The Tropical Fruit Forum

  , 3,5 years now after planting my frosthardy citrus
I could this year now harvest first fruits from my inground
Citrus in zone 7, only passiv protected, exception Satsuma Collot
which I protected with heater below -7 ° C.


The 3 varieties, Yuzu x Citrumelo, Satsuma Collot and Sanford F2 Curafora



Yuzu x Citrumelo, nearly 40 seeds in the fruit.
Taste of the rind lemony now when ripe. Flesh medium juicy, taste lemon grapefruit mix, light bitterness, but
but not with any aftertaste. Overall not bad for a very frosthardy
Citrushybrid and a good hybrid for further breeding.

Sanford F2 Curafora, after the harvest this year, with nearly ripe
fruits End of November, now for me one of the best frosthardy citrus hybrids.
Taste, mandarin grapefruit taste, very juicy, about 10 seeds per fruit.

Satsuma Collot, very good taste, sweet, nearly no acid. Astonished that already mid/ end of November
fruits are very delicious.

This year's talks were recorded.  Some of the topics are:
Dr. Juan Carlos Melgar, Clemson U - Winners and Losers from the 2022 Christmas freeze. 
Hershell Boyd, Madison Citrus - From Zero to 200 Citrus Varieties in 2 Years. 
2023 SE Citrus Expo - Confessions of Certified Citruholics 
Many thanks to Derick Nantz for his efforts.   
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmGyHdsSsGc&list=PLz1OK2nyDTOCgLBukjR7pfXOKK5lv76Ye

Very interesting videos, thanks for sharing the link

Nice citrushybrid, seems still very rare and new.
Fruit taste seems for frosthardy hybrid good,
question is the frosthardiness of the plant ?

Interesting combination Ilya, Valentine excellent pomelo and quite early maturity,
mine  have  been excellent foer eating mid January.
So my question is are the fruits of PT plus also without poncirus taste ?
Curious how your seedlings come out ? Beginning with your hardiness tests
and leaf taste ?

Yes, I think Keraji is a good Citrusvariety for  colder regions. Mine flowered this year after 4 years in ground, but kept no fruits but she grows very fast, 2m high now.. Hope for next year.
But Keraji has late, but really delicious fruits.
Enjoy your harvest  .

Hello Ilya, congratulation to your post, very interesting and informative.
Very nice to see the success of your long time breeding project.
So your 123270 seems to be a very good result, extremely frosthardy,
tasty, not to seedy and early naturity.
Very very good, chapeau.

Finally,  , after 4 years in ground I could eat my first delicious
inground citrus fruit, Sanford Curafora, though the fruit got split it was good to eat.
Mild grapefruit and mandarin taste, very juicy.
Always thought it s only ripe and tasty in March or April, but that s not the case, inground
it get s ripe November to December  .

Hello Mike,
I only use sometimes for more protection coconut mat aroundbthe stem or young grafting area,
otherwise only one ore two layer fleece and water bottles.
For Satsuma I use the same + electric heating the few days temperature drops
below -8° C.
With straw, leaves I fear to get rot infections to the plant.
Best regards Frank

Thanks Jim, very interesting summary 

I only used cocos mat to some trunks or young grafting units to isolate.
I took this to not get condensating water to the plants.

Nice tree, could give some unteresting new frosthardy hybrids when blooming - only specification of the hybrids won ' t be possible. I also try to use my established outdoor citrus to test frosthardiness of different citrus varieties 

From 5 blooming citrus in ground keraji and HRS899a lost their fruitlets.
Sanford Curafora, Satsuma Collot and Yuzu x Citrumelo keep their fruits, at least one  .
As Yuzu x Citrumelo in the picture grows nice

Yes sure, if i get it to maturity I will report