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Messages - 1rainman

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1
Typically caused by stress. Moving outside might be a big adjustment. Better to ease them out a few hours bring back in then leave them out longer each time until they are permenently outside. They dry out quickly outside in pots too.

2
Citrus General Discussion / Re: finger lime x Genoa lemon
« on: Today at 01:22:39 PM »
I would like a hybrid. Even though its basically a finger lime it might have a little better fruit which makes it better than a pure finger lime. I would rather cross it with a meyer lemon which is sweeter. Then maybe a key lime or something second generation cross. Pure lemon is too bitter to eat and not cold tolerant.

3
They have a bunch of tolerant trees now but they are hybrids with tangerine, grapefruit, sour orange etc cant legally sell it as orange juice. This is a pure orange. Anyway I like the tangerine juice better but they havent sold it in several years. They have sun dragon which has trifoliate and grapefruit in the mix but is mostly orange and they crossed sugar bell with a bunch of stuff which sugar bell is mainly tangerine but has some grapefruit in the mix.

4
Does not seem to be a true grape but a grape relative. You have to put grape seeds in a wet paper towel and in the fridge for three months then take them out into warmth to germinate. Or throw them in dirt outside over the winter.

5
If possible keep the light close to the plant like an inch or two above it. Use window light as well. Use two different spectrum bulbs or three. I grew lemons in ohio though my plant did a lot better in summer it did ok in winter. Theres a lot more problem with insects when you move a plant indoors generally you have to watch it closely. If you get a a few warm days take it outside and spray it with a hose to get light and a shower or throw it in a bathtub and shower it helps keep away spider mites and such. I kept it outside anytime temps were above freezing basically. But it got big and had thorns. When wet it got too heavy to move seems to lose 100 pounds when soil gets completely dry. Not too heavy bone dry but the sheer size of the plant got to be more difficult. But once its big you have to stop watering it and let it dry out to get light enough to move around.

6
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Citrus Soil Acidity
« on: May 18, 2025, 12:23:46 PM »
I would probably add perlite and sand which will move the needle closer to neutral and improve drainage. I dont know what the ideal acidity is for citrus. They seem to do good in potting soil and sandy soil and potting soil is acidic they dont seem too fussy. They just dont like prolonged soggy roots is the only thing I noticed.

7
Sugarbell is not a bud sport it is honeybell x tangerine. It just happened to resist greening by accident. Briteleaf added a bunch of crosses this year you can check there. There is sugarbell x honey tangerine (murcott). Sugarbell x orange which produces fruit like an orange. A couple others I think but they are all sold out. They all resist greening. There was a hamlin orange mutation that is greening resistant that might be out there and the sundragon.

8
You can go online and order sugar bell. If you sell it a percentage goes to the patent holder. They already crosses sugar bell with a bunch of different citrus and selling those now too.

9
I want that. Every place I saw said it was a meyer lemon x blood orange two container grown citrus in italy where the cross occurred but it has spread all over europe. I cant find any source in the united states. I guess its called a blood lemon. I would like to try one. They say it taste half way between a lemon and blood orange and is still fairly sour.

10
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Citrus infections?
« on: May 04, 2025, 01:32:29 PM »
First photo mites or some bug is sucking the juice out. Spray everything leaves stem trunk with neem oil. After a few days if it doesnt rain start spraying the tree with water because that neem oil will stick to the leaves a long time and it needs to start washing off so it can breathe, greasy spots I dont know looks like black rot but I never saw black rot on citrus. If it is black rot neem oil will take care of that too.

11
You dont want an oak next to your house anyway. The roots will tear up foundations. They suck all the nutrients out of the soil almost nothing grows under them not even grass. They are good further out in the yard. Also dont want limbs or trees above a shingle roof. It cools the house but if you go that route get a metal roof. Its so wet and humid in florida with leaves falling on the roof and shade it rots the wood under the shingles. A 25 year roof will start leaking in 15 or 20 years and wood under it will need replaced. If its close thats ok but no branches or tree parts directly above the roof no significant pine needles or leaves landing on the roof is ideal. A grapefruit tree from seed is the fastest growing good shade tree but the fruit will take 7 years and mostly be too high to reach but they grow into tall shade trees from seed. Mango or avacado are good too but cold sensitive. Mulberries will mess up your drive way with fruit and arent as tall but are decent trees.

12
They have a bunch of new greening resistant citrus for sale this year. Most are sold out but may be available next year. Florida peaches are good too and profitable.

13
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Howdy, 1st time citrus grower
« on: May 01, 2025, 12:17:13 PM »
I mean you could keep them there in a quasi dormancy but if you want it growing and healthy thats a little chilly need to be a little warmer.

14
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Howdy, 1st time citrus grower
« on: May 01, 2025, 12:14:03 PM »
Even though cool weather wont hurt them they will slow growth even stop growing or stop photosynthesis. You want temps in the 70s minimum for high temps. You can just put them inside a tent in the basement and the growlight will keep the tent warm.

