Here's an update. Picture taken on November 19, 2008.

81-n-1 citrus tree:

By Joe Real at 2008-11-20

Take note that the tree literally has fruits from the ground to the top. It is now heavily staked as the fruits started to enlarge, the top canopies begin to droop down to the ground. I temporarily removed some major support for better camera view, and will return them as soon as the show is over.

This is a testament of how adaptable citrus cultivars are and how most of them are graft compatible, and yet they all can produce tremendous diversity of fruits in one tree!

I have to admit, that I have grafted more than 100 cultivars into this one. I have only found 81 labels that are still attached to living branches, so officially it is an 81-n-1 citrus tree. We have strong winds, and sometimes labels blew away, or got harvested along with the fruits, and branches do break and naturally die off from self-pruning and other factors (and excuses). And some of the cultivars grafted were used as interstems instead of letting them bear fruits, so I don't know if I have to count them or not. I don't have the time yet to inspect and write out which cultivar is which and what really remains. I know it is more than 81 cultivars in one tree, only that I can confirm of a maximum of 81 of them on that tree. There is also a possibility that some were mislabeled as I some were donated or I asked some of the cultivars from friends, bonafide true as labeled, and with too many cultivars, mistakes are inescapable part of life. And for those who have been asking me, here's a condensed cultivar listing from my notes of what is supposed to be multi-grafted unto that citrus tree through more than eight years of fun time in my yard.

Australian Finger Lime (white Fleshed), Bearss Seedless, Bergamot, Budhha's Hand, C-32 Citrange, C-35 Citrange, Calamondin regular, Cara Cara Navel, Carrizo Citrange, Centennial Variegated Kumquat, China Satsuma S-11, China Satsuma S-6, China Satsuma S-7, China Satsuma S-9, Chironja Grapefruit hybrid, Chironja Orangelo, Clementine Monreal, Clementine Nour, Clementine Oroval, Clemenules mandarin, Cleopatra mandarin, Cocktail Grapefruit hybrid, Corsica#1 Mandarin, Daisy Mandarin, Delfino Blood Orange, Delta Valencia, Dream Navel, Dweet Tangor, Etrog, Eureka Lemon, Eustis Limequat, Flying Dragon, Fremont Mandarin, Fukumoto Navel, Fukushu Kumquat, Gold Nugget Mandarin, Harward Late Valencia, Honey Mandarin, Improved Meyer Lemon, Indio Mandarinquat, Kaffir (Citrus hystrix), Kinnow Mandarin, Koster Tangor, Kuno Wase Satsuma, Lane Late Navel, Lemon Mandarin Hybrid, Lima Acidless Orange, Lisbon Lemon, Liudmila Lemon, Madam Vinous Sweet Orange, Marrs Early Navel, Marumi Kumquat , Meiwa Kumquat, Melogold Grapefruit Hybrid, Minneola Tangelo, Moro Blood Orange, Murcott Tangor, Nagami Kumquat, Nippon Orangequat, Nordmann Seedless Nagami, Oro Blanco Grapefruit Hybrid, Ortanique Tangor, Owari Satsuma, Pearl Tangelo, Pink Grapefruit, Pixie Mandarin, Rex Union Grapefruit, Rio Grande Navel, Rio Red Grapefruit, Rohde Red Valencia, Ruby Blood Orange, Salustiana Sweet ORange, Sanguinelli Blood Orange, Sarawak Pummelo, Seedless Kishu Mandarin, Seedless Lemon, Shasta Gold (TDE2) Mandarin, Sidi Aissa Clementine, SRA-92 Mandarin, Star Ruby Grapefruit, Sudachi Hybrid, Sunquat, Swingle Citrumelo, Tango Mandarin, Tarocco (Joe's), Tarocco Blood Orange (CRC), Tavares Limequat, Temple Tangor, Trifoliate Orange, USDA 88-3 Mandarin, Vainiglia Sanguigno Pigmented Orange, Valencia Orange, Variegated Calamondin, Variegated Cara-Cara Navel, Variegated Pink Lemon, Variegated Sour Orange, Washington Navel, Washington Sanguine Blood Orange, Wekiwa Tangelolo, Willowleaf Mandarin, Yosemite Gold (TDE4) Mandarin and Yuzu.

Can you identify at least some of them in my tree?

Let me take you to a tour within and around the tree, starting from the ground to the top. It has been three weeks now with no rains, so we have dusty leaves, dirty fruits, and I hope you see past all that and able to enjoy the diversity of fruits from this tree. I've estimated to have about 45 kinds of fruits on this tree right now, some of them have been harvested or have dropped off, but the majority of the fruits form starting now and until February next year.


Ground Level Fruits

Here are the fruits that were at or near ground level. You can have fruits that will not rot if you keep them dry by laying them on a brick, as long as they are not literally touching the ground. Most of my grapefruits are grafted low in the canopy because they are not as cold hardy as other cultivars.


