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The Corroboree
saylor twift

Citrus trees cross pollinating / hybrid?

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hey guys,

 

i recently got given a bag of lemons from a friend, they look like lemons on the outside but when you cut it open the flesh inside is green like a lime and the flavour is both lemony and zingy like a lime, so epic! they also dont produce seeds..

 

i asked him whats the go? apparently the old guy who owned the place before had put in a lime tree too close to a lemon tree...the limes that the other tree produces are mutated also... what's happening here?? is it cross pollination?? or have the roots grown together making some kind of weird natural graft?? what would happen if i grafted a mandarin to this set up? id love to try and re create this at my place. any advice? ideas? thanks for your feedback :)

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Sounds like a tahitian lime, They go yellow when fully ripe.  

 

 

lime.jpg

lime.thumb.jpg.184aff933b6b4dbb18401bdffca2197d.jpg

lime.thumb.jpg.184aff933b6b4dbb18401bdffca2197d.jpg

Edited by smithy
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youre probably right smithy! that looks super similar if not the same, ill try get some pics today

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1 hour ago, saylor twift said:

youre probably right smithy! that looks super similar if not the same, ill try get some pics today

Also they are seedless and the tree is nearly thornless. [Not like lemons]. If your citrus are growing very close they can be naturally crossed by bees but it does not effect the fruit . The fruit stays true to the mother tree . Only the seed will be crossed. That means, only the seed growing plant will be the cross.    

Hope that makes sense, LOL.    

With your other question, You can buy mutli citrus grafted to one stock, Or you can get a good stock and do multi grafts yourself .  I am not a fan of mutli grafts as they don't bear much fruit. 

Edited by smithy

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interesting stuff smithy, makes perfect sense, thanks heaps for the reply !  im hoping to have some pics by the end of today, wish i had more "lemons" hahaha 

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Tahitian limes can go really yellow if you leave them on the tree until they fall off, like these guys from my yard. Those are limes on the left, small Eureka lemons on the right. The limes are a little more spherical, thinner skins, smaller "nipples", but yeah they can look very similar.

lemons_limes.thumb.jpg.f03a56f2760e015b226701e8ddba7bce.jpg

lemons_limes.thumb.jpg.f03a56f2760e015b226701e8ddba7bce.jpg

lemons_limes.thumb.jpg.f03a56f2760e015b226701e8ddba7bce.jpg

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1 hour ago, Anodyne said:

Tahitian limes can go really yellow if you leave them on the tree until they fall off, like these guys from my yard. Those are limes on the left, small Eureka lemons on the right. The limes are a little more spherical, thinner skins, smaller "nipples", but yeah they can look very similar.

lemons_limes.thumb.jpg.f03a56f2760e015b226701e8ddba7bce.jpg

I agree, but the eureka can grow into a very big tree and the growth habits are very different to a lime. A very sour juicy lemon with little to no seeds. Best way to ID a citrus is to crush the leaf, If it smells like a lime it's a lime, If it smells like a mandarin it's a manda...

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technically this is definitely not possible...  but just for interest sake, check out this daleys forum thread which has heaps of anecdotal accounts of people who seem to be pretty convinced this happens with citrus..

 

https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/fruit-treesdon-webercitrus-springs-fl/

 

edit:  though a lot of them are people just saying their oranges taste like lemons haha by which i guess they just mean they are sour as shit..  not necessarily actually lemon flavored 

Edited by paradox
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thanks for the link paradox heaps of good info!  i take it hes probably got a kaffir lime ( hence thinking its mutated) and a tahitian lime... after reading the daleys discussions im thinking alot of people may not have enough mag or sulfur on their citrus leading to sour acidy fruits, then thinking theyve crossed with something thats close when in fact both trees are probably nutrient deficient im not sure... thanks for the replys everyone, legends! 

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