Citrandarin

[Wahl]

Has anyone grown any of the new Citrandarin that seem to be coming out all over? I'm looking for cold hardness and taste.

[Wahl]

Is anyone growing any Citrandarin?

[gordonh1]

I know people are growing citrandarins. I am, but I hadn't replied earlier, since they are just seedlings now of 852 and have not achieved any real size as of yet, just facing their second season.

I'm curious about Bishop citrandarin. It is a seedling of US 852 that supposedly tastes better and maybe has other desirable qualities.  I'd be curious if someone would reply and elaborate more - is it worth seeking out Bishop citrandarin if I'm already growing seedlings of 852?   Who knows, maybe my seedlings will prove to be equally as nice as Bishop.

What new and special varieties were you referring to?

[Mulberry0126]

I'm growing US-852, 812, and 942. Prague Citsuma as well. I have not had fruit from these trees directly but I have sampled US-852 and US-942.
US-852 is pretty good, mild sweetness and tart, it just has an unusual aftertaste that is hard to describe or compare to other trifoliate hybrids. It makes and excellent juice and marmalade however!
US-942 as a plant seems very vigorous and hopefully it is also hardy to around 0°F. The fruit have a good tart-orange taste and and they peel like a store-bought Clementine. They have a slight trifoliate/pine aftertaste but not bad. The fruit I tried was lower quality so I am looking forward to tasting one at its peak!

[kumin]

I don't have 852 Citrandarin. I have 1279, 1281 and 1282 as well as Bishop. Bishop appears to be the hardiest of the lot, having defoliated but survived at 2°F during the past Winters.
1279, 1281 and 1282 appear to be less hardy than Bishop with 1282 being the least hardy of the 3. 1279 is small fruited and rather late ripening.

Bishop Citrandarin during its second Winter unprotected outdoors in zone 6b.

[Wahl]

I know people are growing citrandarins. I am, but I hadn't replied earlier, since they are just seedlings now of 852 and have not achieved any real size as of yet, just facing their second season.

I'm curious about Bishop citrandarin. It is a seedling of US 852 that supposedly tastes better and maybe has other desirable qualities.  I'd be curious if someone would reply and elaborate more - is it worth seeking out Bishop citrandarin if I'm already growing seedlings of 852?   Who knows, maybe my seedlings will prove to be equally as nice as Bishop.

What new and special varieties were you referring to?

I was looking at 1279, 1281, 1282, 812, X-639 and 942. I have not heard of the  Bishop citrandarin sounds good. I need the cold hard for zone 7.

[Wahl]

I'm growing US-852, 812, and 942. Prague Citsuma as well. I have not had fruit from these trees directly but I have sampled US-852 and US-942.
US-852 is pretty good, mild sweetness and tart, it just has an unusual aftertaste that is hard to describe or compare to other trifoliate hybrids. It makes and excellent juice and marmalade however!
US-942 as a plant seems very vigorous and hopefully it is also hardy to around 0°F. The fruit have a good tart-orange taste and and they peel like a store-bought Clementine. They have a slight trifoliate/pine aftertaste but not bad. The fruit I tried was lower quality so I am looking forward to tasting one at its peak!

I was able to get a 942 this year so we will find out it works out here in zone 7. I thought I had a 852 from stan but the fruit I had this last year where really good tasting with almost no seeds. I would like to try the 812 but can't find  any where that has it.

[Wahl]

I don't have 852 Citrandarin. I have 1279, 1281and 1282 as well as Bishop. Bishop appears to be the hardiest of the lot, having defoliated but survived at 2°F during the past Winter.
1279, 1281 and 1282 appear to be less hardy with 1282 being the least hardy of the 3. 1279 is small fruited and rather late ripening.

Bishop Citrandarin during its second Winter unprotected outdoors in zone 6b.

Did you have the 1279, 1281and 1282 out with the 2F or did you have them inside? How is the is the taste on the 3 of them?

