Citrus > Cold Hardy Citrus
F2 citrange winter hardiness trial
kumin:
An additional tree has transitioned into mature phase. This tree is A-26 one of the cold trial F2 segentrange survivors and is presently 44 months old, will be 4 years old in April 2022. Yesterday I noticed it had flower buds waiting for next Spring, but overlooked the small immature fruit. These fruit must be from very late flowers and have no chance of maturing. However, they're a welcome sight as they indicate the tree is of fruiting age.
This tree is 11' high (3.35m) and the top had begun to lean sideways a bit. I'm leaning (pun) toward thinking treetops over 9' in height being directed to grow at a 90 deg. angle to the side might enhance early flowering. I doubt it's effective at a lower height.
Flower bud set to bloom in the coming Spring. Flower buds are more plump than vegetative buds.
The tree developed short twigs in preparation for flowering, very similar to Poncirus fruiting twigs. This tree exhibits many Poncirus-like traits.
Both fruits are visible in this photo, the smaller one is in the lower left near the pipe.
Due to this tree being deciduous, I may attempt to cross it with 5* citrumelo in the Spring, I expect some of the Poncirus+ trees to also bloom in the Spring, giving additional opportunities for hybridization.
BorisR:
--- Quote from: kumin on December 08, 2021, 11:40:21 AM ---These fruit must be from very late flowers and have no chance of maturing.
--- End quote ---
Hello kumin! The fruit looks yellow in the photo. Maybe they are ripe?
kumin:
It's probably a cold response. The growth hasn't been enough to develop a smooth rind. Late blooming Poncirus develops similar fruit, small in size, rough in texture and yellowish-green in color. The immature poncirus are about 25% of the weight of fruit originating from Spring flowers. However, I will pick these segentranges to determine the presence of seeds. I rather doubt any seeds would be viable , but if so, a test for zygotic seeds would be in order.
kumin:
A-026 segentrange fruit's flesh is rather dry after freezing several times. It's very small, hopefully due to late season flowering. The color is deeper orange than Poncirus, The peel is less adherent than Poncirus, similar to sweet orange. Some Poncirus bitterness is apparent in the flesh, as well as the rind, but less intense than straight Poncirus . Unlike Poncirus, some sweetness is detectable. Next year I hope to get a better chance to evaluate mature fruit. The seeds are likely at least partially polyembryonic. I plan to do a seedling test for zygotic seedlings in a few weeks. At this point I know that the tree is pollen and seed fertile. This tree is deciduous and in the hardiest 5-6 of the seedlings. Hopefully, as more seedlings flower and fruit some will show better size.
A young grafted A-026 tree out of doors.
hardyvermont:
That is very encouraging, a hardy deciduous F1 plant with improvement in fruit and only 4 seeds.
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