I use clonex gel. It is good. But i think there must be better rooting gel/hormone for clonning citrus tree. Am i right?

I have never used the gel's, I use a combo of liquid & powder which works out pretty well. I think the most important factor is keeping the soil warm while rooting.

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/351018

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Grow-More-Liquid-Fertilizer-p/Rapid-Root-3.htm?gclid=CI-Ihb7dtbMCFRRynAodZ2sAbQ

Serj I make my own rooting combo from some ingredients

Hi , I hope I am not screwing up this forum, but I have a question maybe those in this forum can answer quickly. Since starting from seeds takes about seven years to produce a mature tree to start fruiting. I was just able to root some branches from a mature Orange tree with powdered root tone, will these new rootings be as if they are from a mature tree or will it still take a long time to produce fruit. In others words a graft is quicker to produce would a rooting be as quick.???? Thanks for your answer in advance.

Terry, rooted cuttings tend to bear fruit earlier than seedlings do. Generally, citrus cuttings can have their first crop in as little as two (sometimes three) years.

Best,
Igor

Some try to bear fruit "while" they are rooting.

Mine take less than 2 years to bear fruit ... 99% of them bear fruit in the first year

Generally speaking, oranges do not do well on their own roots. I would advise grafting to a suitable rootstock.

Danero2004 will you tell us your recipe for your rooting combo ?

To enlarge a bit on Ned's comment that sweet oranges don't do well on their own roots -- they have some advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: own-root oranges are exceptionally cold-hardy, are large-growing trees (that may or may not be an advantage), and the produce fruit of exceptionally high quality. But the downside to own-root: they are unusually susceptible to foot rot disease caused by Phytophthora (Valencia is less so than other varieties), and the root system is very shallow, so the trees require more frequent irrigation. Also in hurricane-prone areas, rooted cuttings or air layers will have weak/fragile connections between the roots and the base of the stem, so they can be ripped out of the ground easier than would a tree on a seedling root system with a tap root.

Other than the shallow roots, own-root oranges don't have any particular issues with soil pH, micronutrient nutrition, or virus diseases.

Dr. Manners, glad you weighed in on this, have a question for you out here in S. California: Many of our old Valencia orange groves here are on sour orange rootstock. They make the best, most incredibly sweet oranges. Am I just imagining that these Valencias are sweeter that those Valencias on newer, trifoliate or citrange rootstocks? I also believe there are more soil pathogen issues with sour orange, which is why commercial growers here in California eventually switched over from sour orange to trifoliate/citrange rootstock, but my gosh, these old Valencia oranges seem to be so extremely good. I live behind a 3 generation old Valencia orange orchard. It's not being managed, and I know a lot of the sweetness of the oranges are due to some water starvation, but even when this orchard was being managed and watered, these oranges were out of this world.

I think the only down side to sour orange is it's susceptibility to Citrus Tristeza Virus.

If a 3rd generation orchard even without management does so well, so where is the Tristezza then ???

As I said before, in Italy Citrus.aurantium is STANDARD and they do very well there ...

I don't know, maybe someone just made it up.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs242

We have very little issue with Tristeza here in this part of S. California, Sanguinello.

But yes, Laaz, this was the main reason commercial growers here in California made the switch way back. But, as you can see, this grove is over 40 years old and has zero issues with Tristeza. Just neglect and no watering for the last 6 years It's being sold to a developer, so we're going to have homes behind us. I'm hoping I can talk to the new developer, and ask him to save as many of those special trees as possible. Most are already dead, but the rows right behind our row of homes in my development are not, due to how the water drains and percolates. All our trees behind us are still alive, even the trees they stumped. Many were stumped above the rootstock, and grew back. We do have a couple stumped below the rootstock, and are producing sour oranges, but I'd be willing to topwork those trees and re-graft the Valencia cultivar to those to restore them to their former glory. They'd just have to drip them. and the developer has to keep a 15' to 20' buffer between our two developments, planted with nice plants, so I'm going to try to ask for a row or two of the original orange trees to stay.