Hello!

First and foremost, I am not a citrus grower (or a native English speaker, for the record), and I apologize if this is the incorrect forum/section to ask this. But since it's a subject that impacts people that grow citrus, I thought this forum's members would be the best people to address it.

I live in Brazil, and, as you can imagine, we have a wonderful assortment of citrus here to choose from, which I really appreciate as a consumer. In recent years, the Dekopon variety became increasingly popular on my state (São Paulo), for its flavor, size and lack of seeds.

And here lies the problem: I wonder whether such a seedless fruit can be harmful, in the long term, for producers. Not long ago there was a huge controversy regarding GM terminator seeds that make subsequent generations of plants sterile, making producers dependent on seed industries.

I've read that commercial producers don't use seeds anyway, but I really would like to be sure about that (and other consumers I talked to also have such concerns), because I really wouldn't like to develop a behavior that puts producers (in particular small ones) out of business.

So, the question is: should a conscious consumer stop buying such fruits?

Thank you for your attention.

Hello chesterbr. Welcome to the forum. Very interesting fruit... A seedless Ponkan would be a excellent fruit for the US market. As to your question, commercial citrus is not grown from seed, but from buds from a mature tree so it shouldn't have any impact whatsoever.

Laaz,

Thank you for the kind reply! Since I had discussed that with several Brazilians, I did a blog post (in Portuguese) citing your answer, so we can enjoy the last days of the Dekupon season.

An American friend of mine agreed with you: that fruit would be really sucessful in the US. I've read somewhere, however, they had quite some work to adapt it to São Paulo's climate, so I guess this work would be required. But it would be worth, believe me!

Thanks again for clarifying the issue.

Best regards,
Chester.

Chester I grow the regular Ponkan and it is one of my favorite citrus, very sweet & juicy.