Productivity of kumquats and their hybrids

[martweb]

There were a lof of discussions about the taste of the different kumquat cultivars and hybrids like e.g. mandarinquat. How about their productivity and yield when directly compared?

[poncirsguy]

Root stock choice will make a big difference within same varieties.

[Rispa]

Root stock choice will make a big difference within same varieties.

Can they taste better grafted than on their own roots Or is own roots always superior for fruit flavor?

[a_Vivaldi]

Rootstock affects fruit quality including size and total sugars. No idea which ones might improve kumquats though, most studies are done with commercial citrus in USDA field trials.

[poncirsguy]

I have found that the Meiwa kumquat taste very  good on own  rooted seedling trees.  They are also quite tasty on Flying dragon rootstock

[martweb]

My question was not about the used rootstocks but about the different varieties like Marumi, Meiwa, Nagami, Indio etc. compared to each other.

[poncirsguy]

Meiwa is the best by far.  It can be picked while still half ripe an have a sweet peel with a somewhat sour flesh.  You can leave it on the tree until orange for a sweet interior.  The Nagami, Fukushu, Nippon, and Indio need to stay on the plant till fully ripe to have a goo tasting peel. 

[martweb]

Meiwa is the best by far.  It can be picked while still half ripe an have a sweet peel with a somewhat sour flesh.  You can leave it on the tree until orange for a sweet interior.  The Nagami, Fukushu, Nippon, and Indio need to stay on the plant till fully ripe to have a goo tasting peel.

Sorry, my question is not about fruit quality but about the quantity you could harvest from a tree.

[mikkel]

as a_Vivaldi has already written, the rootstock also has a great influence even on the quantity of fruit. not just the variety.

[sc4001992]

I have seen many kumquat trees with lots of fruits. It seems all the Nagami kumquat trees I know from friends and fruit collectors has the most fruits. Meiwa might be the worst fruit production of the kumquats.

So, to give you an example, I have seen Nagami trees that are in pots (4-5 ft tall) with over 500 ripe fruits at a time. Also have seen last year ripened Nagami fruits on in-ground older trees (maybe 7-15 yrs) with over 2,000 fruits. You can pick 1 pound of fruits daily for a few weeks. I got some of those very productve tree cuttings and have gotten fruits on the grafts the next year. I did have some photos but now I can't find it. If I find the photos, I will post it for you. These trees are from 4-5 people I know. I have Meiwa, Maru, and Nagami (recent graft, small branch) and the Meiwa has low fruit production. But when I went to the UCR/CCPP citrus research grove, their Maru (older trees) had good number of fruits that we got to pick and eat. The Nagami trees there at UCR still had the most fruits. It's really easy to spot a healty Nagami tree when it has fruits, it is usually completley covered with fruits so the entire canopy will be orange color and fruits galore.

The seedless nagami (Nordmann kumquat) also has the same amount of fruits (tons) just like the seeded version, Nagami. I can find the photo of the Nordmann fruits since I remember recently taking photos of that tree this year.

[sc4001992]

Ok, found some of my photos from this year.

Here's one branch (1/10th of the whole tree) that I cut from Nagami, you can see the density of the fruits on the branch, all the other branches had the same amount of fruits.

[sc4001992]

I found a few photos I took on our field trip to the UCR/CCPP citrus grove.

Here's the Maru kumquat. Since this kumquat tasted the best, I took a few photos of this tree, not the others.

[martweb]

Thank you so much sc4001992. Very, very helpful. Can you also say something about Fukushu/Changshou?

[poncirsguy]

My in ground outside 9 foot tall 5 foot diameter seedling Fukushu kumquat tree produces up to 30 fruit about 1 inch diameter.

[martweb]

Do you have pictures with fruits?

[poncirsguy]

Yes.  click on the second picture to open it then click again to zoom and look around the tree the fruits are still on it.

[Rispa]

@sc4001992 would you say marumi is a must have? Just checking if I need to start trying to find some seeds 😁

[poncirsguy]

Marumi are NOT true by seed.

[Rispa]

Marumi are NOT true by seed.

Darn. At least bud wood is available

[sc4001992]

poncirsguy, do you know if Meiwa is true from seed?

[martweb]

Meiwa is true from seed.

[sc4001992]

ok, thank you, that is good news. I purchased many bags of Meiwa fruit to get the seeds from the fruits. Now I have a lot to germinate.

[poncirsguy]

My seed grown Meiwa tree looks identical the the grafted Meiwa tree the fruit and seed kame from.

[sc4001992]

I just visited a friend who has a Nagami kumquat tree, he said it was 30 yrs old. The tree is only about 6 ft tall max, width about 5 ft wide. It still has about 500-1000 fruits on it now. I'll post photo later. He tells me the tree has fruits for a long time, and has this much fruit that he picks maybe 3-4 dozen a week to give to relatives. I got some branches from this tree grafted on my Bearss lime tree and it fruited the next year. Fruit tastes very good if you like Nagami.

[brian]

I find marumi and fukushu to be nearly identical in appearance, productivity, and fruit quality.  Both are excellent, I would take whichever is available if you are looking for one. 

I have only really grown nordman seedless nagami but mine are quite productive. I have seen some large container (normal) nagamis and they look the same as my nordmanns.  Mine are about a decade old and still only a few feet tall, in containers.