Thank you for the nice video. We have 3 nice varieties as mentioned in the Netherlands in pots! The LimeQuat Tavares is very good, as the Indio MandarinQuat and the Nagami KumQuat. Keep on the good work.
Nagami is very easy to grow. The Tavares is the best lime in Tequila, you can eat the entire thing. Indo is one of my favorite citrus but I have found it difficult to grow.
Just watched your video and I have just plented 1 kumquat tree 1 limequat tree and 1 buddhashand tree just for a talking point in my backyard can’t wait to try them 👍 and I’m over in New Zealand 🇳🇿
I believe you will find all three are good conversation trees. We used to stand around my Kumquat popping fruit and talking story for an hour sometimes. Pawpaw is another good one for conversation. I made dozens of friends with Pawpaw trees. Aloha
Love your video. I live in Ottawa Canada with a hardy zone of 5. But I have read that kumquats are great container plants for indoors during the winter months. (I have experienced minus 50 Celsius. ) The problem is nurseries in Canada do not sell kumquat plants. So my remedy until I can get a hold of plants is to grow my own from seed. It is early days for my kumquat seedlings I have many seeds from purchasing kumquats at the Chinese grocery store..so I have many seedlings that I am nurturing.
I have kumquat next to my house and it is growing like crazy. It's put on a lot of growth but leaf miners are getting and I'm getting leaves that I think are sun burned. Only set a few fruit but it's only a couple of yrs in ground! My kids love them.
The leaf miners have become a pest on citrus through most of CA lately. They are generally considered more of a cosmetic issue than a real plant health problem. The fact that you have a tree "growing like crazy" is probably why you have miners. They love that nice fresh new growth. People often prune away the miner damage because it's ugly and this just encourages more flushes of growth continuing the cycle. If you can time the spraying to the adult egg laying Spinosad, a bacteria, will work to control to some extent. They are difficult to control and not as dangerous to the tree as they appear. Kumquat don't sunburn under normal circumstances so what you see must have another cause. If the tree is growing well it will only be a matter of time before you end up with too much fruit. Hang in there and don't let the drought get to your new tree. Bill
Fukushu is the largest and the sweetest Kumquat. I am partial to Meiwa or Nagami myself because the Fukushu has a rather thick skin with seeds. Meiwa and Nagami have thin skin and few seeds. If there was one Kumquat I would choose Meiwa.
The Meiwa Kumquat is probably my favorite fruit...and the similar Marumi is not far behind...and just behind that is the Fukushu...I have all 3 and liked the small Meiwa tree so much, I added a second tree. I love eating the washed skin; additional nutrients there :) Good video from you once again...
Yes washing the skin to remove bird droppings is a good plan. I usually just buff them on my blue jeans before eating but my system is pretty strong. We sold the house in California with the kumquat last May. Since moving to Hawaii Ellen keeps pointing out kumquats in other peoples yards as we drive. Looks like I have to plant a new one! I may look around for a Meiwa, they are one of the best.
lol...hard to overrule the fairer (?) species :) I see you with a new Meiwa fairly quickly ;) I get you on the system....sometimes I think we overemphasize things with these so-called "anti-bacterial" soaps, etc. 1) our system does good with occasional invading attackers, so long as we eat well and occasionally get good exercise 2) we quickly build up resistence to those bugs with those weak solutions and that silly practice is actually detrimental to our long-term health here...I saw that over 30 yrs ago as a Pharma Rep and we have already had to shut down hospitals due to bacterial overrun...crazy !
