Citrus Growers Forum

smurfinator · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Boulder, Colorado

Well I had a productive summer! I now have something like 24 calamondin seedlings in tiny (2") rootmaker cups. All grown from a bumper crop of fruit on a little tree I bought very early in the spring.

On the sly I have turned into a raging citriholic, now with 6 key lime trees, 6 Ellendale Tangerine, Meyer lemon, (older) Calamondin from seed, blood oranges, grapefruit, eureka lemon and a couple of mystery trees that I forgot to label.

I only started doing this last winter and my first sprout - a calamodin that I sprouted from fruit pilfered from the nursery - has reached 15" tall after several pinchings and is growing at an exponential rate in a very broad fashion after 11 months.

All are grown from seed but the fruiting calamondin and a new 5 foot tall Nagami Kumquat that my father just got me as a gift. He saw how sad I was this spring when I lost all 24 kumquat seedlings to fungus :[

Anyway, If anybody wants to trade calamondin seedlings for things like Meiwa kumquat seeds or cuttings or satsuma cuttings, or whatever else interesting, I would be open to that.

Initially I planned on sprouting 24-50 of various varieties and keeping only the "best" for myself. Now I have 4-10 "best" of several things, lol.

I no longer have a bathtub or any windowsill space and only half of a kitchen floor, lol. I live in Colorado with a dramatic southern exposure...

Just found that camera batts are dead, so pics later.

Millet · Posted: Fri 07 Dec, 2007 1:23 am

I'm not interested in trading, but I have Meiwa Kumquat, Sunburst Mandarin and a Cocktail grapefruit in fruit and you are welcome to some seeds. I live 25 miles east of Denver, so the mail delivery time should only be one or two days to Boulder. If you would like some of the above seeds send me your name and address using the private message function on this forum and I will send them to you at no charge.

dauben · Posted: Fri 07 Dec, 2007 2:35 am

smurfinator wrote:

All are grown from seed but the fruiting calamondin and a new 5 foot tall Nagami Kumquat that my father just got me as a gift. He saw how sad I was this spring when I lost all 24 kumquat seedlings to fungus :[

Yea, I had a hard time with my kumquat seedlings also. Many of them ended up damping off before I knew what damping off was. I have one lonely Meiwa seedling left and it's not looking so good.

For my birthday though, my sister gave me a gift card to Home Depot that I set aside to get a Kumquat tree. They didn't have any Keiwa trees and had one puny looking Nagami. They said they would call their growers to see if they had a Meiwa, but I haven't been called back. I keep forgetting to call them on my lunch break.

Phillip

smurfinator · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Boulder, Colorado

dauben wrote:

smurfinator wrote:

All are grown from seed but the fruiting calamondin and a new 5 foot tall Nagami Kumquat that my father just got me as a gift. He saw how sad I was this spring when I lost all 24 kumquat seedlings to fungus :[

Yea, I had a hard time with my kumquat seedlings also. Many of them ended up damping off before I knew what damping off was. I have one lonely Meiwa seedling left and it's not looking so good.

For my birthday though, my sister gave me a gift card to Home Depot that I set aside to get a Kumquat tree. They didn't have any Keiwa trees and had one puny looking Nagami. They said they would call their growers to see if they had a Meiwa, but I haven't been called back. I keep forgetting to call them on my lunch break.

Phillip

Hi Phil, most of the trees I see are grown by Hines Horticulture, which is in California - Vacaville. www.hineshort.com

They grew the Kumquat I have and it is QUITE a specimen. Two seperate grafts on a nearly 2" root trunk. Retail was 69.95 but I got the 20% december discount at the nursery here (woohoo!).

Anyway, they produce a wide range of stuff so it might be worth a trip.

dauben · Posted: Sun 09 Dec, 2007 1:53 pm

smurfinator wrote:

Hi Phil, most of the trees I see are grown by Hines Horticulture, which is in California - Vacaville. www.hineshort.com

They grew the Kumquat I have and it is QUITE a specimen. Two seperate grafts on a nearly 2" root trunk. Retail was 69.95 but I got the 20% december discount at the nursery here (woohoo!).

Anyway, they produce a wide range of stuff so it might be worth a trip.

Thanks. I went to Hines' website and it looks like they are a supplier to Armstrong Gardens in my area, but I know that Armstrong's citrus trees are grown by a local grower (Durling's Nursery) since I've gotten most of my trees from Armstrong. It could be that Hines also ships to Home Depot under some agreement to use the Home Depot label, but Home Depot isn't listed on their website.

Anyway, I called Home Depot on Friday for the third time asking if they had called the grower about my Kumquat tree. This time the lady said flat out that they won't get back to me until next year since they are spending so much time with Christmas Trees. I appreciate the honesty, but I made a point of buying my Christmas Tree at Lowes yesterday. "I didn't have the time drive the extra block or two to go to Home Depot". Smile

Phillip

smurfinator · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Boulder, Colorado

I have a love/hate relationship with the big box stores... You just can't expect anything from the employees there.