Sunday, February 9, 2020

Shiranui and a Sumo seedling comparison

Here I compare the fruits from my Sumo seedling vs. Shiranui grafts of the wood obtained from CCPP (Citrus Clonal Protection Program)


I grew the Sumo seedling from a seed found in a supermarket fruit in 2014. I grafted the seedling wood onto mature trees in 2015, and the Shiranui wood from CCPP in 2018.

For the second year, they both produced, and they do not seem to be identical.  Most mandarin seedlings are genetically identical to the mother tree. The differences could be due to the:

1. Cultural or environmental conditions, they are from different trees growing in two different locations, 15 mi away
2. The Sumo fruit I bought in 2014 was of a different genetic origin than the wood distributed now by CCPP as Shiranui
3. The seedlings of Shiranui are not necessarily genetically identical to the mother tree.

What is different


My Sumo seedling fruits are significantly earlier than Shiranui.  Its is nice and sweet now right from the tree, but seems to be a bit dry. I should be picking all these in January, and I remember that they were even better back then. Shiranui fruit is not ripe at all. Its pretty sour on February 9 when tasted is right from the tree. In the pictures below, my seedling is on the left.




Saturday, February 1, 2020

Navel Oranges and Cocktail Grapefruits

Navel Oranges

Three different navel oranges here, left to right: Early Navel, Washington Navel, and Robertson Navel

The Early Navel is sweet but simple; it maybe over its prime time by now. The Washington Navel is very complex with the most acidity out of these three. The Robertson Navel is my winner for today.  Very sweet, flavorful, and juicy.

Cocktail grapefruits from two different locations

I have a graft of Cocktail grapefruit that was fruiting for couple of years already.  Today I was gifted another Cocktail grapefruit from a different location.  My fruit picked today is on the left.  The fruit on the right is an order of magnitude sweeter.  It was picked probably days or a week earlier.  The rind could shrink in storage, I suspect.  Does anyone know if there is just one Cocktail or there are more? The differences could be due to the environmental factors, or they could be different fruits.  My husband thinks they are not of the same cultivar.



Figs in 2024

The fig cuttings sale is on reallygoodplants.com The summer and fall of 2024 were pretty fruitful, with a wide diversity of figs producing e...