As a child my favorite toys were tree seeds, insects and dirt. We covered ourselves in the stuff. Most of my life I have pulled carrots from the soil, rubbed the dirt off on my sleeve and put them in my mouth. Other than rocks there is nothing in healthy soil I can not eat. As for bird droppings, fruit is another issue. I do watch more carefully for bird poo and always wash because salmonella is a tough thing to digest. Here in Hawaii I have one more concern that has me washing stuff. They managed to get a south east Asian semi slug into the Island a couple years back and the damn thing eats rat crap. The slug picks up the Rat Lung Worm parasite and can spread it to humans via the slime. I had a case of killing slugs without washing my hands. You do not want this parasite, it sucks. Mostly I dump any produce that has come in contact with slugs and kill every rat i can find.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Bill--never saw this return comment b4...that is quite interesting--and good to know if I am ever visiting Hawaii (will b at some pt) ! I don't know if the Fukushu Kumquat came "first"...(I actually like that one !) but I still enjoy calling it the "Mother Fukushu"...lol. (I dunno---may be a raunchy blues tune in there somewhere...haha. I know; I shouldn't have gone there. Cheers ! :) )
@@jeff6899 Looks like you got in in time to respond. Google has been deleting comments older than 7 years old lately. With diligence the slug population on my property has been in steady decline. With care I can actually grow a safe lettuce crop in open ground. 10 years back this was not possible.
I have the sour one at home, but want to get this ‘Meiwa’. Went to a friend house this weekend and tasted one of the best kumquat. He didn't know the name but now I know it must be ‘Meiwa’.
+James Chuaycham There are three main Kumquats grown in the USA. Nagami is the fruit in the video. It is football shaped, medium sized with rather acid juice. Meiwa is the second most common. It tends to be round, smaller than Nagami and generally sweeter depending on the climate where it is grown. In Fremont, CA there isn't as much difference between the two as in a hot climate. Some growers offer Fukushu which is the largest and the sweetest of the Kumquats. I do not care for this fruit much because the skin is thick and it is rather seedy. I would rate Meiwa as my favorite Kumquat too. More exciting though are the Kumquat hybrids. I really like the Indio Mandarinquat, Nippon Orangequat and the Tavares Limequat.
Awesome, i bought Kumquat, Chinotto ( Dwarf Bitter Orange ), and a Lemon tree, growing beautiful here in Germany. Greetings to Hawaii, i watched your videos for a while, now i subbed :D.
Thank you for subscribing. Chinotto is an interesting citrus. It is very attractive to the eyes and have wonderful flowers. The fruit is only good for marmalade or candied citrus peels though. Too sour for much of anything else. Kumquat and lemon are easier to use in the kitchen. Thanks for watching, Bill
Thank you for the reply and the informative videos, i made lemonade and a vinaigrette from the Chinotto fruits, so good, and so much health benefits from these citrus fruits.
That sounds like two good uses. I always liked the way that the Chinotto looked. Small leaves, close to the stems with lots of flowers between. They make a nice citrus bonsai.
Jackie, lucky for you the Kumquat doesn't require pruning for the plants physical or fruiting needs. The only reason you would cut at the tree is to shape it, remove interior dead wood or reduce it's size. The trees grow slowly, the one in the video is 17 years old with very limited pruning. They are more of a large bush. I do plan to make a video about pruning them in the future but for now you can view my video on Pruning Citrus Trees. Pruning Citrus Trees Timing on pruning is more important than anything else with Kumquat. You want to find a time in late Spring when the fruit is ripe but the flowers haven't come on yet. If I pruned my tree today I would cut off most of next years fruit. June is probably a good time in most areas for pruning but local weather controls growth. Bill
+Ebrahim Alnuaimi (Bu5ale) It is 19 years in the ground and was a couple of years old before planting. It is a Nagami Kumquat. The fruit this year is very good quality. The older the tree becomes the sweeter the fruit.
It depends on whether the thorns are above or below the graft line of the tree. Most citrus can produce thorns on very juvenile growth. They disappear as the trees grow older. Almost all root stock used in citrus production have thorns. If material has started to grow below the graft it should be removed.
Hi Bill, I am really enjoying your highly informative and very entertaining movies. Thank you. To the best of your knowledge is there any chance Kumquats could be grown in Hawaiian Acres (1100 feet)? Cheers Herb
Hi I do have questions for you I'm going to buy the maturekumquat tree from the ground. And transferring to ground do you think will be ok . Thank you for your video .
