Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus
The Citrus I have
Skandiberg:
Usirius,
May it be so! I sowed those seeds, I'm waiting for them to start germinating.
Tonight I checked on my Marumi to feel if its fruit is any softer than last time. The fruit came off after a gentle touch so I guess it was ripe. I tried to cut it in two to show a cross-section but I couldn't because this small fruit held 5 nicely developed seeds and 2 empty seed coats that got in the way. Needless to say, I didn't want to sacrifice the seeds for a cross-section picture so I didn't cut any deeper when I felt the flesh wouldn't give. I turned the two halves and the peel of one half just came off. I removed the seeds and tried to cut the little flesh in two but it was all mesh so I gave up trying.
The rind gave me a less oily and intrusive impression than Nagami rind. But I think Nagami rind was somewhat sweeter. The flesh is also milder. I didn't eat the whole fruit in one to keep the seeds intact but I will try to carefully do that with the second one which comes from a later flush of flowers so it's still small and green. Brix is 7 on this one, not much. Basically this Marumi fruit tastes like a toned down Nagami, less oily, less sour but also less sweet, and generally less tasty. The rind has a nice mandarin/orange scent. This fruit reminds me a lot of the Malayan fruit I tried in its milder, more neutral nature but those had a strange aftertaste (slightly like vegetables maybe) not reminiscent of Citrus. Marumi has pure Citrus aroma and a straightforward kumquat taste. I think Marumi matches my preferences a little more than Nagami which was a bit too oily and way too sour for me.
kumin:
--- Quote from: Skandiberg on November 24, 2025, 02:44:32 PM ---I just tested my second yuzu N30 fruit. Brix is 12,5. The flesh is the same, very sour and not sweet at all. I found 18 well developed seeds, 4 small but otherwise normal looking seeds and 5 empty looking seed coats.
Interestingly, 2 of the big seeds are visibly greener than all the rest:
This fruit was pollinated with HRS899 O/Q pollen so I would like to think the different seeds have some significance. We will see within a few weeks because I am sowing all the seeds tomorrow.
I hope the next fruit will introduce at least some sweetness. This tastes like a Satsuma lemon, if there was any such thing in existence. There is a little spicy oiliness that might come from yuzu.
But to say something genuinely positive: the fragrance is absolutely phenomenal. Very intense, very Satsuma-like but there are different extra notes making it a heavier scent. Honestly, I personally think yuzu N30 smells more appealing than yuzu. But mandarins are my favourite Citrus so I may not be completely objective about it. Anyhow, this thing smells wonderful.
--- End quote ---
Seed color variation could be an indication of the of zygotic seeds. It may be interesting to see if the seed colors corelate to foliage types. The presence of seedling zygocity is a huge plus in the effort to develop desirable selections.
Skandiberg:
Kumin,
Yes, that was also my way of thinking. The pictures don't make real justice to the colour difference, it was much more prominent in person but I think it's visible enough in the pictures. My guess is the different colour seeds are likely to be different and the smaller seeds are possibly different. Green seeds are usually indicative of kumquats or maybe mandarins, as fat as I know. My kumquats were far from flowering that time so that's not an option. But N30 is a hybrid between yuzu and Satsuma so it's a possibility that these two green seeds take after the Satsuma part of the genetics. The other possibility (which I would prefer) is that they take after the mandarin part of HRS899 O/Q, hopefully getting some extra hardiness from that one. We'll see in a couple weeks. If I find any trifoliate seedling, that will be indicative of the very first hybrid that came from my own pollination which would be cool.
I wasn't sure if N30 was zygotic to any degree at all. But at this point it looks like there is some zygosity passed down by its yuzu ancestry which is promising. It's seedy enough to have one or two hybrids in every fruit from the looks of it. But I can say something more about the matter around Christmas.
Skandiberg:
The first seedlings of the season are coming up.
HRS899 O/Q open pollinated:
It surprises me greatly to see so many albino seedlings. I soaked the seeds in bleach solution for days. But I didn't treat the potting mix at all so probably that's the reason. Fortunately, the suspected hybrid seedlings are all normal green.
HRS899 O/Q x Clementine:
It would be marvellous to have a hybrid seedling of this cross. The same goes with the next, HRS899 O/Q x Pursha:
I love Pursha, its fruit tastes so good and refreshing. Easy to peel, tastes like a slightly milder lime with detectable sweetness.
Skandiberg:
Till kindly sent me fruit of his yuzu and Batumi citrumelo. I thought that would be a good occasion for testing my last yuzu N30 fruit.
Well, N30 was just the same as before. Very sour, not sweet at all. But it's likely to be the very first crop this tree has ever produced so hopefully sweeter fruit will arrive within a few years. This last fruit was pollinated with Bajusz pollen and just like the previous hand-pollinated fruit, this one gave me a few greener seeds. The open-pollinated fruit had normal seeds, of all the same colour. This makes me optimistic about a few possible zygotic seedlings again.
Till's yuzu is very good. The rind is a little darker than the previous one I tried and the fruit needs no rubbing to emit its pleasant and intense fragrance. Seediness is massive again, and seeds have a very diverse look again. There is everything from huge and fat to small and thin. But above all, the taste is simply sour. The previous yuzu I tried had a grapefruit-like bitterness and high acidity. This one is just sour, I detect no bitterness, and (from memory) I think this yuzu has more intense aroma. This would make a really good lemon substitute. I will try lemonade from this tomorrow.
Batumi citrumelo has the usual citrumelo appearance. The fruit is light, it looks and feels like made out of plastic. The rind has a sweet and somewhat chemical smell but overall it's not offputting. It tastes rather bitter though. The juice is bitter. I'm not sure if it's 'PT bitter' or 'grapefruit bitter' but a high level of bitterness kicks you immediately. From memory, I think it's better than the fruit of 5 star mutation I tasted before. That one was like pure burnt plastic to me. Maybe I'm more sensitive to these off-flavours but that one was terrible to me. Batumi is solidly better but still not something you would want to eat. As for hardiness, I don't know how Batumi relates to 5 star. Interestingly, all the seeds were empty. At first I thought I saw a few viable ones but later I ran through them again and they all were just empty seed coats.
Pictures:
Edit:
I just zested the remaining three yuzu fruit. I cut them up and juiced them. There was very little juice. I removed the seeds and stared at the remaining albedo-membrane-flesh mesh and decided to take a bite. Wow! It was nearly sweet! I ate two halves right away. I found it very surprising that I enjoyed that fruit so much. I drank that little juice, it was sour but again, there was no bitterness in it at all. The albedo was so pleasant to chew, it had a nice spongy texture, and it had a good taste. It was a little numbing and oily, too. But I enjoyed it. Maybe my taste is improving or this was a really superior yuzu.
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