Hi,

Few months ago we grafted kumquats both on C35 and sour orange.

I read that trifoliate, C35 is better for kumquat many times.But my kumquats was on a sour orange and it was great, very healthy.So I decided to make a test and we t-buded kumquats both on C35 and sour orange, 20 trees per variety.

3 weeks after, the succes was 20/20 for C35 and 16/20 for sour orange.

But week after week, sour orange rootstock show much more better growth. I cut all other sprouts on rootstock and leave the bud alone, these buds grows very well on sour orange.

But C35 rootstocks work for their own sprouts.Buds are still green, there are very small 1/2inch leaves on it but they don't grow. I cut all c35 sprouts but new sprouts come after.

What are your experiences, why don't C35 rootstock work?

Thanks,

Kumquats are normally budded onto Poncirus Trifoliata. - Millet

Thanks Millet

Unfortunately, I don't have Poncirus Trifoliata rootstock at the moment.

Is it the same variety with Flying Dragon?

I am planning to graft kumquats on Flying Dragon next season.I don't have seeds yet, but I have 6 Flying Dragons trees with fruits on them.
So, it will take more than a year, maybe 2 years until Flying Dragon rootstocks will be ready.

Since C35 is also a trifoliate variety, I thought it may work

Flying dragon is a Poncirus Trifoliata cultivar. - Millet

C35 is a citrange. It does have Poncirus in it's heritage, but is not as cold hardy as pure Trifoliata.

How about "Calamondin" and "Chinotto Sour Orange" what are the best rootstocks for these two, what do you recommend?

Thanks,

Both will do well on Trifoliata. I have a Cal on Swingle which is now over 12 ft tall in just two years...

BTW... Chinotto is about as hardy as Satsuma mandarin

Thansk Laaz,

I am reading comments that Trifoliata has some problems with Mediterranean climate.I will try it but do you have any experience with sour orange or C35 rootstocks for Calamondin and Chinotto.

Btw, I have 2 chinottos and they are really strong trees, without any fertilizer or any care, they survived 4 years in my balcony.

Thanks,

Meyer lemon, why would you have an orange tree for four years without ever fertilizing it, or giving it care? Here are the properties of Trifoliate Orange, you can see how these properties coincide with the soil and climate in your area. Salinity = Poor, High pH=Poor, Clay Soil = Good, Wet Soil = Good, Drought = Poor, Freezes = Intermediate to Good, Burrowing Nematodes = Susceptible, Foot & Root Rot = Tolerant, Tristeza Virus = Tolerant, Tree Size = small, Tree Yield = Large. Sour Orange is very susceptible to Tristeza virus, so if this virus is in your area, you would not want to use sour orange as a root stock. - Millet

Thanks Millet,

Those trees were gifts and I hadn't much knowledge on citrus till last year. I didn't know that container trees need additional fertilizers etc. The only care was watering and pruning.
I am still a newbie

The only problem seems the high PH of soil here btu since I will have them in containers, I can control it.

Triztesa is not a big problem here yet, most of the citrus trees are on sour orange rootstock, though new rootstocks like C35 are being popular.

Thanks,

Sure Phillip I will post about it later.

Hello,
well, kumquat is usually grafted to Poncirus tifoliata because holdung up the typical cold hardycharacteristics of the variety.
But trifoliate organe isn't a strong and vital scion bearer, so it is considered as imparting less vigor to the scion, than sour orange.
So most citranges exhibit a less vigor, too. So that's usually why growth on sour orange is better.
Compatibility is very confusing, because informations on compatibility are different, thus it seems, that one must find his own experience.
In the mediterran kumquat is grafted successful onto sour orange and trees seldom realyshow signs of incompatibility. So reports of incompatibility with sour orange, as often mentioned, come from times, were tristeza was still unknown to many. So with new, virus-free budwood, the problem seems to be under control, thus there were no incompatibilities anmore.
On trifoliate orange many kumquats die, but I do not guess, it's due incompatibility, but the less vigor and less new shoot grow, as undesireable fruit characteristics made Poncirus trifoliata unusefull as rootstock. Because trees do not readly recover after damage, because high vigor is missing. Also the litle fruits with thing peel do taste note realy well, are difficult fpr picking and prone to splitting. As the sweetness of the peel is desireable, trifoliate orange is no benefit for thicker peel and thus sweeter fruit.
So even here, sour orange won't realy match, because also here fruits remain small and have thin peel...

So in my opinion, use another rootstock for your kumquats. As long as you protect the tree from freezes and cold, as long as U use certified and virus free budwood, U can use better rootstocks, which impart the some characeristics which are more benefical.
Try Citrus macrophylla... It's very good compatible, but often succers appear. Just cut away... It ist even resistant to root and stem rot by Phytophthora, well compareable to trifoliate orange.
Only cold hardiness is usually inferior, but if the trees were protected from freezes, this might be no real problem.
Fruit quality and fruit size is desireable. Large thick peeled fruits in commonly large crops bear those trees on macrophylla, so that's why I recommend to try.
The graft union does not show ny sign of incompatibility, it's smooth and has not sign of benching.

I have read that kumquats will do well on Calamondin. I have grafted a few to Cals, and they seem to be doing fine. Calamondin is quite hardy for us, though might not be as hardy as the kumquat. They seem to do fine on trifoliate also, but do not have the vigor of other rootstocks, such as Swingle. As already mentioned, that can have some advantages for container grown plants.

For those of you that get to Aiken, you will see some seedling kumquats. They are doing just fine on their own roots.

Purdue has this on kumquats:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/kumquat.html

Ned

Thanks for your replies, detailed info.

I read that Mr. Chuck Reed from Reed Brothers' Citrus company told to the reporter that Citrus Macrophylla produces poor quality fruits.

Do you have any personel experiences?

Thanks,