Moving a mature tree is a job for a professional. I would not recommend it. All commercial tree movers dig the trees, containerize them and spend a few years nursing them back to health before they are resold. Citrus have very wide spreading roots. To dig an older tree you will likely cut away 50 to 80% of the roots. The top of the tree would be pruned away at the about the same rate to balance the growth. It would cheaper and more successful to just go buy a tree potted from a nursery. You will have fruit much earlier with a lower risk. I usually only plant citrus from 5 gallon containers but Kumquat can be found in 15 gallon pots if you wish for a bigger tree. Digging mature trees is a brutal job, not even worth it if the tree is free. If you are paying for it the plant is a bad deal.
Kumquats are grown in Israel but there doesn't appear to be a variety named after the country. I would guess the label is the name of the company that raised the tree. By chance it was seed grown it would have no name.
Kumquats are frequently bought with fruit on them in the nursery if purchased away from Chinese New Year. Fruited plants sell out as gifts during that time. Fruit is easy, how much fruit is the concern. Takes about 5 years to get a decent crop. You never harvest what you don't plant.
Bill. Can you recommend a good kumquat which grows well around DanaPoint, Ca. - Southern Coastal California. A variety that can take mildly coastal salty breeze. Thanks. - Kevin
Bite-Size Gardens Kevin, No Kumquat really likes salt so I have no suggestions in that regard other than position the plant so the sea breeze is blocked by the house or landscape. Then use acid organic matter and fertilizer to combat the salt build up and wash the leaves with fresh water every couple of weeks. Otherwise the number of Kumquats available in the nursery trade is pretty limited. Over 90% of the trees raised are either Nagami or Meiwa. There is a smaller number of Fukushu Kumquats being raised. Fukushu is the sweetest type but I am not over joyed with it because it has a thick skin and it is rather seedy. Meiwa is the second sweetest and may be a good choice for you. It is a very high quality Kumquat. I raise Nagami here in Fremont because it is very productive in the Bay Area. in this region Nagami and Meiwa taste about the same but in warmer climates the Meiwa is sweeter. I would plant Meiwa.
I live in the high desert of California and we get petty cold in the winter low 20's every year and Ive seen it actually down to 0 which kumquat would you recommend? p.s. I like sweet fruits.
+James Long Kumquat will usually do fine with short drops into the low twenties. I see figures in the books that even take them into the upper teens. Zero is below their survival range though. If you try this place the plant near the wall of a house with an overhanging eve and prepare to shelter in place if the temperatures are predicted to go below 20 f. Meiwa is my favorite kumquat and to my knowledge it is as hardy as the rest.
Twigs and leaves turning brown usually indicates a tree that is dying. Damage to the lower trunk or root system are likely. String trimmer damage or root rot. Neither have a clear solution.
Jared McAllister Thanks for the feed back. If i did a typical garden orchard approach I would recommend 3 to 4 feedings per year with a quality organic citrus food. In my case the trees have had fertilizer in the beginning and at time later in life. My growing program is permaculture so I use systems that allow the trees to sustain good growth without much input from me. The soil under the trees is kept covered with any type of organic matter my garden generates. I grow perennial legumes like clover and alfalfa around the orchard to fix nitrogen. I also build my home compost directly under the orchard and just spread the finished material on the trees.
Jared McAllister You're welcome. It takes a while to establish the systems but it is possible to create a self sustaining environment for the trees. Bill
It is winter here in California and the Kumquats are ripe. Because the weather is a bit cool here in the Bay area the fruit gets a bit sweeter by spring but the turn in the winter. If you grow a good mix for subtropicals and temperate fruits you will notice that almost all the subtropicals ripen in winter to spring and the temperate ripen summer to fall. Currently in my yard I have ripe Kumquat, lemon, lime, avocado, Satsuma orange, Navel orange, Macadamia nut and White Sapote.
