A picture would be helpful. Can you see a clear graft point on the trunk?

On the East Coast, some Lowes only sell cuttings. Here in my area in central CA, they just started selling cuttings -- previously the last 6 years or so all grafts from 4Winds citrus. Recently they started carrying the grower that serves Walmart. Cuttings here started at $19.99, only $2 less than a full 5 gallon 2yr old graft (which was ridiculous IMO). That rack stayed full, didn't sell much at all. They immediately went on clearance for half price at $9.99.

if it's very small without a trunk it's probably a cutting.

They're tiny, and I have little to no faith that they have ever been treated well (by Lowe's OR the grower), but they do have a clear graft point. In fact, the grafts are still wrapped up in what looks like scotch-tape. Plus, like I mentioned before, when I purchased them they had suckers on them that were clearly some sort of trifoliate orange or related plant. The clearance prices that you're talking about, combined with me having never been able to find citrus around here, are the reason I purchased them. (I know better now, but I love these trees anyway)

They're healthy now that I have them, but they've led a rough life.

I'll try to get some pictures of a small sucker up soon.

I assume that you are going to keep these in pots and baby them during the winter. You are probably right about the rootstock. It is most likely tri-foliate orange or one of it's offspring, citranges come to mind, but as long as you intend to keep them pot bound, and I am assuming that you; you are really concerned about the size of the mature tree, correct? Usually this can be controlled via judicious pruning of the trees. Hopefully this is some good information for you.

I am concerned about the size of the tree, as I do intend to keep them as indoor plants, and it is a relief to know that I can do so no matter what the rootstock turns is. Hopefully they'll be big enough in a year or two that I'll get to ask a few questions about that. :)

Still, I'd like to find out what the rootstock is, if for no other reason than to know. They're my new little babies, and I've made it my mission to learn every little thing about them -- even if it takes a while.

Here are the pictures of a little sucker I took from my baby Mexican Lime a few days ago. (I have 3 kinds of citrus, 4 trees total)
I know blurry cell phone pics won't help much, but a guy can hope.

Thanks for all your help! :)
{{gwi:583823}}
Sucker in water (I know it won't grow, but It can't hurt to try anyway)
{{gwi:583824}}
Same sucker in my hand.

They had trifoliate suckers, duh I should've put that together. LOL

Although there are small noticeable differences between some leaves of Trifoliate, it is generally difficult to determine from an individual leaf set without seeing flowers, thorns, growth habit, etc. Maybe you'll find the right person with the expertise or do the research on your own, but I know information is limited compared to other citrus documentation.

I know how you feel about wanting to know your trees, even if for no other reason than just to know. Just gotta keep pushing forward. Citrus texts at the library and google scholar are your friends :-)

Sorry I couldn't help. good luck

Weird question:

I've kept the little sucker in water for a few days now, and the right leaf always keeps it slightly afloat thanks to surface tension (all this can be seen in the picture. I check it very rarely, but the base is turning a tan-ish color and seems to be growing, and when I checked it today a big blob of water was stuck to it and insisted on staying there. I think it may be rooting. Is this possible? How can I increase the chances of it rooting? I'd kinda like to grow it, even though I know the odds are against me.

Thanks!

-Stephen

It may be rooting, but I would not count on it.

Basically this is what I would equate to a softwood cutting. If you will google the following: "rooting softwood cuttings", you will find a wealth of information on methods.

You may not be able to get this particular "cutting" to root, but you'll have the methods to do others in the future.

Either it's rooting, or there is a tan fungus on it that looks like tiny hair-sized roots. and loves water. Should I put him in some dirt or leave him in the water? I'm kind of excited! :)

If it is rooting, then keep it in the water for a little while longer. When you plant it in soil, you'll need to create a humid environment to keep the leaves from drying 0ut while the roots form. Look up the softwood cutting propagation method and that will give you an idea on how to proceed.

Most likely it is Carrizo understock. It will make a large tree and loses a lot of cold tolerance. Trifoliata Orange or Flying Dragon would be a much better understock. Carrizo and Troyer are hybrids of Washington navel orange and Trifoliata orange. Swingle is ctoss of trifoliata orange and Duncan grapefruit. These will have a larger center leaf.

What makes you think it's Carrizo? I'm not saying that you're incorrect, I'm just curious.

I have a Meyer Lemon, Mexican Lime, and two Washington Navels and I *think* they all have the same rootstock. The rootstocks certainly look very similar, above and below ground. I wasn't sure that Carrizo would be ideal for all of them, and it seems strange that this rootstock would be picked by a company based in Virgina and selling to the surrounding states since it seems very ill-suited for this area.

The main reason that I am asking here is that I have absolutely [i]scoured[/i] the internet several times over and read a ton on rootstocks. I've learned plenty, but nothing that will help me ID them.