[kumin]

1279 has fruited, 1281and 1282 haven't. I find Bishop hardier, earlier ripening, more attractive and better flavored than 1279. 1279, 1281 and 1282 are grown in the soil within a tunnel with minimal heat provided when the temperature drops below 20°F.

[Mulberry0126]

I was able to purchase my 812 scions from Madison Citrus Nursery, I'm not sure but they may still have trees left too. Not sure about the fruit though, fingers crossed!

[Wahl]

1279 has fruited, 1281and 1282 haven't. I find Bishop hardier, earlier ripening, more attractive and better flavored than 1279. 1279, 1281 and 1282 are grown in the soil within a tunnel with minimal heat provided when the temperature drops below 20°F.

Do you know where I could get the Bishop, seeds or plant? Sound like that might be a real good one for zone 7.

[Wahl]

I was able to purchase my 812 scions from Madison Citrus Nursery, I'm not sure but they may still have trees left too. Not sure about the fruit though, fingers crossed!

How long have you had it. Have test cold hardness?

[Mulberry0126]

I've only just recently grafted it to some rootstock. This will be the first year testing it, but our Winter is pretty mild so I am sure it will survive.

[Skandiberg]

1279 has fruited, 1281and 1282 haven't. I find Bishop hardier, earlier ripening, more attractive and better flavored than 1279. 1279, 1281 and 1282 are grown in the soil within a tunnel with minimal heat provided when the temperature drops below 20°F.

Hi kumin,

Your Bishop citrandarin with its 2F hardiness makes me interested. How would you describe the fruit? Some people say it's better than stock US 852 which it's related to but US 852 itself seems to vary a lot on taste so that doesn't tell much. Is it edible out of hand? And when did it ripen?

Thanks.

[kumin]

1279 has fruited, 1281and 1282 haven't. I find Bishop hardier, earlier ripening, more attractive and better flavored than 1279. 1279, 1281 and 1282 are grown in the soil within a tunnel with minimal heat provided when the temperature drops below 20°F.

Hi kumin,

Your Bishop citrandarin with its 2F hardiness makes me interested. How would you describe the fruit? Some people say it's better than stock US 852 which it's related to but US 852 itself seems to vary a lot on taste so that doesn't tell much. Is it edible out of hand? And when did it ripen?

Thanks.

This is the first year that the newly grafted Bishop tree has flowered and I need to verify that there's fruit set. The fruit I've sampled was sent to me by a colleague in Georgia USA. Bishop appears to flower on the first Spring flush of growth. This delays flowers almost a month later than the Conestoga selections, many of which flower on overwintering flower buds. Based on my somewhat limited experience to this point, it appears that there's a strong correlation between early flowering and early maturity of fruit.
In short, Bishop is likely to ripen later than ideal and is marginally hardy in my plant zone. It's importance to me is as a seed parent in crosses with the hardiest Conestoga selections of which several are hardy to -12° F (-24,5°C).
My recollection of Bishop taste is that it's tart but has noticeable sweetness, excellent rind, as well as juice color and reminds me of an immature Mandarin.

[Skandiberg]

Thank you kumin.

What you write about the taste of Bishop is good news to me. Sweetish, acceptable taste, variability and hardiness are right what I'm after. I also want to use it as a breeding partner in quite a few crosses. It is hardy enough for my zone 7 especially because we have had mainly zone 8a winters in the last  decade.

Fruits are pretty and the leaves have an interesting pattern. Young leaves look a bit like the young leaves of Magnolia stellata or pomegranates, they have a wrinkled look.

It will be exciting to hear from your Conestoga fruits in the future. I googled that one but found pretty much nothing but two threads of this forum. What can be expected of them in the fruit quality department?

[kumin]

The Conestoga selections have some attributes in common as they were selected for extreme cold hardiness. This in turn selected the Poncirus - like progeny out of the original population of seedlings.