+annielou2010 Since I have never visited Puerto Rico I could hardly be the judge of what grows there. As a rough guess i would say yes but there are factors that might limit their growth. They do not care for beach rock, sand or ocean salt spray so you would want to be back from the coast. My guess is they grow better in the hills where weather is a bit cooler. The locations in Hawaii where the trees are grown are at cooler elevations from 500 to 2500 feet. It gets warm from time to time in the Fremont, CA area where my tree is located but in general the San Francisco Bay area climate is rather cool but with little frost. I have a few contacts working with the trees in Florida who are having some success. Puerto Rico's climate is more similar to Florida than any place I have ever planted the tree.
Damn i bought the wrong variety, mine is in a pot but the fruit is really sour and the rind is really bitter and it also contains many seeds like 4 or 5 which makes the fruit difficult to eat. What soil do they like i hear a loamy soil is this true
They aren't too picky about soil type if they are grown on Trifolate orange roots. My soil in CA was a slit loam with pH7. All citrus need a soil that drains well. One that holds moisture and nutrient also helps. I grow the trees in Hawaii on a volcanic ash soil that drains like sand but it rains here. The major challenge is keep the nutrients near the surface. The tree in the video is Nagami. It is good and has a nice market shape. Meiwa is sweeter if your weather is hot but it is smaller.
GreenGardenGuy1 will keep an eye out for a named variety this time. The one i have the seller can't name which means it must be the common one margarita. About the nutrients on surface would work castings work
I'm not going to belittle the value of worm casting but as far as a fertilizer goes it would take many hundreds of pound annually to supply the needs of citrus. Citrus are gross feeders and require potent fertilizers like poultry manure, fish waste or mineral fertilizers. If you add some worm food like kitchen scraps or manure to your tree the worms will arrive on their own and leave castings. There is no need to purchase these. If you have a worm farm then using the waste is a different story. Here is a casting break down, there isn't a lot of basic nutrient in them. Nitrogen (N) 0.56 - 0.66% Phosphate (P2O5) 0.75 - 1.93% Potassium (K) 0.40 - 2.30% Chicken manure is more like : N-30%, P-45%, K-25% This is a huge difference and chicken manure isn't always strong enough to cover the job either depending on the soil
The soil under the tree was native silt loam over the alluvium from the meander of Alameda creek. On the surface I worked in a couple cubic feet of redwood compost at the time of planting with organic citrus food. Later I applied piles of organic materials from the yard and garden as a mulch. I had a compost bin between this tree and the next to works down kitchen trash. This did much of the fertilizing over the years.
This is the best Kumquat video on RUclips. 2 thumbs up and you are an awesome gardener. Thanks, Bill
Thanks for the feed back. I sold this tree along with the house a few years ago. I need to plant a new one here in Hawaii.
Thank you for the nice video. We have 3 nice varieties as mentioned in the Netherlands in pots! The LimeQuat Tavares is very good, as the Indio MandarinQuat and the Nagami KumQuat. Keep on the good work.
Nagami is very easy to grow. The Tavares is the best lime in Tequila, you can eat the entire thing. Indo is one of my favorite citrus but I have found it difficult to grow.
Just watched your video and I have just plented 1 kumquat tree 1 limequat tree and 1 buddhashand tree just for a talking point in my backyard can’t wait to try them 👍 and I’m over in New Zealand 🇳🇿
I believe you will find all three are good conversation trees. We used to stand around my Kumquat popping fruit and talking story for an hour sometimes. Pawpaw is another good one for conversation. I made dozens of friends with Pawpaw trees. Aloha
Love your video. I live in Ottawa Canada with a hardy zone of 5. But I have read that kumquats are great container plants for indoors during the winter months. (I have experienced minus 50 Celsius. ) The problem is nurseries in Canada do not sell kumquat plants. So my remedy until I can get a hold of plants is to grow my own from seed. It is early days for my kumquat seedlings I have many seeds from purchasing kumquats at the Chinese grocery store..so I have many seedlings that I am nurturing.
