Thanks, malibu! Will be checking out my local Coscto. I'd love to snag an Italian lemon, very cool!

Patty S.

malibu and patty, can the Italian lemon be substituted for a normal lemon? I would love to get an Italian lemon at Costco, but was wondering what to do with the fruit.

Yes, it can :-) The Santa Teresa Femminello Lemon is an old, old lemon, disease resistant and a good option in place of Eureka or Lisbon. Here's a link from the Citrus Pages about Santa Teresa: http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/lemons.html#teresa

And a link from UCR about Femminellos in general: http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/femminello.html

And more info at Clifton's about Santa Teresa, which is grown by Willits & Newcomb (and Four Winds as well), but W&N kind of call the ball rolling as far as a revived interest in this interesting and historic lemon:
http://www.buyplantsonline.com/dwarf-italian-lemon-tree-five-gallon.html

Patty S.

Ashleysf, I have not tasted an Italian lemon but I am sure you could substitute this fruit with other lemons. I understand the Santa Theresa which is the name of the Italian Lemon I purchased is from a a group called
Feminello Ovale. I plan to make lemonicello with them and marmalade. Here is the information I found on gardenguide.com on this variety:
"The Feminello Ovale is one of the oldest Italian lemon tree varieties still actively grown today. This tree is popular because its lemons have very few seeds and tend to be plump and juicy. They are highly acidic. This tree bears fruit all year, with the largest crops in the winter and spring. The Feminello Ovale's fruits store and ship well. This tree has no thorns and is the leading cultivar in Italy."

Thank you so much, Patty and Malibu_rose! I am off to get the Italian Lemon @ Costco and also to browse all the other citrus there! I can always use more lemons as I grow all of my lemons in containers and don't have too many of those fruits. I will put the Santa Teresa in a container.

I love W&N citrus trees. Big and healthy with beautiful root systems. Just be careful if you're going to keep it in container. I'd do a near 100% soil replacement (bare root) and put in fresh fast draining soil. The soil used is very heavy and will cement up within a year or so.

thank you, Chris. Good to know. I will make sure to bare root the tree when I get it. I love the W&N citrus trees too! I have a Valencia Orange and Bearss Lime from them and they both are doing great.

Ah! I wish I could get some citrus trees from Costco!! I was talking to the Live Goods buyer the other day and she happen to mentioned that they were about to bring in citrus to some stores in CA. I had no idea of the selection you were getting!! The Italian Lemon sounds AWESOME!

**Disclaimer- I work for Costco Wholesale at the corporate office here in Seattle.

I am totally jealous! We will not get citrus like that up here in Washington. :( Lucky you!

Enjoy!

I waited too long, I tried two stores last night and the selection was totally picked over. Just lemons, limes and some grapefruit left. Shame on me.

Karly, just give them a call as they get shipments in all the time. Find out when they're expecting their next shipment, and time a second visit so you're "first in line".

Patty S.

None at my Costco yet in Fresno -- and we're RIGHT HERE by the W&N Citrus grower (not like that matters, but it is funny).

Oh BTW, I have a color chart of all the various root stocks and scions. If you purchased one, can you give me the color coding on the plant and I can verify if they are still accurate?

Malibu: You stated yours was the only dwarf. Was the stock labeled or just stated "dwarf"?

Two years ago, my Costco had a decent selection of Navels on actual Flying Dragon stock. Finding Citrus on true Flying Dragon isn't common at all in the retail nursery market around here. The ones marked "dwarf" are usually on a Trifoliate hybrid.

The W&N dwarf and semi-dwarf trees I purchased that year all have grown -- but not the Flying Dragon. It truly IS growing very slowly and is the smallest of the bunch; however it is healthy.

cebury, where did you get the color chart for the rootstock? Love to have that myself.

Patty S.

Good tip Patty, thanks! For some reason I thought I read that this citrus stock was just for a week or two only. I'll be stalking my local Costco!

I was in COSTCO (Houston tx) two days ago but they did not have any citrus. They did have some nice japanese maples for 99.00. They had red bark and were in a five gallon containers. You pay double that at a nursery. Hope they bring some down here.

Cebury, I meant that of the 4 citrus plants I bought, only the Meyer Lemon was a dwarf, all the others were standard trees.

>> cebury, where did you get the color chart for the rootstock? Love to have that myself.

directly from W&N. The president gave me permission to post it a couple years ago, so I wanted to confirm at least a few of the entries are correct before I post it.

The color codings are on the trunk, there are bands of painted colors -- one on the rootstock and 1-3 on the scion.

