F2 citrange winter hardiness trial

[BorisR]

  Yes, the plant that has been confirmed to be Tetraploid has had frequent twin spines.

Understood. Thanks.

[kumin]

Conestoga 026 seedlings showing little to no variation. Clearly the majority are nucellar seedlings.


5 Star seedlings, there are likely some zygotic seedlings present.

[kumin]

A few of the Conestoga selections have flowered and set fruit this Spring. Hopefully the fruitlets will persist until maturity. Some of the flowers were pollinated by Bishop Citrandarin pollen. Others were pollinated by Meyer lemon and 5* Citrumelo pollen.

[kumin]

A few of the Conestoga selections have flowered and set fruit this Spring. Hopefully the fruitlets will persist until maturity. Some of the flowers were pollinated by Bishop pollen. Others were pollinated by Meyer lemon and 5* Citrumelo pollen



Conestoga 010 fruitlets.

Conestoga 006 fruitlet.

[Perplexed]

Exciting crosses. You should make a website or something and post everything honestly

[kumin]

A few examples of zygotic 5* seedlings:
Including monofoliate individuals.

[Ilya11]

First four leaves of nucellar 5star seedlings are often monofoliate.

[kumin]

Thanks Ilya, I'll continue to observe the seedlings.

[kumin]

I've just discovered an additional 5 year old seedling tree with 10 fruitlets. These are the first fruits for this tree. I'm not totally certain if this is a zygotic sibling to the remainder of the cold hardy test survivors, or Tag along C-35 that survived via a root graft to a hardy selection that subsequently died.
This tree's in the Cold frame/tunnel and has avoided the harshest cold winds.
The fruitlets show little, or no fuzziness exhibited by Poncirus and some of its hybrids.

[kumin]

The supposed C-35 fruits continue to grow larger.

[David Kipps]

Kumin:  Are you now assuming F1 clone, as opposed to F2 zygotic?
How are these fruits comparing in size to pure Poncirus of same age?

[kumin]

The fruits differ quite a bit. Poncirus fruits on very short stalks, perhaps a bit like Peach. These have longer stalks a bit more like Plums. There's minimal, if any, pubescence on the fruit. Initially, the fruit were smaller than Poncirus, due to later bloom. At this point they are about equal in size, but likely to soon surpass Poncirus.

My assumption is that they're carbon copies of the c-35 parent, but I have no proof of it. 

[kumin]

Recent photos of various seedlings, grafted trees and fruits:

This tree may be a C-35 seedling. It's got approximately 10 fruits at 5 years of age. The fruits are 2" (5cm) in diameter.

1279 Citrandarin fruits are rather small.



First fruits on Conestoga 006.

Poncirus Plus fruits.


First fruits on Conestoga 021.

First 010 fruits.


Grafted Bishop Citrandarin



Grafted Dragon Lime


Grafted Conestoga 067


Grafted Flying Dragon with fruit


Grafted 5 Star Citrumelo


Grafted Thomasville Citrangequat





Grafted Citremon



1282 Citrandarin foliage


1281 Citrandarin foliage


More Flying Dragon fruits.

[Walt]

Thanks for sharing.  You are making progress.

[kumin]

Walt, my "Holy Grail" would be a zygotic Conestoga series tree. This would allow for the production of hybrids between a subzero hardy parent and the other parent being Morton Citrange, Thomasville Citrangequat, etc. Bishop Citrandarin has a percentage of zygotic seedlings, but most appear to be rather weak.

[David Kipps]

Am curious on your F2s that have fruited: What ratio of peeling surfaces are completely smooth and shiny, versus, slightly fuzzy inherited from the poncirus?

[kumin]

To this point most have a lighter pubescence than Poncirus, but all have at least a faint fuzziness. The supposed C-35 has less, if any pubescence.

[bussone]

To this point most have a lighter pubescence than Poncirus, but all have at least a faint fuzziness. The supposed C-35 has less, if any pubescence.

I don't know the value of the observation, but it's interesting to observe that some pomelos are fuzzy and some of the Australian limes also present the off-flavored rind oil vesicles that poncirus has.

[Walt]

Every observation is of value.

[gordonh1]

Kumin kindly shared a few cuttings of some his Conestoga series material recently, and I wanted to report on the attempts to root them. I started the cuttings a month ago, placed in a peat/perlite mix (sterile seed starting mix) in pots in a nursery tray, covered with plastic lid, and placed on a heat mat attached to a thermostat set to 80 F (26.7 C).  The pots were kept mostly moist and humid, but this wasn't perfect - there was some varying degree of drying between waterings.

Cuttings were dipped in rooting hormone and some of the green outer layer was stripped off with a sharp knife to increase the surface area exposed to soil.

Doing a tug test, some of the cuttings resisted the tug, indicating rooting, and a few others had not rooted and indeed, I pulled one out to examine it and confirm no rooting. One of the Conestoga 026 is putting on new growth! Others are showing a little bid of bud development.





The photos don't show enough of the tags to identify each one, but the flat includes Conestoga 006, 010, 011, 026 and 128.

[mikkel]

Walt, my "Holy Grail" would be a zygotic Conestoga series tree.

In my experience, pollination by Ichang Papeda often resulted in zygotic seeds. even in otherwise nucellar varieties. (But this is only anecdotal and not confirmed!).

[kumin]

Meyer lemon x Conestoga 026 zygotic seedlings. Despite 026 having exclusively trifoliate leaves its backcross to Citrus exhibits monofoliate, bifoliate and trifoliate leaves among its progeny. Quite a few of the seedlings have mixed leaf types.
Although the seedlings may not be hardy to subzero temperatures like its pollen parent, some should exceed the hardiness of Meyer.

[a_Vivaldi]

With the mix of Meyer lemon and poncirus hybrid, I'd bet those leaves smell really interesting when crushed.

[kumin]

Upon your suggestion I tasted several leaves I detected Poncirus like taste on one, Meyer like on another, but also some unique flavors that were neither of the two. One in particular reminded me of Kaffir Lime leaf taste but less intense. Perhaps some might show promise for their leaf flavors?

[a_Vivaldi]

Oh that's cool, I'd have just expected one parent, the other, or a mix. I think Ilya uses taste as a predictor of flavor, right? This bodes well, hopefully you'll get fruit off that one reasonably soon.