You will get variations but Kumquat will come more true to type from seeds than most other citrus. Good luck.
I have kumquat next to my house and it is growing like crazy. It's put on a lot of growth but leaf miners are getting and I'm getting leaves that I think are sun burned. Only set a few fruit but it's only a couple of yrs in ground! My kids love them.
The leaf miners have become a pest on citrus through most of CA lately. They are generally considered more of a cosmetic issue than a real plant health problem. The fact that you have a tree "growing like crazy" is probably why you have miners. They love that nice fresh new growth. People often prune away the miner damage because it's ugly and this just encourages more flushes of growth continuing the cycle. If you can time the spraying to the adult egg laying Spinosad, a bacteria, will work to control to some extent. They are difficult to control and not as dangerous to the tree as they appear. Kumquat don't sunburn under normal circumstances so what you see must have another cause. If the tree is growing well it will only be a matter of time before you end up with too much fruit. Hang in there and don't let the drought get to your new tree. Bill
Awesome video! Thank you for sharing. I learned so much. I didn’t know to eat the skin and all. I just planted the Fukushu variety and so glad I did.
Fukushu is the largest and the sweetest Kumquat. I am partial to Meiwa or Nagami myself because the Fukushu has a rather thick skin with seeds. Meiwa and Nagami have thin skin and few seeds. If there was one Kumquat I would choose Meiwa.
The Meiwa Kumquat is probably my favorite fruit...and the similar Marumi is not far behind...and just behind that is the Fukushu...I have all 3 and liked the small Meiwa tree so much, I added a second tree. I love eating the washed skin; additional nutrients there :) Good video from you once again...
Yes washing the skin to remove bird droppings is a good plan. I usually just buff them on my blue jeans before eating but my system is pretty strong.
We sold the house in California with the kumquat last May. Since moving to Hawaii Ellen keeps pointing out kumquats in other peoples yards as we drive. Looks like I have to plant a new one! I may look around for a Meiwa, they are one of the best.
lol...hard to overrule the fairer (?) species :) I see you with a new Meiwa fairly quickly ;) I get you on the system....sometimes I think we overemphasize things with these so-called "anti-bacterial" soaps, etc. 1) our system does good with occasional invading attackers, so long as we eat well and occasionally get good exercise 2) we quickly build up resistence to those bugs with those weak solutions and that silly practice is actually detrimental to our long-term health here...I saw that over 30 yrs ago as a Pharma Rep and we have already had to shut down hospitals due to bacterial overrun...crazy !
As a child my favorite toys were tree seeds, insects and dirt. We covered ourselves in the stuff. Most of my life I have pulled carrots from the soil, rubbed the dirt off on my sleeve and put them in my mouth. Other than rocks there is nothing in healthy soil I can not eat. As for bird droppings, fruit is another issue. I do watch more carefully for bird poo and always wash because salmonella is a tough thing to digest. Here in Hawaii I have one more concern that has me washing stuff. They managed to get a south east Asian semi slug into the Island a couple years back and the damn thing eats rat crap. The slug picks up the Rat Lung Worm parasite and can spread it to humans via the slime. I had a case of killing slugs without washing my hands. You do not want this parasite, it sucks. Mostly I dump any produce that has come in contact with slugs and kill every rat i can find.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Bill--never saw this return comment b4...that is quite interesting--and good to know if I am ever visiting Hawaii (will b at some pt) ! I don't know if the Fukushu Kumquat came "first"...(I actually like that one !) but I still enjoy calling it the "Mother Fukushu"...lol. (I dunno---may be a raunchy blues tune in there somewhere...haha. I know; I shouldn't have gone there. Cheers ! :) )
@@jeff6899 Looks like you got in in time to respond. Google has been deleting comments older than 7 years old lately. With diligence the slug population on my property has been in steady decline. With care I can actually grow a safe lettuce crop in open ground. 10 years back this was not possible.
I have the sour one at home, but want to get this ‘Meiwa’.
