Hybrid Trifoliate Fruit
When I visited the Texas A&M Citrus Center in December, I was allowed to collect some fallen trifoliate fruit from some of their trees. John said they were a trifoliate hybrid that the center was using for rootstock, but he couldn't remember off the top of his head exactly what the parents were. He emailed me later tell me that it was called the Bitters C-22 Citrange, a cross between a sour mandarin (Citrus sunki) and Swingle trifoliate orange.
I brought the fruit home with me and extracted the seeds to grow my own rootstocks for next year. This hybrid fruit definitely had the tell-tale trifoliate odor, but it wasn't nearly as nauseating as the fruit I collected from the Armand Bayou Nature Center last year. I even tasted a little bit, and didn't vomit immediately.
I was able to get around 20 seeds from just two little fruits. I washed them in really hot water for a few minutes to get the slimy film off, and then planted them all in a 3-gallon pot of plain potting soil. Next year I'll separate them into individual pots, and grow them until they're large enough to graft.
I brought the fruit home with me and extracted the seeds to grow my own rootstocks for next year. This hybrid fruit definitely had the tell-tale trifoliate odor, but it wasn't nearly as nauseating as the fruit I collected from the Armand Bayou Nature Center last year. I even tasted a little bit, and didn't vomit immediately.
I was able to get around 20 seeds from just two little fruits. I washed them in really hot water for a few minutes to get the slimy film off, and then planted them all in a 3-gallon pot of plain potting soil. Next year I'll separate them into individual pots, and grow them until they're large enough to graft.
Slightly nauseating trifolaite fruit.
Very seed fruit.
Washing the seeds in hot water.
Around 20 seeds from 2 small fruit.
Planted.
