Honey Pomelo seedlings

[Florian]

These are usually seedless but this winter I had a fruit that was full of large, flat seeds. I sowed them and they took their time but many germinated.

Now, I am wondering what to do.. I know pomelos do not come true from seed and our climate is much too cold to plant them in the ground but I'd still like to give them a try for the sake of it.

How long would they take to flower anyway? Any suggestions are welcome.

[SoCal2warm]

I know pomelos do not come true from seed

That's true but most of them will probably grow "pretty much true to seed", not too different from the parents.

and our climate is much too cold to plant them in the ground but I'd still like to give them a try for the sake of it.

You could always try growing them inside (taking them in during the Winter) and then eventually trying to hybridize them with a really cold-hardy variety.

Pomelo is pretty vigorous growing. I would suggest putting them on a root stock though, maybe citrumelo (otherwise it could take a long time to fruit).

[brian]

From what I’ve read it should take many years to get fruit from a containerized citrus seedling in Switzerland, unfortunately

[Millet]

Pummelo, in Switzerland would take at a minimum of 10+ years.  Also pummelos require a year around climate with high heat and plenty of sunshine to develop good tasting fruit, which will be very difficult in your area.

[Laaz]

Pomelo do not come true from seed & also require a large node count before they will flower. In ground they will take 5+ years in perfect conditions. In a container they will never flower or produce fruit, that's just the nature of the variety.

[Florian]

That's about what I expected but you will have guessed that it won't stop me from trying. Thanks a lot anyway.

[Millet]

The best of luck with your pummelo seedling Florian.

[Laaz]

I will still make a nice house plant. Try crushing a leave, it should have a decent scent to it. Lemons are the best when you crush the leaves as far as scent goes.

[Florian]

Ooh, yes, I love the smell of crushed lemon leaves. This actually is what got me hooked on citrus. Combava leaves are great too.

[sc4001992]

Florian, I know its been 3 yrs now, just wondering how your seedling Honey Pomelo are doing ?

I'm planning to grow out some seeds myself.

[pagnr]

Pummelos are not nucellar clonal, but they don't throw highly variable seedling types either. The seedlings are most often Pummelo.
A seedless type on the other hand may have been cross pollinated, so seedlings could have shorter maturity than straight Pummelo.
You can probably compare the parent to the seedlings for some idea of their origins.

[Florian]

Florian, I know its been 3 yrs now, just wondering how your seedling Honey Pomelo are doing ?

I'm planning to grow out some seeds myself.

I left them in the community pot for quite a while and only separated them last year. Also, I just let them sit in the corner and leglected them. They have grown quite a bit anyway but could be bigger, of course. I will take a photo when I get around to it..

[Plantinyum]

Pomelo do not come true from seed & also require a large node count before they will flower. In ground they will take 5+ years in perfect conditions. In a container they will never flower or produce fruit, that's just the nature of the variety.

I have seen a number of containerized pomello that fruited in containers, in Bulgarian citrus and garden forums, people manage to pull it off. They are grafted on dwarfing rootstocks thought ,thats may be the reason why they manage to fruit them.

I also have one 3 year old seedling , a single seed in a store bought fruit, planning to graft it with my standart and red pomello this summer, will also let a original branch to grow probably. Its quite a besutifful plant, my healthiest citrus by far.

[Millet]

Plantinyum, pumelo seed certainly will germinate, and may produce good or bad tasting fruit.  However, they will not be true to the mother tree.

[1rainman]

If it's a seedless variety with seeds most likely it is cross pollinated with something.

[Plantinyum]

Yeah i am not fixed on the idea of fruiting the seedling, i will graft it with my other 2 pomello varieties, since i see its growing vigorously and seems like a good rootstock . I hate flying dragon rootstocks, stunts the plants really bad in my experience.
I suspect mine a hybrid since it pushed out several bilobed leaves, probably some trifoliata gene in there. 

[sc4001992]

I'm glad the seedling fruits are not exactly like the parent fruit. My pomelo seedling took 7 yrs to fruit and it is much better tasting than the sour fruits of the parent tree (which i got rid of). Now I have a very good fruiting seedling pomelo.

Florian, yes, please take a few photos of your seedling so I can compare how the leaves will look like when my seeds start to grow. I plan to let each of my seedlings grow until they fruit.

Plantinyum, can you take some photos of you 3yr old honey pomelo seedling and post it here, would like to have it for future reference.

[Plantinyum]

Sure here it is, i found just 1 of the bilobed leaves, the other ones must have fallen off. It is a seedling from a standart white fleshed pomello, the only pomello seed that i have ever found in store bought pomello.

[tedburn]

Interesting, seems to have some Poncirus and probably coldhardy genes. Interesting how hardy and how the fruit quality is ?

[Plantinyum]

Interesting, seems to have some Poncirus and probably coldhardy genes. Interesting how hardy and how the fruit quality is ?

It seems hardy enough to survive the winters in my basement, with close to freezing temps, and has froze in its pot several times.

[sc4001992]

Plantinyum, thank you for the pictures. Your tree looks very healthy. I like the interesting leaves on your tree.

I'm currently growing about a few hundred Reinking seeds and hope maybe the seedlings will have better fruit than the parent. I don't care for the thick/tough skin of the Reinking even though it is a very sweet pummelo (brix=17).

I did find about 15 seeds in the white flesh Honey pummelo so I'm growing those now. I bought another 4 pink flesh Honey pummelo fruits so I hope I find a few seeds from these fruits, the first two fruits had no seeds at all.

For all my pummelo seedlings, I need to determine which ones I should keep after 1 year since there will be to many to take care of.

[sc4001992]

Here's one of my seedling pummelo variety, these plants are about 6-8wks old. This is the seeds from my very good tasting seedling tree (Roy's pummelo). This fruit tastes better than most of the UCR pummelo (except for Thong Dee). Also has much more flavor and sweetness (very little tartness) than the white flesh Honey pummelo from the stores.

[sc4001992]

Some updates on the pomelo fruits I tasted this past week.

I have purchased many Honey pomelos now, trying to find some seeds in the fruits of the Red and White variety. I did find more seeds of the Red fruit and only a few of the White fruit that I'm planting now. After buying all these fruits (12), I did some taste comparisons to my other fruits that are large and here's where I would rate their flavor and taste. Best tasting =1.

1. My seedling Roy pomelo (brix =18)
2. Thong Dee
3. Locally grown Honey pomelo -white flesh (brix =18)
4. Reinking pomelo (brix =17)
5. Red Honey pomelo (from market) - (brix =12)
6. White Honey pomelo (from market) - (brix =10)

So far, the largest fruits have been the Thong Dee (5 lbs) and store-bought Honey pomelo (5 lbs).

[EricSC]

brix =18, wo! Will it damage kids' teeth?

[poncirsguy]

YES