I Accidentally Discovered a Better Tasting Trifoliate Orange (The Next Poncirus+?)

[@VirginiaFruitGrower]

Always fun to discover unique seedlings

[@themulberries]

@@VirginiaFruitGrower It really is! Each one holds so much potential.

[@PapaPepper]

We've enjoyed our Trifoliate for a couple years now and make "lemonade ", "key lime pie", and "lemon curd" out of them. Recently came across a tree on a property we were passing by and the guy said he never used them for anything, so he let us pick a massive harvest. Well, the first one my son ate was a small fruit, and had 57 seeds in it. Our fruit is larger, and had 9 to 20 some seeds in it. Then ours take about 20 fruit to get a cup of juice.... but the other ones we harvested took 138 fruit to get one cup of juice.... that's 7X less juicy... so, that half gallon bag of seeds will be root stock at best, lol. Just visited a friend in Missouri who has some growing from 3 local sources by him, and some are even more impressive than the ones we have growing, so we're excited for the future

[@themulberries]

@@PapaPepper That's awesome, I wanted to try key lime pie with them this year too after seeing your family make it! We made Citremon pie last year (trifoliate orange and lemon hybrid) and it was really good. That sounds like an intense amount of seeds, wow! I've definitely seen a lot of variation in these plants. I also have a developing theory related to their flavor, which is that trifoliate oranges with brighter, blemish-free rinds tend to taste better. All the ones I have had with frequent black patches and blemishes on them have tended towards more off flavors. I will have to do a proper side-by-side to confirm this.

[@PeterEntwistle]

Pretty cool! Can't wait to see how the fruit turns out in the future!

[@themulberries]

@@PeterEntwistle Me too! Any small margin of improvement is huge for people in colder zones.

[@NofsJungle]

Awesome! Good eyes to notice the slight differences. Looking forward to seeing what the fruit tastes like

[@themulberries]

@@NofsJungle Thanks! It's some years from now but I'm very excited so far.

[@CitrusPalmsWithTom]

Flying dragon seems to set hybrids much more readily than standard Poncirus. ‘Dragon Lime’ is a chance seedling of FD as the seed parent.

[@themulberries]

@@CitrusPalmsWithTom Definitely, I want to take advantage of this quality in the future! Not sure if it's my taste buds, but I'm hoping to have a decent dragon lime this year - I have yet to enjoy the taste of one.

[@CitrusPalmsWithTom]

@ well, when I say “readily,” I mean “occasionally” as opposed to “hardly ever.”😎

[@jonathansmith4712]

How long do you estimate it will take for this unique tree to bear fruit?

[@themulberries]

@@jonathansmith4712 Ideally 3-4 years, but there's a chance that it could take longer. I'll be employing every method possible to speed up growth and reduce time until maturity.

[@jonathansmith4712]

Very exciting. Just found your channel and will be following along. Good luck!

[@themulberries]

@jonathansmith4712 Welcome, and thank you!! We're working on a lot of new varieties and can't wait to share them in the future!

[@BrokeFarmer]

I'm definitely interested

[@themulberries]

@@BrokeFarmer Keep your eyes peeled over the next few years!

[@joman104]

this is so cool! I bet in 20 years we will have hundreds of cold hearty varieties for us northern growers.

[@themulberries]

@@joman104 Definitely! It's amazing what hobbyists have accomplished already. I would love to see a greater diversity of flavors on trees that can survive 0°F and below.

[@farleyschmackums]

Going to start tasting all my flying dragon seedling leaves now 😂 especially if they appear unique

[@themulberries]

@@farleyschmackums it's worth a try! Looking for unique ones definitely saves time and taste buds....trust me 😂

[@jeremiahedwards2073]

Are you able to shed any light on the citrus cavaleriei × poncirus trifoliata hybrids? Agrumi Lenzi advertises one, but they describe it as Ichangensis × trifoliate orange, so it's not clear that it's cavaleriei. This seems like it might be the way forward in creating an improved base or platform for retaining cold hardiness while reducing acrid flavors. Especially if poncirus+ was crossed with cavaleriei. Obviously it would need to be hybridized again with something more tasty. Thanks for any insights.

[@themulberries]

@@jeremiahedwards2073 I've heard about this hybrid, and how despite its parents it actually has juicy, palatable fruit. As far as I know, it is not available in the US, but I have plans for recreating the hybrid along with several variations. I'm going off memory here, but I believe it wasn't as hardy as one would think, but it's also to be expected that seedlings of this cross will exhibit normal variation, including cold hardiness. If I find out more about it, I will comment again.

[@SlackerU]

Interesting experiment. Though I'd imagine gene-editing could do it faster, especially now that scientists can better map protein-structure near 90% accuracy. If you did find a bitter-less variety then odds are you'll need to add some sort insecticide to replace the natural repellant of the bad taste. The Universities have fields of 400+ plants that they have gene-sequenced to ensure they aren't wasting time on something someone else already owns the right$ to. It would be amazing to find a little-miss-figgy type of discovery (as it was a branch of a VDB plant with naturally modified genetics).

[@themulberries]

@@SlackerU Funny you mention that, the unifoliate Swingle and Sacaton selections I made this year were more susceptible to insects damage since they tasted better. Luckily, it hasn't been much of an issue once they grow bigger. Very true though, doing this on a smaller, less-scientific scale is a much slower process. The more hobbyists involved, perhaps the quicker we can find some really useful variations. I wish cold hardy citrus research hadn't lost favor, but it seems that many deemed it a waste of time. In recent years though, I believe that idea has become easier to challenge.

[@SlackerU]

​@@themulberries I'm not aware of all of the different labs but you might include tomato seeds from Klee Lab in Florida in next years garden.

[@joekool9601]

Flying dragons ? Isn’t that finger lime ?

[@themulberries]

@@joekool9601 Nope, that's a 'Flying Dragon' trifoliate orange. Finger limes don't have trifoliate leaves unless they're a hybrid (which I've been trying to get my hands on!)

[@tmaddog1362]

where did you get the seedlings trays

[@themulberries]

@@tmaddog1362 Greenhouse Megastore has them, they're 5 inches deep x 50 cells.