Dwarf vs standard

15 years ago

What are the differences between dwarf vs standard other than size? Is there a difference in taste or size of fruit? I just moved about a mile off the coast in OC, CA and have planting room in the ground for 5-6 citruses and I am not sure if I should choose dwarfs or standards. Temps do go down to 50 at night several times in the year. Will standard mean that I have to spend a lot of time pruning etc? Will I be overpowered by too many citruses if I choose standard? I have only grown one citrus in the past and have no idea if it was a standard or a dwarf, it did not grow much in 5 yrs. It was a salad of Valencia and Bearss. The lime tasted really good but the oranges had no taste at all.

According to my landscaper, this is what is available to me, mostly in 15 gal.

Salad (standard only): Bearss Lime, Honey Mandarin, Lane Late Navel, Meyer Lemon. This one I definitely want.

Others are available in standard & dwarf. Your opinion on choosing the best 5 of these and what size type would be most helpful. I am looking for taste and showy fruits.

Mexican Key Lime

Sweet Palestinian Lime (thorny??)

Golden Nugget Mandarin

Satsuma Owari Mandarin

Pink Lemonade Lemon

Moro Red Orange

Valencia Midgnight Orange

Cara Cara Pink Navel Orange

Chandler Pummelo

Minneola Tangelo

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Comments (4)

citrusenthusiast
15 years ago
Ask if the dwarf trees are on Flying Dragon rootstock. If so that would be my choice for most of the varieties. The Key lime and the Variegated Pink Eureka I believe would make the best ornamental trees. The Gold nugget produces a great piece of fruit that ripens in a different month than most of the other varieties. The Midnight is a seedless valencia that matures during the summer. The satsuma makes a small tree and is slow growing so a dwarf one may take forever to make a decent tree. The pummelo will be very large fruits that are pretty dry on the inside(not for everyone, tho I like them). The Palestine Sweet lime are usually very thorny and the fruit is acidless so for most it doesn't have much flavor. Cara Cara navel is very similar to a Washingtonal navel but with the extra benefit of having pigmented flesh. Minneola's have a pretty strong and tart flavor, again not to everyone's liking. Then the Moro Blood Orange if grown in a fairly hot climate can produce some dramatically dark red fleshed fruits.
Mandy D
Original Author
15 years ago
Some of it says Flying Dragon others say Trifoliate. Most of the large sizes I want say Trifoliate. Is that good or bad?
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john_bonzo
15 years ago
You shouldn't have to prune any of the citrus trees, but if you get a large tree such as a grapefruit or pummelo, then it might be difficult to get the fruit off the top of the tree. I personally would choose dwarf varieties for your situation.

Here are the 5 I would choose, trying to keep a variety of both taste and harvest time:
1.) The Fruit Salad tree, just because you said it's one you definitely want...this one may need pruning to keep the tree growing evenly from the different grafts
2.) Moro Blood Orange - my favorite tasting orange, plus interesting fruit color. I ate mine on Christmas in Texas
3.) Mexican Lime - small size, blooms and fruit year-round
4.) Golden Nugget Mandarin - seedless and very late to ripen (like March), so that complements the Honey Mandarin on the salad tree.
5.) Minneola Tangelo - unique flavor to everything else planted

I would also strongly recommend tasting these fruits before putting in a tree. Have you tried a Tangelo, and do you like them? Do you use a lot of lemons/limes in cooking and seasoning? Etc. Obviously, don't plant a tree if you don't particularly like the fruit!
Mandy D
Original Author
15 years ago
OK based on all your comments, here is my final list of citrus:

Salad Citrus standard
Owari Satsuma standard
Calamondin standard
Pink Lemonade Â dwarf
Mexican Key Lime Dwarf
Melwa Kumquat dwarf
Moro Blood dwarf
Meyer Lemon dwarf
Calamondin

In addition I am getting:
4 in one Peach
4 in one Peach/Plum/Apricot
Fig Flanders
Mango Mallika
Mango Alphonso

I am still in two minds about getting a Reed Avocado. Let's see if there will be enough space. Will post pics when they are all planted. Wish me luck!

Dwarf vs standard

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citrusenthusiast

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Dwarf vs standard

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citrusenthusiast

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