Author Topic: Citrus macrophylla  (Read 2381 times)

sc4001992

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Citrus macrophylla
« on: August 13, 2022, 03:46:22 PM »
Has anyone tried growing seeds of Citrus macrophylla ?

I have a lemon rootstock, Citrus macrophylla, that I let grow and now its a pretty tall tree (7-8 ft) and has some large fruits on it. Fruit is still green, size of a large lemon, so I will wait until the fruit turns yellow before I pick them and get the seeds.

I'm planning to grow the seeds and use the seedlings to graft some lemon varieties I have since the seedling rootstock should have stronger roots (tap roots).

Also, has anyone rooted cuttings of the Citrus macrophylla? It may be quicker to grow them from cuttings but I'm not sure how good the root structure will be for use as a rootstock plant.


pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2022, 07:12:53 PM »
Yes I have grown seed. Highly true to type and vigorous.
Also a few interesting off types can appear. More like versions of Macrophylla.
It is not used much in Australia due to Tristeza, but I don't seem to have any trouble with it here.
Haven't tried cuttings but think they would root ok.

franklazar26

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2022, 10:10:03 AM »
Has anyone tried growing seeds of Citrus macrophylla ?

I have a lemon rootstock, Citrus macrophylla, that I let grow and now its a pretty tall tree (7-8 ft) and has some large fruits on it. Fruit is still green, size of a large lemon, so I will wait until the fruit turns yellow before I pick them and get the seeds.

I'm planning to grow the seeds and use the seedlings to graft some lemon varieties I have since the seedling rootstock should have stronger roots (tap roots).

Also, has anyone rooted cuttings of the Citrus macrophylla? It may be quicker to grow them from cuttings but I'm not sure how good the root structure will be for use as a rootstock plant.

Mac root crazy easy. I actually have a 1.5 year old leaf-rooted tree (yes rooted from 1 leaf) that’s about 18” tall now. Leaves root amazingly well, and cuttings even easier. I feel they’re one of the easiest citrus to root.

Personally I love using Mac as rootstock. Pretty vigorous, minimal incompatibilities,  and for my purpose, can be used well in containers. If you plan on selling any of those seeds, let me know!

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2022, 09:43:18 PM »
ok, sounds good. I will let you know if I get many seeds in the fruits, then will share some seeds.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2022, 08:49:05 AM by sc4001992 »

poncirsguy

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2022, 10:56:14 PM »
What is Citrus macrophylla  Is it cold hardy or tend to push more sugares into the scion's fruit

pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2022, 05:02:14 AM »
Citrus macrophylla is a Phillippines Citrus variety, in the Papeda group. It is a lime / citron like plant with large fruit, that look a bit like giant Makrut Limes.
As a rootstock it is noted for vigour, root disease tolerance, lime and salt tolerance. Drawbacks are said to be Tristeza sensitivity.
In the Philippines, ( Cebu ? ) the fruit are cooked whole in a soup / stew dish.
http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ucldc-nuxeo-ref-media/41c036e3-dcd9-4944-9979-318d96ce8d13

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #6 on: August 23, 2022, 08:48:24 AM »
pagnr, thanks for this article, very informative. My macrophylla is a rootstock on Eureka lemon and has been doing well for 30yrs, gets many lemons, fruit size is good. I let a few of the rootstock shoots grow to see what type it was and now those branches have grown as tall as the Eureka lemon (12-15 ft). Fruits of the macrophylla is large, when it turns yellow, I will pick some fruits and post the photos.

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2022, 02:26:20 PM »
Question on the fruits. My fruits are getting large now, but still green. How long do I need to wait before I can get some seeds from the fruit. Should I pick one fruit and cut it open or wait until the fruit turns slightly yellow?

pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2022, 04:32:56 PM »
Not sure about that, I guess you can get good seed out of green Makrut / hystrix fruit, another Papeda type.
As for macrophylla, I was not in a rush to eat them so I waited till they dropped / knocked off.
Unless you are rushing to sow the seed, maybe wait till yellow.
The fruit do seem to get full size and hang at the green yellow stage for a long time.
Maybe that is why it is popular in the Phillipines, holds well on the tree ?

