Citrus Growers Forum

dauben · Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 1:55 pm

I was reading an article (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HS221) that references some studies at the bottom of the page that used a sour orange rootstock with a flying dragon interstock. It appears that the result was a higher yield with the dwarfing effects of the FD. I would like to find out more about the yields that were obtained, but I don't know where I can access these studies. Has anyone ever tried doing this and what were your results? I'm just wondering if the yield was really significant enough to go to the effort grafting multiple times (particularly for a backyard gardener).

Thanks,
Phillip

Millet · Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 2:44 pm

Philip, I have read the article you refer to before. It does not say how much greater the yield was, which would lead me to think that the increase was not considerable. However, I believe the real advantage of using a Sour Orange root stock, with a Flying Dragon interstock would not be the increase in yield, but the real advantage would be in the increased assurance and security against soil pathogens and disease resistance.

FLYING DRAGON ............................SOUR ORANGE

Soil Salinity - Poor.................................Good
High pH - Poor.................................Good
Wet Soil - Good.................................Good +
Drought - Poor................................. Intermediate
Exocortis - Susceptible.........................Tolerant
Blight - Susceptible.........................Tolerant
Fruit Size - Small.................................Intermediate

The one big disadvantage of Sour Orange as a rootstock is it susceptibility
to Tristeza Virus. However, if you live in a Tristeza free area, Sour Orange has long been considered a prime root stock. The main advantage of a Sour Orange rootstock and Flying Dragon interstock for a door yard tree would be tree height. Even then, I believe, because of all of the extra time and effort, very few home owners would bother with it. IMHO - Millet

dauben · Posted: Thu 28 Dec, 2006 3:10 am

Millet wrote:

Philip, I have read the article you refer to before. It does not say how much greater the yield was, which would lead me to think that the increase was not considerable. However, I believe the real advantage of using a Sour Orange root stock, with a Flying Dragon interstock would not be the increase in yield, but the real advantage would be in the increased assurance and security against soil pathogens and disease resistance.

Thanks Millet. I just received my sour orange and flying dragon seeds from Trade Winds (after a month of waiting). I planted 6 FD and 6 sour orange last night. I'll be waiting a while before I get to do any grafting, but I'm thinking that for 3 of my sour orange seedlings I'll use a FD interstock and see what happens yield and disease wise in comparison with my FD seedlings.

On another note, what concentration of Potassium Nitrate do you use on your plants before and after fruit sets? I've read ranges between 1% and 5%. I was going to use 5 oz of KNO3 per gallon of water. How does that sound?

Thanks,
Phillip

Patty_in_wisc · Posted: Thu 28 Dec, 2006 4:26 am

What is "interstock"? Thanks

_________________
Patty
I drink wine to make other people more interesting Wink

garnetmoth · Posted: Thu 28 Dec, 2006 10:48 am

it is something that is not the roots, nor the fruiting part of the tree.

so in this case, FD would be coming out of the soil, then grafted onto that would be the sour orange, and without allowing fruiting, there would be another variety on top of the sour orange. there would be 2 graft unions.

im hoping i can get one graft union going this year!

dauben · Posted: Thu 28 Dec, 2006 12:11 pm

Patty_in_wisc wrote:

What is "interstock"? Thanks

Here's a texbook definition I found on the internet. My plan was to graft flying dragon to a sour orang rootstock and then my selection of fruit that I want the tree to be onto the flying dragon.

"Interstock - That area of the tree that is grafted to the
rootstock. For example; the rootstock may be sour
orange, the interstock grapefruit, and the grafted scion
Valencia orange"

Phillip