15
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Howdy, 1st time citrus grower
« on: April 29, 2025, 05:37:41 PM »
Light measurements I never did. Citrus will grow in shade or full sun. You wont give them too much light indoors too little is possible. But like I said with only one type of bulb no matter how bright they dont have a wide enough spectrum. If they look bright white then a few different types of full spectrum whites will work good. You will be surprised at how little light comes from a bulb compared to sunlight. If I put plants under a bulb they will stretch out and touch the bulb and burn themselves. You can put a bulb half an inch from the leaf and its probably still weaker than sunlight especially in regards to the spectrum the plant uses. I think its like eating one thing like only eating potatoes. It will do fine for a short time but after a while gets starved of other spectrum which it needs. Its usually the heat from the bulb that burns a plant not light.

16
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Howdy, 1st time citrus grower
« on: April 29, 2025, 05:29:12 PM »
Even full spectrum bulbs look at the spectrum chart. Most light is in a few narrow spectrums. Get about three different types of full spectrum bulbs at least two and mix them and alternate. That being said my citrus did ok not great indoors I just left it outside most of the year when temps were above freezing. Tropical plants grow better up north in the summer than they do in the tropics. Longer days up north. Then put them inside under a 12 hour light in winter. I also try to utilize window light when possible but in winter there just isnt much sun up north. The light needs are so intense its a waste of money. Herbs and stuff are small enough can grow easily under grow lights. Large trees you need a massive amount of light. But when I used only one kind of bulb the plant didnt do well. I just had two or three different full spectrum flourescent bulbs sometimes mix a regular orange flourescent. The main one plants liked was sun glo reptile bulb it looks like sunlight but this alone wont be enough. Or mix halogen with a flourescent etc.

Then at one point I discovered tiny almost invisible slugs sucking sap had a hard time getting rid of them finally neem oil worked but plants indoors have more bug problems. I had a praying mantis living on my meyer lemon for a year. When I moved it inside he stayed on the tree the whole time. But its just such a pain growing indoors when they do really well outside just have to water them.

17
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Poncirus nutrient issues
« on: April 16, 2025, 04:59:39 PM »
Looks like a light issue. Artificial light has a very narrow spectrum. Mixing in a little sunlight and using different bulbs rotating helps a lot. I like the sun glo florescent bulb. Its a uv reptile bulb but puts out bright white light similar to sunlight then I rotated it with trying to get some window light and regular white flourescent from the store as long as its white orange ones dont work. Even though both bulbs are white they put out different spectrums. My meyer did ok in winter under that but did much better outside in summer but if I just used the same bulb all the time with no sunlight it eventually would drop leaves and be sad looking.

18
But 28 degrees can kill a lemon. They are wimps. Can barely handle 32. So cross sour orange with poncirus until the nasty poncirus flavor is bred out but maybe still more cold hardy than sour orange though neither one of them seem overly acidic not any more than a lemon would be. The flavor is diffetent but its not a bad trade off orange flavor instead of lemon flavor. Though I would just grow in a pot if I were up north I wouldnt even mess with poncirus.

19
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Spidermites!
« on: April 15, 2025, 03:12:54 AM »
I tried hot peppers and a black and mild insecticide. It didnt work for me. I used coffee grounds as fertilizer worked well and seems to reduce insects a bit but not totally. I grew a tobbacco plant as well as an insect deterent. Seems difficult to get something strong enough trying to use a ciggarette but maybe someone could do it better than me.

20
Im saying I dont know why a lemon would be used instead of sour orange. It seems odd that the sour orange makes more acidic crosses or whatever.

21
The sour oranges I have encountered are used as root stock. Exactly like an orange not super seedy but sour same as a lemon not any more acidic. They are used in mexico and other places like lemons. They make an orange aid which is like lemon aid out of them. Maybe they create more acidic crosses. But they are very cold hardy and disease resistant. Its usually sour orange or swingle which is trifoliate x grapefruit which are typical root stock but the swingle has that nasty poncirus flavor.

22
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Spidermites!
« on: April 14, 2025, 03:47:54 AM »
The main thing is letting them get rained on, spraying with a hose, or shower. You wont have a problem with regular showers but indoors it may be hard. Neem oil is good though you want to still give the plant an occassional hose down or the oil itself will stay on the leaves and be a problem.

23
Pointless. A sour orange can be used exactly like a lemon no off flavors high cold tolerance high disease tolerance. Lemons are very cold sensitive except meyer. It would make more sense to do trifoliate x sour orange then cross that again with a sour orange and so on. Maybe throw meyer into the mix. Or at this point cross sundragon into the mix just dilute the trifoliate or dont use it at all just focus on sour oranges.

24
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Murcott/honey
« on: April 10, 2025, 11:19:39 PM »
Seems w murcott is a seedling of murcott crossed with an unknown parent. It has less seeds than murcott and slightly better. Tangor is an irradiated w murcott with some mutations including seedlessness.

25
Citrus General Discussion / Re: My potted Lemons are about to die
« on: April 10, 2025, 10:44:50 AM »
You can let the dirt get bone dry for a few days between watering. It doesnt hurt the plant. I dry it out before moving because its not too heavy dry but wet its insanely heavy. In summer it will get bone dry outside in a few days. Indoors it takes forever to dry out so could be too wet possibly.

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