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2022, 08:14:21 PM »
These fruits seem to get pretty large; I just took some photos today.


















pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2022, 03:54:47 AM »
Those photos are interesting.
I am in the Southern Hemisphere ,right now my Alemow fruit is a bit bigger and light yellow colour.
A few early Citrus are also just starting to flower here now, end of September, early spring.
I am thinking your fruit is a lot greener than when I would pick mine.

Millet

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2022, 01:51:05 PM »
What is the reason for growing Citrus macrophylla?

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2022, 05:18:32 PM »
I'm planning to use it for rootstock. Either by rooting the cuttings or growing out seeds.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2022, 05:36:35 PM by sc4001992 »

pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2022, 06:27:45 PM »
Citrus macrophylla is not the most edible Citrus, I wouldn't say it tastes particularly bad, but it doesn't have a clean flavour like lemon or lime.
So far it seems pretty bomb proof, fruit hang on the tree for ages, don't seem to get attacked by anything.
C.macrophylla also seems to be fairly tough plant for rootstock use, and fairly vigorous.
Also I am interested in Papedas overall, so growing a few types even though some aren't the most useful fruit.
( I am in a Citrus growing area, so can get regular fruit types fairly easily most of the time ).

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #14 on: November 18, 2022, 06:05:43 PM »
My fruits finally started to get some yellow outside so I picked a few fruits. The taste is very sour, really can't eat or use it for much I would think. I did get some good seeds so I can start sowing seeds now.

Here's a few photo of my Alemow/macrophylia fruts.







pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #15 on: November 18, 2022, 07:23:50 PM »
I got a few off type seedlings from my Macropyhlla seed grow outs. One is a bit more Pummelo like with broader leaves and bigger fruit but much the same.
One produced small Citron type fruit once or twice.
Another looks a lot like a West Indian/Key Lime with small foliage. It has flowered but not fruited.
Interesting that those seem to be throwbacks to possible ancestors ?

brian

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #16 on: November 18, 2022, 07:33:49 PM »
When I look at books showing the history of citrus fruits, they are often big ugly seedy things that look nothing like what we buy at stores today.  We are fortunate to have thousands of years of selective breeding behind us.

Galatians522

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #17 on: November 18, 2022, 08:15:43 PM »
I found one of these in an abandoned grove a few years back. I suspected this was what it was. Thanks for the positive Id.

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #18 on: November 21, 2022, 02:18:17 AM »
Update: 12/8/22

I picked most of the ripe fruits now. The largest fruit weighted 599 grams (1.3 lbs).

Now I have plenty of seeds for growing my rootstock to back all my varieties.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2022, 06:23:56 PM by sc4001992 »

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2022, 06:23:11 PM »
I picked most of the ripe fruits now. The largest fruit weighted 599 grams (1.3 lbs)

Here's the last photos.







« Last Edit: December 08, 2022, 06:27:41 PM by sc4001992 »

BorisR

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #20 on: December 08, 2022, 11:47:48 PM »
Excellent! What about taste? Maybe it looks more like a lime than a lemon?

sc4001992

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #21 on: December 09, 2022, 02:55:35 AM »
I did try the fruit, it is very acidic and sour. But it is not that bad, no strong smell or taste that is hard to eat or drink. It kinda reminds me of the taste of Key lime. If I find my refractometer then I will take some readings and compare it to some other lemons & limes.

Found it, here's some readings I took today:

« Last Edit: December 09, 2022, 07:38:15 PM by sc4001992 »

bussone

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #22 on: December 09, 2022, 09:23:44 AM »
I'm going to need a lot of gin...

pagnr

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Re: Citrus macrophylla
« Reply #23 on: December 09, 2022, 05:21:42 PM »
As you all know those small Key or Mexican limes are popular with a Corona beer.

Here in Australia we have much bigger beer bottles, 2,25 litres, maybe just the right size for using those Macrophylla fruit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Darwin_stubby.jpg

I have one Macrophylla fruit still hanging here in Australia, (in December, early summer), fruit is green, turning yellow from the top, about half way down. 
Should ripe in a few weeks.
Interesting that it is ripening fairly closely to sc4001992's fruit in the Nth Hemisphere. I will let it hang as long as possible to see how that goes.
Cuban Shaddocks fell off two weeks ago.
It has been a funny cool rainy season here so far, no heat in the summer at all.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2022, 05:52:24 PM by pagnr »