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Oro Blanco


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Rio Star


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Star Ruby


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Pink Grapefruit

Inner mid-canopy citrus fruits

Next come the residents in the inner mid canopy section of this tree. These are lemons, limes, grapefruits, pummelos and their various hybrids, and sometimes a wayward fruit or two from the outer canopy that has drooped down.



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Melogold, Fukomoto and Chandler.



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Chironja Grapefruit hybrid



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Variegated Pink Lemons



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Eureka Lemons (thornless)



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Lisbon Lemon (with small thorns)



By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Minneola Tangelos



Series of assorted grapefruits:


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20




By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Moro Blood Oranges

Outer mid-canopy citruses

These are composed mostly of complex grapefruit hybrids, tangors, tangelos, and a clementine in here:


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
Marsh, Sidi Aissa, and Cocktail hybrid




By Joe Real at 2008-11-20
This is the very first Cocktail Grapefruit from this 2-year-old graft. I am excited to taste this one. It is supposed to be very sweet and flavorful, but that was in Southern California, and I hope it would be the same here in the north. I have plenty to test, so I can follow the flavor and test how good a keeper this kind of complex grapefruit hybrid is.



And an assortment of others:

By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20


By Joe Real at 2008-11-20

Kumquats and their hybrids
And just before the outer top canopy, are the cold hardy types such as kumquats and their hybrids. Although I have other fortunella types, they don't have fruits yet. But soon. These used to be on the top, but they are slow growers, and soon the sweet oranges reached for the skies and overtook most of them, but I knew it is going to happen, so I grafted them in the south facing where they are not shaded out.


By joereal at 2008-11-20
Limequats



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Calamondins



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Eustis Limequat



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Tavares Limequats



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Lemonquats

Mandarins
And here's my favorite group amongst all citruses. They are irresistible. Some are extremely good keepers, like Gold Nugget and Yosemite Gold while others do not last as long after they reached their peaked flavor such as the various satsumas. This group is composed of Clementines, Satsumas and tangerines, other tangelos and tangors and their hybrids that are smaller than an orange but bigger than a kumquat belong to the mandarin type, and here's what I have fruits so far. These branches used to be in the top part of the canopy because they are cold hardy, but they are so heavy loaded and they started to break even the supporting stakes, and so they are now resting below the sweet oranges.



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Collection of Satsumas, Clementines and Mandarin hybrids.



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Miho Wase Satsumas are usually the first to ripen in this group.



By joereal at 2008-11-20
Owari Satsuma are just starting to turn color


And the rest of the mandarins from UCR

By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20
Yosemite Gold, my favorite


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20
Shasta Gold


By joereal at 2008-11-20
Gold Nugget, my favorite too



By joereal at 2008-11-20
And don't you dare touch these first fruits of Seedless Kishu! They're mine to taste... Just starting to change color and soon, I will feast on these fruits.

Sweet Oranges
The sweet oranges are actually composed of several types lumped together. I have several cultivars of Valencias, Navel Oranges, Blood Oranges, including the acidless types such as Lima and Vainiglia Sanguigno (pink pigmentation). They are now on the highest part of the tree, the oranges have stronger stems than Satsumas and so they overtook the tree. But I have plans next year on how to correct for them. I may have to regraft those that I lost the labels. Am too lazy to label these, but different colors and stages, clustering should convince you that there are at least a dozen kinds on this part of the tree:


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20
Vainiglia Sanguigno


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20


By joereal at 2008-11-20

And I'd like to share some of these with you, and so harvested some for you

By joereal at 2008-11-20
Harvested Today


Come take your pick. There's even a bonus of Goldrush apples and persimmons. Of course, there is that limequat for the beer later on.

By joereal at 2008-11-20

Very impressive!!
I am impressed.
But oh! Those hard works you did!

Joe, I was drooling so I ate those that you left out for us.
You are amazing! I remember when that tree was a 30 in 1.
My oh my, that is just stunning. Can I get your autograph? What I would give to see that tree in person...I don't know, but I'd love to see it.

Great job Joe ! What a variety of citrus.

Unbelievable! Congratulations

Joe, when it comes to grafting/budding your the man. Just incredible. - Millet

What Patty said....


That is so completely amazing and awesome, unbelievable!
Congratulations on all your hard work coming to fruit- ition.

Do you have a photo of your Australian White Lime? I've never heard or seen that...

I would like to thank you all for allowing me to share the enthusiasm. Especially to citrus growers and lovers alike who are members of the forum.

The multi-grafted tree came about through friendship, in terms of exchanges of budwoods where legally allowed to do so, and most importantly ideas.

Many people have already posed in front of the trees, some dignitaries, and some humble people, but all friends the world over. The cultivars on that tree are also of international origins, from various cultures and races.

And of course, when you plan to be in the Sacramento Valley, or the Bay Area, drop me an email and we can make arrangement to take your photo in front of the tree, perhaps sample some fruits, maybe have BBQ and enjoy a sip of exotic citrus wines,

I'd like to personally thank all the people who donated some budwoods whenever legal, and to those who have split the cost of budwoods with me when we ordered through the UCR CCPP program, and also to Gene Lester's generosity.