We have just imported a large quantity of new Citrus varieties into New Zealand (as seed). These came mostly from an overseas Citrus arboretum, and the import was inspected and approved by MPI.
For almost all of these varieties, it’s the first time they have been available in New Zealand (only Cox and Swingle were already imported previously). The reason we imported these is to increase the Citrus genetic diversity in New Zealand, which is relatively narrow at the moment. Genetic diversity will help us grow more food for ourselves, and give us a better chance to handle diseases and a changing climate. Some of these varieties may also be fantastic Citrus rootstocks for certain regions with challenging conditions, such as the West Coast or inland Canterbury/Otago and central North island.
These Citrus have various usages from eating fresh, for marmalade, for juice and for cooking. Many are ultra cold tolerant (to -15 Celsius).
Almost all of these varieties will will ‘clone’ themselves via seed (weird thing Citrus do called Nucellar embryony – article here). A few will produce very unusual seedlings and there could be the next favourite Citrus variety in those.
List of mostly-new Citrus varieties: Barkley ichandarin Zao Yang trifoliate Swingle citrumelo Cox citrandarin Ichang papeda Knights citron Indian wild orange Karna khatta hybrid Beni Amanatsu Jeruk limau Citremon
And another half dozen varieties came in very small quantities and so we will grow those on ourselves, before eventually selling grafted varieties. We will make most of these varieties available as grafted plants in the future, but for now buying these seeds is the only way you will be able to grow them.
We so far haven’t written much about walnuts, although we have been working with them for a few years. Walnuts are not huge fans of the West Coast climate, to say the least. They prefer hot and dry Summers, and deep and free-draining soils – neither of which are plentiful on the Coast. However the nutrition provided by walnuts is very hard to find in other tree crops, being both high in protein (not too difficult to find in other tree crops) and omega-3 essential fatty acids (good luck finding this in other perennials!), and so we believe that it’s worth persevering, despite the challenges.
On the plus side, our climate is relatively frost-free, and late frosts are rare and usually not severe. So we hypothesize that very early leafing varieties of walnut will give us a longer growing season, which would help counterbalance that our Summers are relatively mild. Most walnut breeding programs around the world typically breed late-leafing varieties to avoid the risk of late Spring frosts.
The other reason most walnut breeding programs aim for late-leafing is avoidance of walnut blight. Wet Spring weather during bud break is the ideal time for walnut blight to spread and take hold, so delaying leafing out by a few weeks can avoid wet Spring weather altogether in continental climates. Susceptible walnuts in a wet Spring can have almost the entire crop lost to blight, so it’s a serious problem. As there’s no guarantee that our West Coast late Spring is any drier than our early Spring (often the opposite!), I suspect that blight avoidance is not a feasible strategy for our region anyway. To this end, we are looking to work with interspecific hybrids to introduce true blight tolerance.
Other countries have access to many wonderful and productive interspecific walnut hybrids, often selected from the best of hundreds of seedlings, however in New Zealand these sorts of hybrids are essentially unheard of, and extremely rare. The few walnut grafters in New Zealand have worked with Paradox hybrids (Juglans hindsii x regia hybrids) for use as rootstock decades ago, but none do any longer. There are a few recorded Juglans ailantifolia x regia trees, but at least one has extremely poor quality nuts (double shell thickness) and I’ve not seen anything from the others.
What we do have in New Zealand though are a few successful hybrids with the iron walnut (Juglans sigillata). The iron walnut is native to the eastern Himalayas and western China, and is the closest relative to Persian walnut, having diverged an estimated 49 million years ago. Nick Nelson Parker has selected at least two apparent sigillata hybrids that are productive nut producers and have vigorous growth (‘Legacy’ and ‘Prolific’).
The seedling below is an open-pollinated seedling of ‘Legacy’, and has been leafing out for over a week now (it was in some shade as well). This is the earliest I’ve seen a walnut leaf out, and is earlier than all of my plums and roughly at the same time as almond and quince.
Open pollinated Juglans sigillata x regia F2 seedling
Of course there’s no guarantee that this seedling will amount to much, but if nobody ever tries, then we’ll never improve upon what we have.
Limited research has shown that Juglans sigillata x regia crosses can apparently have true blight resistance. Two J. sigillata x regia hybrids (in Sassafras, Australia and Guangxi, China) had anomalously low blight measurements in the study. Guangxi region has a warm and wet subtropical climate, with rainfall peaking in summer – sounds similar to the West Coast.
Walnut blight incidence for various walnuts vs rainfall accumulation post bud burst. The Sassafras hybrid and Guangxi hybrid (highlighted with a red triangle and blue circle respectively) are both believed to be J. sigillata x regia and are noticeable outliers from the general trend of wetter weather = more blight. Graph modified from [1].