There's a bit of variability among the survivors in the percentage of zygotic seedlings produced, the desirability of the flavors, the cold hardiness, the presence or absence of monofoliate leaves, etc. In addition, some are fully deciduous and others only reluctantly so. The hardiest selections have Poncirus like winter bud scales, while others exhibit deformed first flush foliage due to lacking true Winter buds.
None of the Conestogas are advanced enough to eat out of hand, but 026 and 010 make an acceptable beverage when diluted and sweetened. 010 has faint sweetness. I'll review my notes to list the fruit characteristics as I determined them

[kumin]

[kumin]

[Skandiberg]

Wow. I'm standing in awe. You really take this cause seriously. I know myself to never reach this level of scientific thoroughness. I will surely forget half of my crosses because I sure as hell will forget to record them.

But as for the plants, some of those data look outstanding for a Citrus around and beyond the -20C hardiness range. So you did a fantastic job. I can't wait to read your full review.

[Skandiberg]

I'm growing US-852, 812, and 942. Prague Citsuma as well. I have not had fruit from these trees directly but I have sampled US-852 and US-942.
US-852 is pretty good, mild sweetness and tart, it just has an unusual aftertaste that is hard to describe or compare to other trifoliate hybrids. It makes and excellent juice and marmalade however!
US-942 as a plant seems very vigorous and hopefully it is also hardy to around 0°F. The fruit have a good tart-orange taste and and they peel like a store-bought Clementine. They have a slight trifoliate/pine aftertaste but not bad. The fruit I tried was lower quality so I am looking forward to tasting one at its peak!

I was able to get a 942 this year so we will find out it works out here in zone 7. I thought I had a 852 from stan but the fruit I had this last year where really good tasting with almost no seeds. I would like to try the 812 but can't find  any where that has it.

Hi Wahl,

I just reread this thread and found what you had written. What was that US 852 fruit like? Did it have any PT taste? And above all: how about the hardiness of the plant? If it's producing and planted outside, I guess it tolerates cold well.

And please give us a hardiness report of the US 942 next spring.

[Wahl]

I'm growing US-852, 812, and 942. Prague Citsuma as well. I have not had fruit from these trees directly but I have sampled US-852 and US-942.
US-852 is pretty good, mild sweetness and tart, it just has an unusual aftertaste that is hard to describe or compare to other trifoliate hybrids. It makes and excellent juice and marmalade however!
US-942 as a plant seems very vigorous and hopefully it is also hardy to around 0°F. The fruit have a good tart-orange taste and and they peel like a store-bought Clementine. They have a slight trifoliate/pine aftertaste but not bad. The fruit I tried was lower quality so I am looking forward to tasting one at its peak!

I was able to get a 942 this year so we will find out it works out here in zone 7. I thought I had a 852 from stan but the fruit I had this last year where really good tasting with almost no seeds. I would like to try the 812 but can't find  any where that has it.

Hi Wahl,

I just reread this thread and found what you had written. What was that US 852 fruit like? Did it have any PT taste? And above all: how about the hardiness of the plant? If it's producing and planted outside, I guess it tolerates cold well.

And please give us a hardiness report of the US 942 next spring.

Yes I will keep everyone up to date. The 852 I thought i had is a prague, I found out. I have the 852 too but has not fruited yet. I have a youtube channel I have a lot of updates on as well.

[Skandiberg]

Ah, I see. I thought you had a zygotic US 852 pollenized by something thus creating an exciting hybrid. Or just a better tasting 852.

By the way, what's the name of your youtube channel?

[Wahl]

I did sprout some seeds off of the prague and some of them seems to be a hybrid of some kind. The youtube is "sweet home Alabama homestead"

[Skandiberg]

That sounds cool. I hope they will grow into something exciting. If the leaf patterns are different enough, they are surely worth looking into.

Thanks for letting me know about your channel, I will check it!