I went to Costco today. They had a new shipment of citrus and I got a new one called Tahitian Pummelo. It is semi-dwarf from Willits and Newcomb Nursery. I have never seen it before in any local nursery.

History: Sarawak pummelo is sometimes referred to as Tahitian pummelo.

Characteristics: The tree is large and vigorous. The fruit is round with a flattened bottom and has a greenish-yellow rind that is thinner than the typically thick pummelo rind. The flesh is greenish, juicy, and sweet with a flavor some refer to as melon-like or even lime-like. It is early to mid-season in maturity and holds well on the tree.
info and pictures at-
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/sarawak.html

Helix

Helix, there are two available from UCR CCPP budwood program. One is Sarawak and the other one is Tahitian. They could be different as they have different germplasm id tags.

Well, this post will be in two parts it seems. Part one is did you buy this plant? If not, why not? Look at the plants that came into the Merced Costco this way, how many of them are pretty close to being ready to go into the ground if that is what we want to do with them. Some of those trees were having the roots hitting the bottom of the five gallon cans (containers) already and either should go into the ground or placed in larger sized containers rather soon.

I was in the Merced Costco on Wednesday, April 16, and saw four Italian Lemons. There are no Citrus at River Park in Fresno as I was in there the day before. Sometimes it all comes down to this, where else are we going to go to get our hands on an Italian Lemon and here there were four named forms of them being offered at a very low price. For someone that is wanting to grow some unique plants these become hard to beat bargains. I can taste the Lemoncella now! As far a I know the plants now in the Merced Costco was the second shipment of Citrus to come in. Two of the three Arizona Sweet Oranges that grower nursery carries were also available as well as an Oroblanco or two. If you are serious about having some Citrus, those plants are a great way to start from a reputable Citrus grower from Arvin. Their Fukushu Kumquats that they had in fifteen gallons last year at the River Park Costco were the nicest shaped trees for that Kumquat I've seen. I made sure one of my cousins got two of them for a landscape planting right in front of her entryway at her home.

Jim

I forgot to say but I did buy the Tahitian Pummelo. A couple of weeks ago I also bought a cocktail grapefruit at Costco. Both trees were a nice size and are doing well in ground.

Helix

I am glad you got both of those Citrus. We have them both as well from the same grower source but not necessarily purchased this year. They are currently residing in Fresno in fifteen gallon containers at the misses home. We had some mid Summer splitting of some of the fruit from the Cocktail last year. The Sarawak intrigues me with how that plant sets out "popcorn" blooms as some people used to call it. Flowers in clusters, large sized blooms at the tip ends of cascading branches giving the impression of a large puff of popcorn prior to the flowers opening. The so-called non existent honey bees have had a "field day" with the flowers while open.

If you have any trouble with those two plants let me know. We are essentially neighbors as I am in Merced much of the time.

Jim

I have both Tahitian Pummelo and cocktail that I got from Willits & N. about 2 1/2 years ago. I picked a couple of fruit from each last year just because I had to let 2 or 3 grow on each to get a taste. They are wonderful. The Tahitian tends to get ricey very quickly, so don't let it stay on the tree too long, pick it early. The cocktail has moved into my top 10 favorites list, maybe top 5. I'm hoping to get more than a dozen each this year, but I don't like to work a young tree to hard so I thinned them out some. Trees are looking great.

Last year at the Gaalveston county, Texas cocktail grapefruit was entered. It was a very nice looking fruit and was wonderful tasteing.

Hi,
I am in Southern California and would like to purchase a pummelo tree, not the chandler type. I believe it is white flesh, pear shape and from southeast asisa like VietNam. Do you where I can purchase it at a reasonable price.
Thanks
Cathy

My Tahitian pummelo is doing very well. It is about 4 feet tall with 6 fruit on it but they are all round. I have a Melogold pummelo that has 2 pear shaped and 4 round fruit. I get my trees at Costco or Home Depot. They don't always have a good variety at any one time but over a couple of years they have quit a few.

Helix

According to Citrus Var of the World
" TAHATIAN ( Moanalau ) the origin of this variety is unclear but probably Tahiti, from seed from Borneo "
It then goes on to describe the green fleshed, unusually shaped fruit etc.

There seem to be a few types in Australian Citrus collections,
Tahitian Pummelo, Tahitian Pummelo(pink flesh) Tahitian Pummelo (seedy),
Tahitian Pummelo (few seeds)
So far it seems one of the few Pummelo types that doesn't produce sour fruit outside the tropics over here.