I got this from a german guy but I'm not interested in trifoliate hybrids. Anyone?

Dear Mr. Texas Citrus Man,

today I write to you because I think you are the right person for this item.

Since many years I collect and cultivate a lot of citrus and its relatives from all over the world.
Of course in our climate here in germany it is not possible to have most of the cultivars as outdoor plants there fore I put the most o fit in winter into a glass house.

Because of this handycap I have some hardy citrus hybrids, of course I have also a lot of the common trifoliate hybrids.

In a meeting together with some citrus friends we got the idea to breed a new citrus hybrid with 4-leafed citrus clover leaf by crossing the trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) with Citrus ichangensis.

All of us knwe that this is nearly impossible but we don't know the true reason.

So I pollinated for many of years flowers of Poncirus trifoliata with pollen of Citrus ichangensis pollen but without any success. Also my friends did not have any success.

But i didn't give up. In the year 2000 I pollinated again for about 20 flowers of Poncirus trifoliata with pollen of Citrus ichangensis (Citrus ichangensis was still in the glass house and Poncirus trifoliata an outdoor plant). From these 20 flowers one set a fruit and when I harvested this fruit in autumn 2000 I found for about 5 seeds in it. I layed all these seeds into the earth. 3 seeds germinated, 2 seemed to be identically with Poncirus trifoliata, and the other one showed a very different habitus in comparison with Citrus ichangensis and poncirus trifoliata.

Enclosed you will find some pictures of this plant. The Picture No. 0 shows the young plant in the year 2001 . The pictures Mo. 1 to 4 shows the plant today. The height o it is about 1,5 meters , up today it showed still no flowers or fruits.

When the theory is correct the hybrid will be hardy like Poncirus trifoliata because Poncirus trifoliata is the mother. The winter hardiness will be tested by me and a friend of me in the next years.

I don't know if the hybrid was a very lucky random result, or if the poncirus mother plant was a specially one.

Today I am not able to examine the poncirus mother because I moved 5 years ago and the man who overtook my old house he eliminated the poncirus tree.

But the result, the hybrid is still alive and existing!

May be the hybrid will open the citrus science new possibilities concerning ways and strategies of breeding in the future.

IIf this item is very interesting for you please feel free to contact me. If you are planning some scientific examinations I would support this by sending material fof my plant for gen analyzes, experiments, breeding or propagating and so one.

Yours sincerely

Ulrich A. Baeurer
Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Germany

baeurer_No_Spam_planet-interkom.de (take out the _no_spam_ and add an @ instead)

Millet or Stan?

We are not cold enough to test this type. Besides, it is next to impossible for me to get something outside the country based on existing regulations. He can contact the UCR CCPP coordinator or the Lindcove citrus research facility.

Was there any follow up or further contact with the gentlemen
from Karlsdorf-Neuthard - state of Baden-Württemberg? One
of the best friends we have lives in Cloppenburg - state of
Niedersachsen, Germany.

Live plants can be shipped in from an EU country but they
will have to be held under quarantine for a span of time prior
to their release and will be shipped bare root, sans any soil.
It is not that the plants will not arrive here it is a matter of
what kind of shape they are in when they do arrive. Nurseries
in Europe do not want to be held responsible for plants after
they leave their hands that may be held for up to 6 weeks and
then shipped and have the plants arrive to us already deceased.
There are other ways to get a hybrid into the US without having
to ship in a live plant.

Something to keep in mind that the seed parent has already
been growing in a climate much cooler for a longer period
of time during the growing season than most any of us growing
Citrus in the US will have to endure. Cold resistance has already
been bred into this plant. If none of you have contacted Ulrich
yet, what are you guys waiting on?

Snickles