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Messages - citrange

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1
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?

2
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Need Help with ID of citrus rootstock
« on: March 12, 2024, 06:00:33 PM »
I have read that the success rate of rooting trifoliata cuttings depends on the age of the plant from which the cutting is taken. Cuttings from young seedlings were said to root easily but mature, flowering age ones were nearly impossible.
This agrees with my experience, though admittedly in the cool summers we have in England. I have tried cuttings from flowering trifoliata plants but they just stayed green for over a year and never produced any roots.
Can anyone confirm they have actually rooted mature cuttings? I would love to produce instant flowering plants in this way!

3
I have also planted the seeds from the Australian Blood Lime - sometimes known as Red Centre Lime.
You are right that the seedlings are very variable in appearance.
Unlike many hybrids, I have found that they are never vigorous and grow very poorly and often eventually die. I have not yet had any produce fruit.

4
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Insect I{D
« on: September 13, 2023, 02:49:28 PM »

5
Take a look at my website page with photos of wild Citrus australis plants growing in D'Aguilar National Park, about 50miles from Brisbane.
http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australiannativecitrus/citrusaustralis2.html
You will see the various different leaf forms as the plant matures. The juvenile leaves are just like yours.


6
Murraya paniculata, standard or mini, is not available in the UK and would not survive frost outdoors. I have one greenhouse plant grown from seed I found in Singapore.
The nearest equivalent here is the hybrid forms of CHOISYA × DEWITTEANA such as the cultivar 'AZTEC PEARL'. This is also a distant citrus relative. It is frost hardy and has very similar flowers to Murraya, although less fragrant.



7
Australian desert soils are not always alkaline - in fact many are acidic. Most information suggests that Citrus glauca prefers slightly acidic conditions.
Are your examples of Citrus glauca seedlings or grafted? If grafted, it is the rootstock that determines the pH requirement and not the top variety.

8
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Curly leaf citron
« on: March 14, 2023, 03:05:16 PM »
Better for what?
I've never considered citrons to be of much practical use, apart from smelling nice (flowers & fruit) and impressing people with the very large fruit and the strange fingered Buddha's Hand.
Perhaps martweb has found this article: Gastronomy and the citron tree https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878450X16300014
Strangely, this article makes little mention of the main culinary use I have come across. This is the production of candied peel which is frequently used here in England as an ingredient in the traditional Christmas Cake.
I also remember visiting the distillery on the Greek island of Naxos where citron leaves are made into a liqueur.
See my report at http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/citrusplaces/naxos.html

9
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Yet another soil thread
« on: February 20, 2023, 05:23:59 AM »
I used to incorporate coconut husk chips into my citrus growing medium. They work well and provide reasonable drainage but only for a couple of years. After that they break down and encourage root rot. I no longer use them.
The same applies to standard bark mulch. The bark chips sold as 'orchid bark' or 'reptile bark' are much harder and will last much longer.
You should investigate the availability of Danish Moler Clay in Belgium. It is a form of fired clay granules which can absorb moisture while providing excellent drainage, and is often used by bonsai enthhusiasts. It does not break down. Here in England it is expensive if bought directly for horticultural use but can be found much cheaper when sold for use as cat litter or oil-spill absorbant. I now use it as the major ingredient in my potted citrus mixes.

10
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Is dwarfing rootstock necessary?
« on: December 03, 2022, 11:01:07 AM »
If you grow citrus in containers in a 'non-citrus' climate, the container size probably has a greater effect on plant-size than rootstock. Even so, with a short summer growing season, a vigorous rootstock may be better than a dwarfing one.
From the point of view of propagation, some varieties root much more readily than others. If you have enough cuttings, try both rooting and grafting!

11
Citrus General Discussion / Re: experimenting with clay soil in containers
« on: November 09, 2022, 04:34:12 PM »
For several years I have been using a mix containing 50% 'danish Molar Clay'. This is sold in UK as some cat litters and also as a spill-absorber. The producer in Denmark is https://www.imerys.com/minerals/moler

12
Citrus General Discussion / Re: insect on citrus
« on: September 29, 2022, 11:56:23 AM »
Here in England we know it as the Rhododendron Leaf Hopper.
Introduced from USA in the 1930's it is thought to spread the fungus that causes bud blast on rhododendron flower buds.
I have this pest on rhododendrens and occassionally see them sitting on the leaves of my citrus plants. However, I've never noticed any citrus damage caused by them.

