering trees, or drilling a well and hoping we get lucky and don't get salty water, or find a farmer who would rent me an acre for double what it usually produces.  That last option isn't as expensive as it sounds.  But I'd need a contract for several years.  That would be hard to get.  But I'm looking for a farmer who is interested in hardy citrus.  That could happen.

Walt:
Thanks for the response Kumin.  I think I'll do that.

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