Went to a friend house this weekend and tasted one of the best kumquat. He didn't know the name but now I know it must be ‘Meiwa’.
+James Chuaycham There are three main Kumquats grown in the USA. Nagami is the fruit in the video. It is football shaped, medium sized with rather acid juice. Meiwa is the second most common. It tends to be round, smaller than Nagami and generally sweeter depending on the climate where it is grown. In Fremont, CA there isn't as much difference between the two as in a hot climate. Some growers offer Fukushu which is the largest and the sweetest of the Kumquats. I do not care for this fruit much because the skin is thick and it is rather seedy. I would rate Meiwa as my favorite Kumquat too. More exciting though are the Kumquat hybrids. I really like the Indio Mandarinquat, Nippon Orangequat and the Tavares Limequat.
You aré a easy going. I like you Kumquats.
Thank you Ramon. I like kumquats too but I guess that goes without saying. Bill
Awesome, i bought Kumquat, Chinotto ( Dwarf Bitter Orange ), and a Lemon tree, growing beautiful here in Germany. Greetings to Hawaii, i watched your videos for a while, now i subbed :D.
Thank you for subscribing. Chinotto is an interesting citrus. It is very attractive to the eyes and have wonderful flowers. The fruit is only good for marmalade or candied citrus peels though. Too sour for much of anything else. Kumquat and lemon are easier to use in the kitchen. Thanks for watching, Bill
Thank you for the reply and the informative videos, i made lemonade and a vinaigrette from the Chinotto fruits, so good, and so much health benefits from these citrus fruits.
That sounds like two good uses. I always liked the way that the Chinotto looked. Small leaves, close to the stems with lots of flowers between. They make a nice citrus bonsai.
Just got myself a kumquat tree. So I wanted to know if we need to prune the kumquat, how heavy and when is the best time to do it.
Jackie, lucky for you the Kumquat doesn't require pruning for the plants physical or fruiting needs. The only reason you would cut at the tree is to shape it, remove interior dead wood or reduce it's size. The trees grow slowly, the one in the video is 17 years old with very limited pruning. They are more of a large bush. I do plan to make a video about pruning them in the future but for now you can view my video on Pruning Citrus Trees. Pruning Citrus Trees
Timing on pruning is more important than anything else with Kumquat. You want to find a time in late Spring when the fruit is ripe but the flowers haven't come on yet. If I pruned my tree today I would cut off most of next years fruit. June is probably a good time in most areas for pruning but local weather controls growth. Bill
How old is your kumquat? The one I had had small buds of flowers not that big maybe it's Fortunella Margarita
+Ebrahim Alnuaimi (Bu5ale) It is 19 years in the ground and was a couple of years old before planting. It is a Nagami Kumquat. The fruit this year is very good quality. The older the tree becomes the sweeter the fruit.
Just purchased a Meiwa 24" in 1 gallon pot. Half of the branches have thorns. Is the normal....
It depends on whether the thorns are above or below the graft line of the tree. Most citrus can produce thorns on very juvenile growth. They disappear as the trees grow older. Almost all root stock used in citrus production have thorns. If material has started to grow below the graft it should be removed.
Hi Bill, I am really enjoying your highly informative and very entertaining movies. Thank you.
To the best of your knowledge is there any chance Kumquats could be grown in Hawaiian Acres (1100 feet)?
Cheers Herb
Sure they will and i believe Plant it Hawaii in Kurtistown raises the tree.
Hi I do have questions for you I'm going to buy the maturekumquat tree from the ground. And transferring to ground do you think will be ok .
Thank you for your video .
Moving a mature tree is a job for a professional. I would not recommend it. All commercial tree movers dig the trees, containerize them and spend a few years nursing them back to health before they are resold. Citrus have very wide spreading roots. To dig an older tree you will likely cut away 50 to 80% of the roots. The top of the tree would be pruned away at the about the same rate to balance the growth. It would cheaper and more successful to just go buy a tree potted from a nursery. You will have fruit much earlier with a lower risk. I usually only plant citrus from 5 gallon containers but Kumquat can be found in 15 gallon pots if you wish for a bigger tree. Digging mature trees is a brutal job, not even worth it if the tree is free. If you are paying for it the plant is a bad deal.
