Author |
Message |
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Mon 02 May, 2011 4:35 pm |
|
My citrus are in bloom so have done the following cross pollination attempts. I placed the mother tree first and the pollen donor second:
Reale Kumquat x Star Ruby Grapefruit
Reale Kumquat x Unknown Mandarin
Lane Late Navel Orange x Reale Kumquat
Unknown Mandarin x Reale Kumquat
The unknown mandarin is marked as "mandarino hybrido" and I can't find any further information about it.
The Lane Late and Unknown Mandarin are overloaded with flowers so I doubt the ones that I cross-pollinated will be held by the tree to maturity. I'll try cross-pollinating some more when they become available to increase the chances of having one that develops into a mature seed bearing fruit.
I have higher hopes for the Reale Kumquat holding its flowers to mature fruit since it doesn't have many.
The Reale Kumquat x Unknown Thai Pummelo fruitlet is hanging on and seems to be growing very slowly.
Does anyone grow Lane Late Navel Orange? I read that it is seedless but does anyone get seedy fruit? I'm hoping that if I'm lucky enough to get a mature fruit from the cross-pollinated flower, the presence of seeds indicates a successful cross-pollination. I'm also hoping the seeds will give me some zygotic seedlings.
I'll attempt to cross-pollinate some Star Ruby Grapefruit flowers when I see some that are ready. I realise however that grapefruit seeds are highly nucellar and probably won't produce any zygotic seedlings, but it's worth a try nonetheless. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Wirtual24 Citruholic
Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 41 Location: Poland, zone 6a
|
Posted: Mon 02 May, 2011 8:01 pm |
|
Very interesting crosses. Especially, at least for me, Reale kumquat x Star Ruby grapefruit. I haven't heard about an existing hybrid like that. I've read Reale kumquat is a cross of 'Marumi' kumquat and the calamondin. Its' cross with the grapefruit would bear unusual fruits, I think.
Keep us informed about your hybridisation attempts.
PS. I also try to cross citrus. A year ago I pollinated a flower of Ponderosa lemon with Rangpur lime's pollen. Ponderosa lemon is highly monoembryonic (~95%), now the seeds are sprouting. Hope there will be some hybrids I will be able to identify on the basis of leaves' shape. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Millet Citruholic
Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 6657 Location: Colorado
|
Posted: Tue 03 May, 2011 1:12 am |
|
Although making citrus hybrids can be fun, normally almost all crosses result in fruits that are of inferior quality to their parents,- (but rarely a superior fruit such as the Eureka Lemon is brought about). - Millet (624-) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Tue 03 May, 2011 10:18 am |
|
Wirtual24 thanks, I will keep this thread updated with any progress. Your cross sounds very interested too, keep us updated also.
Millet, yes this is mainly for fun. If by some fluke I get a good quality fruit that would be great but it's not expected. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Sat 11 Jun, 2011 7:28 pm |
|
As expected my trees dropped most of their flowers including 7 of the 8 I cross pollinated. Only 1 cross pollinated flower remains - Reale Kumquat x Star Ruby Grapefruit. A fruitlet is forming, fingers crossed it will grow to maturity.
My other cross pollinated fruitlet of Reale Kumquat x Unknown Thai Pummelo is still immature. It's been a year and one month now on the tree. I'm hoping the coming warm weather will finally allow it to grow fully and ripen.
That's it for cross pollination attempts this year. Hopefully next year will be better. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Fri 26 Aug, 2011 5:05 am |
|
Update: Both the Reale Kumquat x Star Ruby Grapefruit fruitlet, and last year's Reale Kumquat x Unknown Thai Pummelo fruitlet have fallen off. There were no seeds in the later, it was still immature.
There might be one last cross pollination I can make this year which is an extreme long shot: Bear's Lime x Star Ruby Grapefruit.
My new 1 year old Bear's Lime tree (about 8 inches tall) has 1 flower forming, and to my surprise the Star Ruby Grapefruit is flowering for the second time this year with 3 new flowers forming. I'll attempt a cross pollination with the Bear's Lime as the mother tree. I doubt such a small young tree could successfully carry any fruit to maturity, and on top of that Bear's Lime very rarely forms seeds. Worth a try though since I have to wait till next year for any new attempts with my other citrus. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
jrb Citruholic
Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 165 Location: Idaho Falls, ID zone 4A
|
Posted: Fri 26 Aug, 2011 8:54 pm |
|
Lemandarangequatelo wrote: | There might be one last cross pollination I can make this year which is an extreme long shot: Bear's Lime x Star Ruby Grapefruit. "
|
Bearss lime does not produce pollen or seeds. _________________ Jim
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Sat 27 Aug, 2011 4:12 pm |
|
jrb wrote: |
Bearss lime does not produce pollen or seeds. |
Hi jrb, thanks for commenting. I'm aware that Bearss (thanks for the spelling correction) Lime doesn't produce pollen. I found the following research paper which suggests that very rarely they do produce some seeds:
http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1962%20Vol.%2075/110-116%20(REECE).pdf
So I thought why not give it a go, it's the only cross pollination attempt I can make at the moment so I will give it a try just for fun. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lemandarangequatelo Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Posts: 485 Location: UK
|
Posted: Sat 27 Aug, 2011 10:08 pm |
|
I pollinated the Bearss Lime flower with the pollen from a Star Ruby Grapefruit flower tonight. The Bearss Lime flower had no anthers formed at all at the ends of the filaments, which looked very odd.
Now it is highly unlikely that any seeds will be formed, but I can live in hope, just like playing the lottery |
|
Back to top |
|
|