Citrus from seed ☔☔☔☔ + ☼☼☼☼ = ⚘⚘⚘⚘⚘

Indian sweet lime + palestine sweet lime + sweet citrus

Today We bring you our collection of citrus started from seed, We have recently decided to take the gamble as we could not find these varieties available in bud or tree form, 
( at least in canada that is ). 
While we dont expect fruit for many years, we are more interested in searching for something unique/odd, however much of a long shot that might be. 
We decided to search of all places... EBAY! The only issue was,  you never know if what your getting is the real thing, and heck, you never know if your getting that thing at all ( we were robbed 50 some odd dollars and this was through paypal of all things )
This could all be chalked up to some crazy mix up with paypal, of which we will never know, but alas, it ruined the trust we had and no longer felt safe ordering from this supplier, its a shame too as they had other citrus seeds we wanted to purchase. Besides this unfortunate event we found many interesting varieties that made it through shipping and propagation, everything from red fleshed mikan oranges to red finger limes and giant etrogs + Indian sweet limes,  which we will discuss below.

The palestine sweet lime or indian sweet lime ( pic above ) was another easy citrus from seed, along with its high tolerance of salinity, drought, and concentrated foliar blends, its seems to be able to take anything we through at it. It has been getting fair sun but currently resides under the canopy of our moro blood orange tree. We are presently on a mission to acquire as many of the sweet limes and lemons as we can, as we find there taste absolutely dynamic, the sambo lemon being one of our favorites.

Red Finger lime (australiasica sanguinea )

Our finger limes that grew from seed are really taking off, what really plays with our head is that We hear of people in the states who's plants grow an inch in a year, while ours grew 10+ inches in 1 growing season, in Canada!, keep in mind its in a greenhouse at 20c+ year-round. With growing these from seed in all honesty were hoping for mutation/variation, 
Like Maria Anne Smith, (original cultivator of the granny smith apple), we're rolling the dice  .....⚁⚄ 
come on sweetheart daddy needs a new pair of genetics! 

Giant etrog

Here we have our giant etrog's, while these will not grow true from seed, we wanted a traditional celebration etrog, no collection is complete with out it 
( and there are many to choose ).
While we are not jewish, we tried to stick within all the boundaries  involved, ( why not right, when in rome Israel! ) We ended up ordering again off ebay becuase we stumbled across the most perfect link, this seller had a good rep, good feedback, and to add authentic flavour, they came from Israel!, even claim to be kosher non transgenic seeds. Can we get more authentic then that?, other then picking a seed from a rabi's hand this is pretty good. These trees have been the fastest growers of all the ones started from seed, and the most adaptable ( not to mention the most viable from seed ) the salty fish water that caused an issue with the mikan oranges seemed to only spur on vegetation with the etrog, ( go figure, tilapia water working with an etrog, next you'll hear us say Egyptian sand boosts citron production, lol who knows... lets try! )  We have also noticed that during experimental foliar applications they did not burn when others did.

This seller can be found at the following link - http://myworld.ebay.ca/jerushop

Etrog + citron

I will provide progress reports on health, fertilizer applications, pests, disease ( if any ), growth and hiccups of each variety listed

NEW CITRUS!! Limequat ( lakeland ) + American oil beetle

Limequat - Lakeland 

Its been a great week for us here, new shipment of citrus came in, We managed to get our hands on the lakeland limequat which I've been wanting for some time now. Whenever the limequats come around its usually the eustis, our normal supplier does not carry the lakeland so we were very lucky to find this one available. The next mission will be to source the tarvaes,  part of our goal is to locate old/odd varieties that the industry has neglected, often at times for the oddest reasons, but I digress.

We just added a new berry bush to our collection!! ( cherry red current ) and a rhubarb ( crimson cherry  ). 

It will be interesting to compare the two rhubarbs we have ( Canada red + crimson cherry ) as when I was growing up I never knew there was more then one type.

I stumbled across this little guy the other day ( american oil beetle ), this is the first time I've seen one, very strange looking thing, almost seemed to stop and watch me as I brought the camera closer, his colour was the most vibrant blue with almost an iridescence as it stumbled quickly along the grass.

American oil beetle

Work has begun on the new greenhouse, pathways have been mulched, hydroponic tomato system is being setup, display racks are full, plants are potted up and most are ready for sale!!.

and to top it all off, we have a week/two of 20c+ weather!. Cant beat that in spring, especially for Canada.

This coming week we will be placing an order with our new sub-tropical fruit tree supplier, as well as sourcing an organic fertilizer we can start to sell + work on our rabbit/chicken shelter. 

Spring is never a boring time round here.

Lakeland Limequat

Oil beetle

American oil beetle + parasitoid