Hi sir...i purchased a kumquat tree which has the tag saying Israeli kumquat. The fruit looks like a nagami. Is israeli kumquat a variety of kumquat?
Kumquats are grown in Israel but there doesn't appear to be a variety named after the country. I would guess the label is the name of the company that raised the tree. By chance it was seed grown it would have no name.
How long does it take to produce fruit
Kumquats are frequently bought with fruit on them in the nursery if purchased away from Chinese New Year. Fruited plants sell out as gifts during that time. Fruit is easy, how much fruit is the concern. Takes about 5 years to get a decent crop. You never harvest what you don't plant.
Bill. Can you recommend a good kumquat which grows well around DanaPoint, Ca. - Southern Coastal California. A variety that can take mildly coastal salty breeze.
Thanks.
- Kevin
Bite-Size Gardens Kevin, No Kumquat really likes salt so I have no suggestions in that regard other than position the plant so the sea breeze is blocked by the house or landscape. Then use acid organic matter and fertilizer to combat the salt build up and wash the leaves with fresh water every couple of weeks. Otherwise the number of Kumquats available in the nursery trade is pretty limited. Over 90% of the trees raised are either Nagami or Meiwa. There is a smaller number of Fukushu Kumquats being raised. Fukushu is the sweetest type but I am not over joyed with it because it has a thick skin and it is rather seedy. Meiwa is the second sweetest and may be a good choice for you. It is a very high quality Kumquat. I raise Nagami here in Fremont because it is very productive in the Bay Area. in this region Nagami and Meiwa taste about the same but in warmer climates the Meiwa is sweeter. I would plant Meiwa.
GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks Bill. :)
Bite-Size Gardens You bet.
I live in the high desert of California and we get petty cold in the winter low 20's every year and Ive seen it actually down to 0 which kumquat would you recommend? p.s. I like sweet fruits.
+James Long Kumquat will usually do fine with short drops into the low twenties. I see figures in the books that even take them into the upper teens. Zero is below their survival range though. If you try this place the plant near the wall of a house with an overhanging eve and prepare to shelter in place if the temperatures are predicted to go below 20 f. Meiwa is my favorite kumquat and to my knowledge it is as hardy as the rest.
My kumquat twigs turning brown leaves yellow fruit dropping leaves falling please advise on ground since r may
Twigs and leaves turning brown usually indicates a tree that is dying. Damage to the lower trunk or root system are likely. String trimmer damage or root rot. Neither have a clear solution.
May I send you some pictures with qutions?
You may send pictures. Whether this is useful or not depends on how good the images are and whether they detail the problem at hand well.
Hi
Is it suitable for hot+ humid weather?
Thanks
Citrus generally thrive in hot humid weather. Some of this is subjective to the individual but Kumquat produce sweeter fruit under warmer weather.
Cool video. I just planted a kumquat at my home as our first of hopefully many citrus trees. Do you regularly feed your tree?
Jared McAllister Thanks for the feed back. If i did a typical garden orchard approach I would recommend 3 to 4 feedings per year with a quality organic citrus food. In my case the trees have had fertilizer in the beginning and at time later in life. My growing program is permaculture so I use systems that allow the trees to sustain good growth without much input from me. The soil under the trees is kept covered with any type of organic matter my garden generates. I grow perennial legumes like clover and alfalfa around the orchard to fix nitrogen. I also build my home compost directly under the orchard and just spread the finished material on the trees.
GreenGardenGuy1 I like the idea of having legumes around the orchard. That's a good idea. Thanks for sharing!
Jared McAllister You're welcome. It takes a while to establish the systems but it is possible to create a self sustaining environment for the trees. Bill
my very prolific kumquat ripen its fruits in winter, isnt that weird?
