
18 responses
Don Weber starts with ... I have lime, lemon, tangelo, and grapefruit planted next to each other. If they were to cross pollinate would it change the flavour of the fruit? | About the Author Don Weber Citrus Springs, Fl 30th January 2008 8:47am #UserID: 625 |
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Correy says... Hi Don, This is a very interesting question and one that I had to ask a few people to understand. Let me summarise your question. Can the pollen of one type of citrus eg a grapefruit pollinate another type of citrus eg an orange and effect the flavour of the fruit. The answer is No, Unless you eat the seed. Let me explain. When the bee takes the pollen of a grapefruit and pollinates an orange what happens is that the orange flower acting as a female in this case pollinates and this newly formed seed has the genetic make up of the grapefruit and the orange. Now as this orange forms the flesh that forms around the seed is totally maternal or only from the orange tree. Similar to how in humans the water surrounding the baby in the womb is a product only of the mother. So when the fruit is fully formed the orange flesh will always have the same flavour as the tree it is from. However the seed has half the genetic make up of the orange and half the genetic make up of the grapefruit which has developed into it's own totally unique new seed. Very similar to how half the chromosomes of the man and women form a totally unique baby with some characteristic's from both parents. This is why you can't plant an orange seed and expect it to grow into an orange tree exactly like it's parent tree. It could be as in our case a mixture between a grapefruit and an orange. Which bring us to another question what about Nuts where you are actually eating the seed? Is it possible that your scenario could effect the taste of a nut? I think that the answer to this question is Yes in a few scenarios.
| About the Author Correy Woolloongabba, QLD 1st February 2008 7:34am #UserID: 3 View All Correy's Edible Fruit Trees![]() |
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| About the Author naveed 3rd March 2009 2:19am #UserID: 0 |
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| About the Author Julie Roleystone 6th March 2009 6:21pm #UserID: 154 View All Julie's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Tom R Roseville, CA 6th February 2010 6:24am #UserID: 3345 |
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Wayne says... Hello Tom, this might be of interest to you "How do I sweeten my oranges and mandarins. They usually are slightly sour and acid to eat. Comments Mix 60gms of Magnesium sulphate [Epsom salts] 30 mls wetting agent to 4.5L water spray foliage and fruit twice weekly for three weeks. Also apply Magnesium sulphate [Epsom salts] to the soil under the canopy one clenched handful per sq metre." --- I think one handfull is a bit much so perhaps 1/2 to try first. or "Sour fruit - Sprinkle about six handfuls of sulphate of potash around the tree and then water in with two teaspoons of Epsom salts mixed into 10 litres of water" | About the Author Wayne Mackay QLD 6th February 2010 8:45am #UserID: 338 View All Wayne's Edible Fruit Trees |
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kiarasmommy says... my gram had a lemon tree next to a grape fruit tree this year only 1 lemon grew and it is huge one side smells like a lemon rine and the other side grape fruit. the pic above is the lemon not quiet ripe yet. next to a home grown florida orange
| About the Author kiarasmommy ma 21st January 2011 8:25am #UserID: 4813 |
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| About the Author Vita N. Phoenix 21st April 2011 12:20pm #UserID: 5213 |
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MaryT says... I think they do cross but perhaps not as readily as say, chilies (these needs to be caged to prevent crossing) and even if the flavour of the crossed fruit resembles the host tree, as Correy suggests, the appearance of the fruit would certainly look odd compared to the other fruit on that tree. This I see from experience with my two different cumquats. When they are in flower at the same time, some fruit on the Nagami becomes round instead of oval. Mind you I have no proof that that is the result of crossing. I just celebrate the differences :) | About the Author MaryT Sydney 21st April 2011 2:12pm #UserID: 4418 View All MaryT's Edible Fruit Trees |
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IanH says... If I have an orange tree that appears to be cross pollinated and all the fruit tastes like lemons, can I use the fruit like Lemons? With my lemon tree I normally cure the lemons to make chutney, do you think I could do the same with the oranges? At least this way I'd be able to make use of the fruit. | About the Author IanH Sydney 18th July 2011 10:07am #UserID: 5555 |
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MaryT says... You can use the fruit however you like as long as they display the qualities you are looking for. I made a mixed citrus marmalade from Smooth Seville, Eureka lemons, Australian cumquats and nagami cumquats this year and it is the best I've ever had. Chemistry! The sourness of your oranges may not be due to crossing though. Some people suggests giving it Epsom salts to 'sweeten' the fruit on another link. | About the Author MaryT Sydney 18th July 2011 10:15am #UserID: 4418 View All MaryT's Edible Fruit Trees |
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jakfruit etiquette says... In Kaki Persimmons, the presence of seeds formed after polination does affect fruit ripening and astringency, ie some normally seedless, non astringent Kaki cultivars will develop not so high quality fruit if pollinated and develop seed( enzymes from the seed now influence fruit ripening) I've not heard of this in Citrus,I don't think growing oranges next to lemons makes them sour, you would have to eliminate many other factors(season, rootstock, time of picking, rootstock suckers that fruit)before pollination could be considered But, if your Citrus are excessively seedy due to pollination, the extra pectin may affect your marmalade batch/?? | About the Author jakfruit etiquette oz 19th July 2011 7:41am #UserID: 0 |
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Speedy says... Apart from very few exceptions, the fruit are not affected in any way. The only way that pollen from another tree will have any bearing on taste of fruit is in the progeny, ie. fruit from trees grown from seeds of cross pollinated fruits. As Jackfruit etiquette said, persimmons are an exception to the rule....their colour is also changed by the presence of seeds. I had heard many years ago that Date (Phoenix dactylifera) fruit quality can be determined by pollen quality and thus superior male trees have been selected over generations in Middle East and Nth Africa. I dont know whether this is true or not, though it could be just the quantity of pollen and duration of pollen shedding that are the traits that are selected for.... | About the Author Speedy Nthn Vic. 19th July 2011 9:06am #UserID: 2305 View All Speedy's Edible Fruit Trees![]() |
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| About the Author Fred Texas 2nd November 2011 9:26am #UserID: 0 |
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| About the Author David New Zealand 17th January 2012 7:47pm #UserID: 6416 |
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Mike says... Like Correy said the pollen can't influence the taste of the materal fruit only subsequent generations.Citrus is like a superspecies where they can all cross freely and oranges and lemons have very tangled parentages.They are mostly mutants with a wide range of genes.Phenotypic plasticity of oranges and lemons means their characteristics/genetic expression changes with their environment and even between seasons.Flesh colour,sourness,skin and size can be dramatically effected by the weather.Sorry about that tangled explanation for what could be going on. | About the Author Mike Cairns 17th January 2012 11:56pm #UserID: 0 |
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| About the Author MaryT Sydney 18th January 2012 7:11am #UserID: 4418 View All MaryT's Edible Fruit Trees |
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denise says... The flavor of some fruit can sometimes be affected by the rootstock and it may vary. Anyone growing say orange seeds from a store bought fruit probably wont get a hybrid as they will be from a large 'single species 'planting. It is best to take seed from a close planting of two or more different kinds of citrus to get some nice hybrids. Some cultivars of citrus-especially some orange or lemon are polyembronic, which means that the seed is a jigsaw puzzle of several seed pieces of which typically only one will be a new pollenated seed from pollenation and all the rest will be replicas of the parent and are guarateed to be as good as a grafted tree the same as the tree it came from. I hope I have described it well. | About the Author denise 18th January 2012 9:27am #UserID: 0 |
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| About the Author Mike Cairns 18th January 2012 5:47pm #UserID: 0 |
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