Grafting: mix & match varieties

[funlul]

My navel orange tree bears lot of fruits (too much) and they are difficult to pick due to height and canopy density. I am thinking of trimming it to a more manageable size (thank you Viking Guy for detailed tips) and attempt to graft some other varieties onto it (fingers crossed).

What citrus varieties go well together? Good tasting orange / grapefruit / lemon recommendations? Timing recommendations?

I also have a smaller tangerine tree to work with, although to be honest, we can never get enough from that tree, haha.

[funlul]

I *think* I already have 2 varieties of oranges on the tree, as some oranges are distinctly better than others, but they look about the same and we haven't figured out which one comes from which branch, yet. (For our avocado tree the good branch was very obvious...)

[jcaldeira]

Graft on a citrus variety that you like to eat.  If space is limited it seems best to focus on the kind of fruit that will be most valuable to you in the kitchen. 

The newer varieties of grapefruit are so sweet they don't need sugar, and a good mandarin is hard to beat, so those would be my choices.

When top-working the tree, consider cutting the limbs and then cleft grafting onto the new shoots that emerge when they are pencil thick (a couple of months after cutting).  There is typically so much sap pushing up through those shoots that even a sloppy graft is likely to be successful.

[mrtexas]

Be sure your grafts are the top bud on the tree otherwise they may not force.
I'd use a bark graft or t-bud the smaller shoots. I've done this many times.

[Viking Guy]

I would suggest adding the Cara Cara Red Naval.  You can never have too many of those super sweet citrus delicacies.

I love tangelos--especially Minneola and the True Honeybell.  Also, for uniqueness, the Orlando Tangelo has cup shaped leaves and is very cold tolerant.  Next, get a Temple/King/Ortanique as well to cross pollinate the Tangelos.

Finally, select some Blood oranges.  Moro and sanguinelli are two of my favs.

I like oranges that are juicy with a mix of sweet and sharp tart flavor.  My wife likes the more smooth tastes of easy peelers such as Owari satsuma.

Also, with a tree that size, I'd opt for a pumelo (preferably both pink and chandler).  Really, few citrus beat pumelos all in all.  Would take them over grapefruit any day, and I love grapefruit.

[mrtexas]

My navel orange tree bears lot of fruits (too much) and they are difficult to pick due to height and canopy density. I am thinking of trimming it to a more manageable size (thank you Viking Guy for detailed tips) and attempt to graft some other varieties onto it (fingers crossed).

What citrus varieties go well together? Good tasting orange / grapefruit / lemon recommendations? Timing recommendations?

I also have a smaller tangerine tree to work with, although to be honest, we can never get enough from that tree, haha.

As you are in California you could add some of the recent patented mandarins like gold nugget, shasta gold, tahoe gold, yosemite gold all very delicious selections.

[funlul]

Thank you everyone! How many varieties can a mature tree reasonably handle without getting confused / frustrated?   I also have an apple tree stump in 15 gallon container to work with, haha. Granny smith apples, no Asian family would ever eat them!

When top-working the tree, consider cutting the limbs and then cleft grafting onto the new shoots that emerge when they are pencil thick (a couple of months after cutting).  There is typically so much sap pushing up through those shoots that even a sloppy graft is likely to be successful.

Viking Guy has given me excellent pruning tips, hmmm maybe I should time the pruning time such that there will be new shoots by the time of next local scion exchange?

[mrtexas]

Your variety tree will also be lopsided. One variety will way outgrow the others.
Might require a lot of pruning. Here is one I grew. Taller and far outgrowing is
changshou kumquat. Smaller one is clementine. I cut off the clementine when
my other clementine tree got some size. Rootstock was seedling sunquat.

I also had a blood orange variety tree: sanguinelli, tarocco, valencia, and Vaniglia Sanguigno.
Vaniglia Sanguigno far outgrew the others. When I tasted the acidless fruit I chopped that branch off.
I also had numerous satsuma trees with one branch of other mandarins on them. Also had a mature page with
several trial mandarin branches. Had a golden grapefruit with duncan, bloomsweet and ruby red branches.

[funlul]

...propagation of multi grafted citrus is very challenging, and there is always the tendency for one variety to outcompete the others when they are propagated in this way. Multi grafted citrus often end up as unbalanced specimens, with only one variety being strong. Rootstock/scion incompatibility issues also commonly occur, resulting in less than optimal fruit quality.

What is your favorite balanced combination for citrus varieties on the same tree?

[fyliu]

Mandarins are easiest to eat out of hand but have a limited season. Gold Nugget and Pixie are my favorites but I heard Tango is also very good.

Oranges are the best for extending the season. See Millet's thread on it.

Pummelo are strong and resistant to most pests. It will also dominate the tree. My Valentine is quickly smothering the kishu branch. Both were budded on the same day.

You can buy clean budwood that's cut monthly at ccpp.ucr.edu. Better to find a few other people and order as a group.
Budding is traditionally done in June, and the bark is slipping. It is called June-budding.

[Pancrazio]

The newer varieties of grapefruit are so sweet they don't need sugar, and a good mandarin is hard to beat, so those would be my choices.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing the name of those grapefuits varieties. I have an Oroblanco (or Sweetie. Still have to understand if they are different, but here everyone seems convinced they are synonyms) and i'm thinking to add some grapefruits but i'm still undecided on their names, and sweeter is better from my viewpoint.

[Radoslav]

The newer varieties of grapefruit are so sweet they don't need sugar, and a good mandarin is hard to beat, so those would be my choices.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing the name of those grapefuits varieties. I have an Oroblanco (or Sweetie. Still have to understand if they are different, but here everyone seems convinced they are synonyms) and i'm thinking to add some grapefruits but i'm still undecided on their names, and sweeter is better from my viewpoint.

The case of Oroblanco-Sweetie is similar to the case of Chandler- Jafa red pomelo.
Israelis know the truth. Most likely they are identical cultivars, but Israelis say that they just have same parentage - crosses come from same parents, but are not the same - i think it is just the game of trademarks and licenses.

[Pancrazio]

This may be the case. On the other hand, this should be pretty easy to prove/disprove with some dna analysis. But i see why noone is testing this: if they are the same or not, in either case things would probably end in a legal battle.