It is winter here in California and the Kumquats are ripe. Because the weather is a bit cool here in the Bay area the fruit gets a bit sweeter by spring but the turn in the winter. If you grow a good mix for subtropicals and temperate fruits you will notice that almost all the subtropicals ripen in winter to spring and the temperate ripen summer to fall. Currently in my yard I have ripe Kumquat, lemon, lime, avocado, Satsuma orange, Navel orange, Macadamia nut and White Sapote.
+GreenGardenGuy1 do you know if i can grow macadamia nuts in Puerto Rico?
+annielou2010 Since I have never visited Puerto Rico I could hardly be the judge of what grows there. As a rough guess i would say yes but there are factors that might limit their growth. They do not care for beach rock, sand or ocean salt spray so you would want to be back from the coast. My guess is they grow better in the hills where weather is a bit cooler. The locations in Hawaii where the trees are grown are at cooler elevations from 500 to 2500 feet. It gets warm from time to time in the Fremont, CA area where my tree is located but in general the San Francisco Bay area climate is rather cool but with little frost. I have a few contacts working with the trees in Florida who are having some success. Puerto Rico's climate is more similar to Florida than any place I have ever planted the tree.
ok, thanks for the info,i think i can grow them here,and i have to keep an eye on them!thanks for your help!
+annielou2010 Any time, you are welcome.
Nice vid :D
Thank you, wonderful little fruits, glad they interest you.
Damn i bought the wrong variety, mine is in a pot but the fruit is really sour and the rind is really bitter and it also contains many seeds like 4 or 5 which makes the fruit difficult to eat. What soil do they like i hear a loamy soil is this true
They aren't too picky about soil type if they are grown on Trifolate orange roots. My soil in CA was a slit loam with pH7. All citrus need a soil that drains well. One that holds moisture and nutrient also helps. I grow the trees in Hawaii on a volcanic ash soil that drains like sand but it rains here. The major challenge is keep the nutrients near the surface. The tree in the video is Nagami. It is good and has a nice market shape. Meiwa is sweeter if your weather is hot but it is smaller.
GreenGardenGuy1 will keep an eye out for a named variety this time. The one i have the seller can't name which means it must be the common one margarita. About the nutrients on surface would work castings work
I'm not going to belittle the value of worm casting but as far as a fertilizer goes it would take many hundreds of pound annually to supply the needs of citrus. Citrus are gross feeders and require potent fertilizers like poultry manure, fish waste or mineral fertilizers. If you add some worm food like kitchen scraps or manure to your tree the worms will arrive on their own and leave castings. There is no need to purchase these. If you have a worm farm then using the waste is a different story. Here is a casting break down, there isn't a lot of basic nutrient in them.
Nitrogen (N) 0.56 - 0.66%
Phosphate (P2O5) 0.75 - 1.93%
Potassium (K) 0.40 - 2.30%
Chicken manure is more like :
N-30%, P-45%, K-25%
This is a huge difference and chicken manure isn't always strong enough to cover the job either depending on the soil
I LOVE kumquat! Taste likea sour one than it goes sweet... really nice!
D5quared91 The crop is huge this year. It appears kumquat love dry weather.
+GreenGardenGuy1 can you send me some seeds?please!
+annielou2010 How many do you need? I would request $5 to clean, dry and send seeds at domestic first class letter rate.
thanks, i got some seed at ebay last night!
Soil ?
The soil under the tree was native silt loam over the alluvium from the meander of Alameda creek. On the surface I worked in a couple cubic feet of redwood compost at the time of planting with organic citrus food. Later I applied piles of organic materials from the yard and garden as a mulch. I had a compost bin between this tree and the next to works down kitchen trash. This did much of the fertilizing over the years.
You eat the skin?
It's the best part. The juice is quite acid and only pleasant as you release the sugar by chewing the skin. Sweet skin, sour juice.
you are like Bud Spencer
+SerraMuayThaiOfficialChannel Long live spaghetti westerns.