Here is a snippet:

Willits & Newcomb, Inc.
Color Code

colors read from the bud union up

Variety First Second Third Color(if any)
NAVELS
Atwood blue orange
Cara Cara blue sky blue
Fisher blue blue
Fukumoto blue red
Gillette blue black
Lane Late blue green
Newhall blue brown
Robertson blue brown brown
Spring blue lime green
Washington blue
Australian Late blue yellow

ROOTSTOCKS
African Shad x Rub Trif black black
Benton Citrange gray
C-32 salmon
C-35 red
Carrizo NO COLOR

Thanks, cebury. I should check with Dave Wilson, LaVerne and Four Winds. Those are the bigger fruit tree providers in my area. Very nice to know if you lose a tag or want to know rootstock.

Patty S.

For what it's worth the trees I got from Cliftons were W&N trees and supposedly all Flying Dragon. I don't see it on your list there. The root stock were all marked with purple.

The citrus at the Northridge Costco looked neglected. They were all in need of sunlight and water. The trees that I saw were stressed, and might not transplant well.

Patty: I know DWN does color code, but I have only seen sparse coding on LaVerne and Four Winds trees. I've never seen coding on 4W dwarf trees at retail locations.

Redshirtcat: Thanks. The list I posted was only a small section. The real list is about 10 times as long.

And YES, Flying Dragon as a rootstock is a Purple indicator.

Here is the complete list of Rootstock color codes (as of a few years ago):

ROOTSTOCKS
African Shad x Rub Trif black black
Benton Citrange gray
C-32 salmon
C-35 red
Carrizo NO COLOR
Cuban Shaddock blue green
Flying Dragon purple
Macrophylla blue
Schaub Rough Lemon yellow
Swingle green
Trifoliate black
Volkameriana white

I've been searching for the Santa Teresa for a while and just found some at my local Costco up north. I didn't see any paint on the root stock so I 'm wondering what size tree it will be. The tag only says "medium tree" and nothing about dwarf or semi-dwarf.

Lemons tend to be only grafted to certain rootstocks, as they has scion-graft incompatibilities with some trifoliate rootstocks (semi-dwarfing rootstock.) So, probably on Alemow and the tag is referring to the actual growth habit of the tree, itself. Most likely will top out at 20' if you don't prune for shape. But, that will take 5 to 10 years, so you've got plenty of time to keep it pruned to the heigh you prefer :-)

Patty S.

Thanks, cebury. Yes, all my DWN trees are color coded, and my new little Smith Red Valencia from 4 Winds is not color coded. I think because 4 Winds uses predominantly one citrus rootstock (excluding lemons & and some mandarins).

Patty S.

Apologies to posting to such an old thread. I have constructed a list of color codes and wish i had seen this thread years ago. I'd love to share / compare the list I have with the official one and those interested. And if you have the official list from Willits & Newcomb, i'd very much appreciate it.

BTW: I just grabbed my 40th Citrus from Costco. W&N has been terrific in helping me with my citrus collection; even getting certain varieties on the specific costco delivery truck.

Wow, 40! That is great GKGK

I have gotten:

Lemons:

Meyer standard
Meyer Dwarf
Italian one mentioned above I hope
Variegated Pink

Oranges:
Torocco
Morro
Cara-cara

Mandarines:
Clementine
Seedless Kishu
Gold Nugget

Limes:
Australian Finger Lime
Bearrs
Key

I want a couple more Mandarines and a kumquat

GKGK, just email Willits & Newcomb and ask for their rootstock color codes. They are the nicest folks ever. I am so upset with our Costcos in San Diego county. They have changed vendors, and no longer buy from W&N. I am trying to find the regional person to talk to, to voice my extreme displeasure with this decision. Kippy, you need to add a Tango and a Page mandarin to your mandarin collection :-) And, at least one Satsuma.

Patty S.

Thanks for the ideas Patty

I think I have an OLD satsuma that we love.

I have been to Costco obsessively checking for the Tango. I think I missed the boat on the Page, they had them but I bought others and now the trees look sad from being indoors and lack of water.

Think they will come back?

Contact W&N and see if they have any they can send to your Costco. They are the best folks to work with, and if they can accommodate you, they will certainly try! Depends entirely on their stock, and if Costco is willing to place another order.

Patty S.

(formerly GKGK): thank you all! I just got the color variety charts from W&N. They have come through for me yet again. I am picking up my 5 "specials" tomorrow morning :-).

Judging from my conversations, its simpler to ask / request particular varieties through W&N and be prompt to pick them up the morning of delivery to Costco.

I got my Page! New shipment in today.

Any thoughts on the Pixie as a dwarf?

Pixie is a very tasty mandarin, Kippy. Much like the Seedless Kishu, very sweet and on the smaller side. I have one, that is hopefully going to be producing this next season.

Patty S.

Oh dear!

If you were me, would you wait hoping Costco gets a Tango in (they did last season) or pick up a Pixie?

I have to double check, but I think I have room for both Tango and Pixie if I rethink where I plant Page