Seeing this new sub-forum has finally prompted me to ask, where are all the blood orange-kumquat hybrids? While I love kumquats, I've always thought they could do with a bit more flavor from the pulp. It seems like a blood orange and kumquat hybrid would be a obvious cross, get the sweet peel of a kumquat and the pulp flavor of a blood orange, but I've never seen anything like that online.

Good idea. Bloodquat sounds like blood clot thought... Not good for marketing.

What about redquat?

This is a great hybrid to try, I've imagined this myself. I wonder why nobody has made one yet? I'll try it in spring if I get flowers on my Lane Late and Nagami at the same time, although it won't be a bloodquat it will still be an orangequat.

I have been trying, but it will be many years before I know if I'm successful.

Hydrobell I wish you luck with your hybrid attempts! Could you describe in more detail your orangequat hybrid attempt please? Which 2 varieties did you cross? How many seedlings do you have? How old? Etc...

Good idea! But I remember I've read somwhere that the blood trait is a recessive one. If so, both parents have to be carriers of the "blood" gene in order for a child to express the blood coloration. So, if you cross a kumquat with a blood orange, the result will be an orangequat with a very normal flesh coloration (not blood-like at all), let's call this hybrid F1. It's got the blood gene from the blood orange, but it also has a "normal colouration" gene from the kumquat. And the normal gene is always dominating in this case.
So now, you need to cross the F1 hybrid with a blood orange again in order to get a blood orangequat, F2 (2nd generation hybrid). About half of the F2s will have blood colorated fruits, and the rest will have normal fruits. And if you make a cross F1 x F1, there's a 25% chance of getting a bloodquat. It's a long way, but it's certainly worth waiting for getting a real redquat.

The teory seems true, as for example C-32 and C-35 citranges are hybrids between 'Ruby' orange and 'Webber-Fawcett' trifoliate and their fruits aren't bloodish at all. Not even light red, or orange, but - greenish. Crosses like this: C32 x 'Ruby' orange / C35 x 'Ruby' should result in getting some blood citranges.

But it doesn't have to be true, and getting a bloodquat might be much easier. And I hope it is! Wish you luck with your hybrids!

Yes, but look at all the new blood crosses coming out of Italy lately.

Maybe they've discovered a simpler way, or the hybrids are F2s.