Dwarfing? I don't know about the 2 US stocks but trifoliate and SO will support large (to very large) trees.

I do not have any thoughts - in fact I know very little about citrus rootstocks but found your chart to be very interesting. I have a couple of flying dragons and I am going to try my hand at grafting one. The other one I am letting it grow by itself. I acquired some seeds and started them a few days back. Although, I gather that not all will come true FDs.

The US897 is true dwarfing compared to FD. The US 942 is dwarfing but 20% larger than FD. The SO and US942 are good with high PH,salt,wet feet, and cold. I am looking into SO because my trees are going in ground outside. Potted citrus always seems to have salt build up problems so I thought the US942 and SO would be a good choice. I am about to start a sour orange trial.

Steve

Is Flying Dragon a slow grower? I have a FD seedling that has hardly grown in the past 1 1/2 years. It is only 6 - 7 inches tall.

Vladimir

FD is a very slow grower on the order of meiwa kumquat growth speed. It needs a lot of light and feed. My meiwa seedling would be the same size as your FD if I did not grow them under bucket lights. If you graft a Marumi kumquat to FD you will be able to plant it outside and use minimal heating on the coldest days. It can go down to 0F and leaf out next spring and can drop to 10F with leaves. The FD is Known for pushing sugars into kumquat and is the best Rootstock

Steve

BTW, I've read that in the eastern US it is common to confuse SO with so called Smooth Flat Seville which is a totally different rootstock hybrid created in the Antipodes. No idea if this is true. True SO fruit is rough, round and deep orange coloured when mature.

I screened out any chance of my seeds from smooth flat seville. My soil is very hard pan clay, It gets soggy. It is 7.8 PH. It gets really cold. With my cultivar going down to below 20F and outside temperature drops below 5F on the years of lanenia. My triple glass front GH against a heated house wall rarely needs heat. The trees are in a pit 4 feet deep and the insulated front wall rises another 2 feet. My glass rises 9 feet from the base and gives me 15 feet hight. The trees will be held to within 2 feet of the house wall being semi espalier growing. My seed grown Meiwa kumquats will be planted in front in the same pit and will be limited to no more than 7 feet. I have read that own rooted Meiwas can go down to 10F.

I have 3 small standard PT that are to hard for me to graft to so they went into the ground .for a hedge to hide my neighbor's 2 junked cars she can't let go of'

Steve

Citrus rootstock chooser computer programs choses Flying Dragon, Seville, US897, US942 as best choices for my area. Check it out and watch the tutorial.

Query The Rootstock Selection Guide

Does anyone know where i can get US 897 rootstock? Even cuttings will work.

Everything I have grafted to dragon is not vigorous. I have one in a pot where the scion died and it crawls. SO i guess it has its uses.

Contact https://www.briteleaf.com/ They use it extensively You should also look for US942 because it has a few more positive traits for resisting the natural forces of evil.

Steve

Thanks, Steve. I actually have a 942. It is super vigorous. I’ve read that 897 is more dwarfing though, but only by 20%. I dont have a lot of yard space so the smaller the better. Do you think 942 would provide overall better rootstock quality though?

You are better off with the 942. Is is resistant to more problems and the US897 has a sudden die off rate of about 30% within the first 10 years. If your 942 sends out suckers let them grow about 4 inches, then nip the terminal bud, and after hardening clip them from the tree and root them.