Asking on here was my best bet, really. Lowe's wasn't helpful, the internet wasn't helpful, the apparent grower wasn't helpful, and at this point I just refuse to give up. AT the very least, I've gained some good info by starting this thread.

I don't plan on harassing the forums for advice, since folks either know stuff or they don't, but I may ask this question again if a larger sucker magically appears (unlikely) or if the one I cut off grows into a larger plant (it looks like it will).

Again, thanks for all the responses so far! Any future ones help, in this thread or others, will be much appreciated. :)

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Fun Fact: There is so little info about citrus rootstocks on the web, much less specific info like how to ID them, that this thread is a fairly common result if you search for this sort of info. ;p

Woohoo! Their customer support finally got back to me. It may have taken them almost a month longer than they'd advertised, but once they got my email their service was speedy and very helpful. They asked for the info from the trees tags, I gave it to them, and the next day I knew that all my little trees were from a "special insect free certified growing location" (uh huh) somewhere "near Fresno CA" and were grafted on C-35 citrange rootstock. I'm reporting this in case anyone else in my area has this question or in case anyone here was curious. :)

Anything I should know now that I know what my lil' babies are growing on? As far as I can tell from my own research, no. Looks like it's a tough rootstock that doesn't keep them particularly small but is great for fruit production and keeping them potted up should reduce their size enough that it not being a dwarf shouldn't concern me.

Now to decide if I should keep the little sucker I pulled off or toss it. I stuck it in some dirt in a moist environment I'm using to germinate some palm seeds and it looks like it's still alive. I almost want to keep it... Hmmm.... Decisions, decisions...

With the large center leaf it is a hybrid Trifoliata. Swingle, Carrizo or Troyer. The Swingle is a cross between Trifoliata orange and uncan grapefruit. carrizo and troyer are crosses between Washington navel orange and trifoliata. All vigorous growing.

I was going to reply again and say your best choice would've been to hound the source company. Most companies eventually will respond, especially if you keep sending them various emails and leave phone messages. They'll start swatting at you to get rid of the annoying fly ;-) But glad they had great service once your request got routed OK.

Since you love to know everything about your tree: There are several growers in this area (I live in Fresno, CA). Depends on what they mean by "near". It may have come from TreeSource http://www.citrustreesource.com/. Willits & Newcomb is another possibility and they produce great trees. Our local Lowes said they used to stock W&N trees but no longer, they source the same trees from C&M in Nipomo (that Walmart uses, too) as well as FourWinds. They are either C-32 or C-35. W&N is a solid operation and are building (or have built) protective shelters for their tree production. W&N produces lots of different citrus on the various stocks. For semi-dwarf and standard, their trees are beautiful, with a solid root ball, and are trained/pruned nicely. I'm not fond of their soil for container trees (it's good soil for in-ground, but is too heavy and compacted to keep it in the container). W&N trees are almost always color labeled on stock/scion and I have their color coding sheet. But I think you said yours don't have colors, rt?

Anyway, as I stated earlier there isn't much doc on ID for various under stocks. Tons of research and general ed material on various stocks, but you may be interested to grow out a cutting from your stock that folks will be able to confirm the C-35.

Thanks for the response!

The trees came with colored plastic tags, but they seem to be tagged by what sort of citrus they are, not what sort of rootstock they have (green for lime, yellow for lemon, blue for orange on every tree I saw).

The tags only say what they are, CDFA#, and a date.

And you are very correct, I do want to know everything about my trees, within reason of course. I don't need to know who grafted them or grew the rootstock or watered them or gave them funny glances because their aunt recently developed a freak citrus allergy and had a terrible accident with a lemon.

Anyway, short of all that nonsense, there's nothing wrong with being thorough, I think.

;)

Lowes is getting those trees from Treesource. I've seen them being produced there. A very good, reliable nursery, but apparently Lowes is asking them to send them out early, before they've grown much, and that's unfortunate (Lowe's problem).

These were barely twiglets when I got them. Much thinner and shorter than a pencil and one only had four very small leaves on it. They are much happier now that they are in my hands.

I came here to learn about rootstock, and I ended up getting the tree's hometown. I love you, Internet.

Im glad you got that info, I too bought one of each from lowes, lime, meyer, and orange. they where tiny, about 6 inches tall. Ive had them about a month now and there are all putting out new growth. I potted them in my go to mix of 2 parts turface and 1 part good potting soil and they are doing great!

On a side note, My local lowes has had what appear to me to be 2-3 or maybe 3-4 year old Improved Meyer, Key Lime, Lisbon lemon, and an orange(I forget the type),They are about 4 feet tall from the soil. Any ways when they first put them out they were $39.99. Last week they went to $34.50, and last night they had dropped them to 50% off. Long story short I got a key lime and a Meyer for $17.25 each. woohoo!! I want to go back and get any orange but Im running out of windows to over winter my collection by.