Very nice fruit indeed. You right, that it is prohibited to import citrus plants and budwood from USA to EU due to protection of citrus plantations in Spain, Italy etc. - it is a bit unfair for us, as inhabitans of countries not producing citrus fruits comercially. But it is life. Hope one day this variety will find its way to Europe.

I know it's way too early, but can we expect a new batch of valentines this spring?

Yes, I have fruit on my Valentine. I will report back in late February on them. They were quite good last year, and also decent at the Citrus Day at UC Riverside (a wee bit early for them, but still good, you could tell they would be sweeter if left on the tree for a couple more weeks.) They are a very complex fruit, pretty pleased with this cultivar, personally. You can definitely taste all 3 citrus flavors - pummelo, blood orange and manadrin.

I wonder if they will ever show up on the market here. The way you describe it makes me drool!

Good question What might make a great dooryard tree doesn't always translate to good commercial cultivars. This fruit does have some seeds, not an attractive quality, but, it is a blood pummelo, the only one I know of (not pink from lycopene, but blood red from anthocyanin). And, it tastes good. I think it might be more of a novelty fruit, so not sure it would ever really attract the attention of a commercial grower, unless there becomes a niche end-user market for it (within the culinary trade, or even at specialty grocery stores). But, sure nice to have one in my backyard, I do like it a lot.

Valentine is commonly called a pummelo but actually, Valentine is not a Pummelo, it is a stand alone never seen before citrus fruit. The pummelo portion is only 1/3 of the genetics. I first seen an article on Valentine 3 or more years ago in the "Fruit Gardener" CRFG's magazine. - Millet

Yes, I used the term loosely, Millet. It is a pummelo hybrid, with the Siamese Sweet pummelo, Dancy mandarin (the "tangerine" mandarin) and Ruby blood orange in its genetics. It was one of the pummelo hybrids developed in the '70's, by Drs. Cameron and Soost, who were also the developers of the Oroblanco and the Melogold. The Valentine most closely resembles a pummelo in size and shape, as well as the thick skin, so most folks would look at it, and say, "pummelo", when in fact, it is only 1/2 pummelo (Siamese Sweet pumello x (Dancy x Ruby)). Glad for it, because it has produced 3 of my favorite citrus!

I learned something, I did not know that Valentine's genetics goes all the way back to the 70s. That surprised me. - Millet

And the development of these pummelo hybrids actually started back in the '50's. What I find really fascinating, is how extremely long it takes for some of these very interesting and worthwhile cultivars to become known. It makes me wonder what is currently sitting on the bench. It will be one of the questions I ask during my grafting class at UCR. I believe the CCPP folks are teaching that class, so you can bet I will be grafting up some really interesting cultivars. I have to start my list now! Top of the list - anything variegated that's good to eat out of hand.

Because these cultivars contain Pommelo as one of the parent varieties, their seed will not produce true. - Millet

That is correct, Millet. I pulled Tracy Khan aside to ask her if this was the case with this cultivar. She told me that yes, this was definitely a monoembryonic variety. So, sadly, we can't share seeds. It's budwood from CCPP to propagate this variety, only.

About a couple years ago, or perhaps a little longer, Tracy Khan of the UCR Variety collection contacted me after she, or one of her subordinents, read on this forum that a member claimed to have a Valentine Pummelo tree. This was before Valentine was released to the public. On the telephone I told her that I believed the tree was started from a seed. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Khan was no longer concerned, because the tree in question, being a seedling tree, was not -- nor ever will be an actual Valentine tree. I post this to show members of this forum that the powers that be (certainly including the USDA) monitor this forum for any illegal activities that might be going on. - Millet

Good work, Millet. I think it is very important for UCR, the CDFA and the USDA to know we support safe propagation. I don't even let my next door neighbors have anything I propagate from my yard. That's probably being a little overly paranoid, but after talking with Tracy, and how concerned the state of California is regarding keeping HLB out of California, it is just an extra precaution worth taking for our area. This is a great, upstanding forum and I think we do an excellent job promoting education about diseases and how they can be spread.

Oh, and I should add that MY Valentine pummelo hybrid came directly from Durling Nursery, which is a fine citrus nursery, and has taken an interest in propagating the Valentine, which promptly gets bought up by all the CRFG members here in San Diego county, lol! Not much gets sent out to retail outlets, due to our large membership.