13
Citrus General Discussion / Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« on: August 24, 2022, 04:06:20 PM »
In the UK and many countries outside USA it is not possible to patent plants because they are not considered to be inventions. Instead 'plant breeder rights' can be registered for new cultivars. The first person to be given plant breeder rights over a microcitrus variety was Erika Birmingham of Byron Bay Nurseries in Australia. She became quite paranoid about the possibility that native Australian citrus would be exploited overseas, as happened with Macademia nuts. The inevitable has now happened and her concerns have been proved correct.
It is interesting to note that the name SunLime is very similar to the Australian registered Sunrise Lime. This variety and the Red Centre Lime (previously Blood Lime) have had very limited commercial success in Australia. I suspect this is because they are basically an acidic fruit which can be used as an ingredient or garnish but are not very desirable to eat as they are.
I have been growing microcitrus for many years and have produced several interesting hybrids. Saga University in Japan also experimented with such hybrids some years ago. Details of some of these are available on my website at http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australiannativecitrus/sagauniversityhybrids.html

14
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Gummosis problem
« on: August 18, 2022, 12:36:38 PM »
There is one fungicide which is said to specifically control phytophthera. This is Fosetyl-Aluminium sold as Aliette. See for instance https://www.cropscience.bayer.us/products/fungicides/aliette
As others have said, the best way to guard against the problem is to avoid saturated medium. Make sure water can drain freely through and out of the pot in abround 30 seconds. I also re-plant with the stem raised a little above the surface of the pot mix, even with the highest roots showing.

15
I have seen something similar which disappeared completely after a couple of years. I put it down to the effect of some chemical.
As I asked on the other forum you posted on, have you fertilised recently? If so, with what and how much? Any chance of drift from nearby weedkiller or path clear chemical?

16

Nice to see that there is at least one picture of an Australian citrus!
This C. glauca - Desert Lime - was grabbed from the video at about 50 seconds.


17
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Myer lemon citrus no leaves
« on: June 18, 2022, 06:46:51 AM »
It looks to me like coconut husk chips.  Are you using that as growing medium or just a top mulch?
I used CHCs for several years for my potted citrus but found they break down fairly quickly into an unhealthy and often soggy mix. For a couple of years they are fine, although getting the watering right is difficult. But after that things go downhill and root rot often sets in.

18
Don't forget that Australian Finger Limes have a quite different history from conventional citrus species and varieties. The FLs have really only been selected recently from wild plants which have then been given names - as yet there has been little if any breeding to encourage and select desirable traits. Plants available outside Australia are also quite likely to have been grown from seed or propagated from a seedling and so can be variable.
Conventional citrus are not found wild in the forms that we generally know. They have been selected and propagated for hundreds of years and named varieties are now exact clones of each other with very little variation between individual plants.

19
Citrus General Discussion / Re: What variety could this be?
« on: June 02, 2022, 03:29:23 PM »
Calamondin - Citrus mitis.

20
I have been growing the fast-flowering Poncirus for many years. In a really good citrus climate in seems to grow OK, but in cooler climates growth is extremely weak. The largest of my plants are still only about 20cms (18") tall. Yes, it does flower before other seedling trifoliates, but the flowers on these small plants are often imperfect and usually do not form fruits. On the rare occasion when a single fruit has formed it has dropped when still tiny. So for me it has failed to be useful for hybridisation experiments or obtaining seeds. Very sad!!

21
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Kumquat x Buddha's Hand
« on: May 25, 2022, 02:18:54 PM »
We know that Buddha's Hand is always propagated vegetatively because it does not produce seeds, but I've never heard of any hybrids before. I've always assumed that the pollen is not viable and that the fingered fruit would have died out without human intervention. If the pollen is viable then it may or may not carry the 'defective' gene which produces fingered fruit. Clearly, with this hybrid the trait has not been passed on. The resulting plant may be no different from a Kumquat hybrid with some other citron variety.

22
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

23
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: U.S. 119...who is growing it?
« on: April 07, 2022, 04:38:56 PM »
I was given budwood of US119 in 2001, grafted it onto Poncirus rootstock, and planted it outside here in UK in 2004.
It has survived down to -15C, most winters the minimum is around -6c, but it has grown so slowly and never yet flowered.
I believe the real problem with growing citrus here is the short summer growing period.
We only have 3 months guaranteed frost-free and most varieties just don't have enough time to put on summer growth before they become dormant again.
My 119 is about 1.5m (4 - 5 ft) tall. Perhaps this year it will produce fruit - but I've been saying that for the past 15 years!

24
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: F2 Citrus glauca
« on: February 27, 2022, 04:17:02 PM »
To be honest I can't remember whether they have seeds or not.
Although I had a look today, there aren't any fruits left - they all seem to fall together sometime in November.
I'll try and remember to check later in the year!

25
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Meyers Lemon Tree
« on: February 24, 2022, 02:42:21 PM »
If as you say this is a grafted tree then it seems the graft is very near ground level or below ground.
This means that it has been planted much too deep. The graft line should always be well clear of the ground so rain reaching the ground does not splash dirt on to the trunk and cause infection. That is one of the reasons for having a rootstock which is less susceptible to phytophthora than the top variety.
I think that the darker and slightly sunken area just below the main forking branches may be a sign of phytophthora infection.
If it is phytophthora and it has completely circled the trunk, there is little hope for the tree.
A really valuable tree could possibly be saved by grafting new rootstocks above the infection - a process called inarching.
This was carried out on the Parent Washington Navel tree in Riverside. See my photos at
http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/riverside/parentwashingtonnavel.html

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