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Topics - citrange

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Cold Hardy Citrus / Grapefruit tree in UK
« on: August 10, 2025, 12:59:00 PM »
It is not often that a grapefruit tree makes it into the news bulletins in England but it has this week.
A tree in a south London street has been awarded a Tree Preservation Order and a brass plaque after a campaign by local residents.
The media are reporting that the tree was planted in 1980 by a lady from Grenada who has recently died.
Some reports are also saying that it is the only such tree in the UK, which is definitely incorrect. I have been listing outdoor citrus trees - including this one - on my website for several years. See https://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/citrusplaces/londonoutdoorcitrus.html





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Cold Hardy Citrus / Mandalo Mutation?
« on: June 03, 2025, 12:44:46 PM »
I have a Mandalo tree (also called Cocktail Grapefruit) growing in a pot here in the UK. It was grown from seed sent to me from USA at least 25 years ago. Each year It produces a few of the yellow-skinned fruit with seedy orange flesh which is typical of the Mandalo, and is the only grapefruit type citrus which produces edible fruit in the cool English climate.
About ten years ago, this tree had a damaged branch and the die-back spread down one side of the main trunk. However, a new shoot then developed just above the damaged area and its foliage was clearly different from the original tree. The leaves were thicker, darker green and often slightly crinkled with prominent veins. I grafted this shoot on to another rootstock before it also died back on the original tree.
The new grafted plant is now flowering and starting to fruit. The leaves remain as described – thick and dark green. The fruits are still small but currently look more pear-shaped than the original Mandalo.
What do you think this is? It has the characteristics of a chromosome doubled plant, but I can find few references to this happening spontaneously from a shoot.





Mike/Citrange

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Citrus General Discussion / Trifoliate flower scent?
« on: March 17, 2024, 01:40:04 PM »
I often come across references to the scent of Citrus trifoliata (=Poncirus) flowers. Sometimes they are even said to be 'highly scented'. For example, see https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/citrus-trifoliata/classid.2000048885/
I know different people's sense of smell can vary, but I can detect no fragrance at all from trifoliate flowers.
What do you think? Smell or no smell?

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Citrus General Discussion / Citrus pollination methods
« on: May 24, 2022, 02:18:48 PM »
pagnr - a member of this forum in Australia - sent me a useful pdf article about pollination of citrus to produce hybrids. It was written some years ago by Steve Sykes who developed several Australian native hybrids such as the Red Centre Lime (previously Blood lime) and the Sunrise Lime.
Title: Methods used for conducting controlled cross-pollination in Citrus
View at: http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/pdfs/Citrus%20flower%20pollination%20methods.pdf
Mike/Citrange

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Citrus General Discussion / Australian Bush Citrus postage stamps
« on: January 06, 2021, 07:35:41 AM »
As a little Christmas present to myself, i ordered a presentation pack of some Australian stamps issued in 2019.
Yes, I know it's just a way of getting free money from idiots like myself - but they are very pretty stamps!




One of the stamps shows Lemon Aspen, Acronychia acidula, which is not a true citrus but it is in the same Rutaceae family.
I've been trying to obtain a plant or seeds of this species for a long time without success.
Can anyone help?
Mike/Citrange

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Citrus General Discussion / Citrus Flowers
« on: June 05, 2018, 06:00:15 PM »
I occasionally change the introductory photo on the index page of my citrus website.
The latest is a moving series of different flower photos.
You may be surprised by how different they are.
See http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/
This is still a totally non-commercial website. No sales, no adverts - so I think I'm allowed to promote it here!
Mike/Citrange

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Citrus General Discussion / Australian native citrus
« on: December 10, 2016, 04:11:12 AM »
I think most people on this forum are interested in growing the 'normal' citrus varieties, but I have become fascinated by the Australian species - even though they are not really very eatable.
A few weeks ago I returned from a trip to Australia to see if I could locate and photograph all the six native citrus species growing wild.
You can see the results on my website - follow the links at the bottom of the page starting at
http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australia2016/australia2016.html
Mike.

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Citrus General Discussion / The Quest for Citrus Wakonai!
« on: December 07, 2014, 08:13:45 AM »
Citrus wakonai is a wild citrus variety from Papua New Guinea. It was discovered about ten years ago, but, outside its native area, is only kept by government researchers in Australia. Such new varieties are interesting - even if they aren't commercial varieties themselves - because they may contain genes with unusual properties such as disease or pest resistance. Citrus wakonai is said to fruit at one year from seed.
I have always been interested in these odd varieties, and set a challenge to an adventurous Frenchman to collect seeds! Sylvain set off in August this year on an amazing trip. He is currently describing his travels on a French citrus forum AgrumesPassion.com . He has given me permission to translate and reproduce this on my own citrus website.
I am still currently adding pages - there are lots of incredible photos to come! So work in progress.
It starts at http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australianpngnativecitrus/The_Quest_for_Wakonai.html
Take a look. Comments welcome.
Mike/Citrange

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