We have been planting out a mother orchard of varied walnut genetics, to later make some crosses from ourselves. We’re also working on walnut grafting as well, which are one of the more difficult temperate tree crops to graft. The first ‘variety’ we’re attempting to graft is a walnut seedling found in Canterbury that appears to be mostly blight resistant. It was the best by a long shot of approximately 30 walnut trees I inspected during last Summer, with extremely few signs of blight on nuts or leaves, and no shoot dieback. As last Summer was considered extremely wet and poor by Canterbury standards, it was an ideal time to look for blight resistant walnut trees.
Lastly, we are always interested in hearing more about interspecific walnut hybrids already in New Zealand, or if you think you have seen a particularly unusual or blight tolerant walnut please let us know 🙂
Apples that hang on the tree well into July (at least) while still retaining great eating quality are what I’d describe as ‘superlate’ apples. Other people have called them ‘Long keeping apples‘ (but I think that is a misleading name as usually ‘keeping’ / ‘keeper’ usually refers to storage off-tree). I think these traits are important for food security, as these days relatively few houses have the space to store apples in a cool and dry place. Plus who doesn’t love physically picking apples in July.
So far I’d never come across any roadside apples that I’d describe as superlate until this one. I found this apple somewhat hidden in Weka Pass 2 days ago, still holding a decent crop of apples (more than in the photo). The tree is on a fenceline by itself, so I’m pretty sure it’s a seedling.
These apples are completely crunchy and juicy, no dryness or flouriness. In fact, some of the apples were still not fully ripe! I would describe the flavour as being slightly tart and lower-medium sweetness. On the spectrum between a Gala/Braeburn and Granny Smith, this one would be roughly 1/4 – 1/2 of the way towards Granny Smith (maybe it’s a Granny Smith seedling? As Granny Smith is also known to store on the tree very late).
These apples I think could hang on the tree another 2-3 weeks, but also the birds were getting into them so maybe by then they’d all be pecked through.
Very keen to hear about what other apple varieties folks have or know about that are still hanging on the tree 🙂
The tree still holding a crop (only about half or so of the apples are visible)
One of the most astounding facts that I’ve ever learned is that taro is not just a crop of the Asia-Pacific region, but has about two thousand years of history as a food crop in the Mediterranean.
It seems almost anachronistic to me, as if someone had told me the Ancient Egyptians liked to go surfing. In one sense, we could even say that taro is more traditionally Italian than tomatoes!
Recently I was kindly sent some extra Torreya seeds collected from trees labelled Torreya nucifera in the North island by a friend. Initially I was very doubtful of the identification, as the size of the seeds was vastly different to the other Torreya nucifera seeds I have received.
Clockwise from top left 1) North Island Torreya fruits 2) North island Torreya nuts 3) Torreya nucifera seeds from Austria 4) Torreya californica seeds from California
However the Gymnosperm Database in its description for Torreya nucifera has this enigmatic paragraph [1]:
Ohwi (1965) recognizes a number of varieties, which are not mentioned by Farjon (2010). Var. radicans is shrubby, native to the Honshu mountains. Var. macrosperma has a large seed 35-40 mm long, and is found only in the Mie and Shiga prefectures on Honshu. Var. igaensis has shorter (10-18 mm long), abruptly spinescent leaves, with a short (20 mm) seed. It is rare, found only in Iga Prefecture on Honshu.
The $2 coin has a diameter of 26.5mm, so perhaps the seeds are from Torreya nucifera var igaensis. The seeds from Austria look to be about 35mm long which matches Torreya nucifera var macrosperma.
Close up photo showing seeds as well as the single leaf blade that came with the seeds. The length of the leaf blade matches the description for igaensis.
Since we’re selecting for larger seeds, there may not appear to be any benefit to selecting this variety with smaller seeds. However it’s always worth growing out extra genetics if you have the space, as it’s possible that the smaller seed size is offset with vigour, precociousness or productiveness.
Hopefully we’ll be able to plant out a trial row of Torreya within the next 1-2 years and begin the next phase of our Torreya project.
Well, we have finally succeeded in importing 2x new Citrus varieties to New Zealand! This has been a very long and very expensive process, and we have taken on all of the costs and risks ourselves. We would highly appreciate it if folks can buy some of these Citrus seeds to support our efforts, as there was a 5000 minimum order per each of these varieties
You can order directly from our website here:…. Edit: These seeds are now completely sold out, and we will likely not import them again. In 5-10 years when our own trees are fruiting we will again have seeds for sale and grafted plants however 🙂
Alemow (Citrus macrophylla) is a rare species of Citrus (according to the Tanaka system) from Cebu in the Philippines, where it is believed to originate. It is believed to be a hybrid of Celebes papeda (Citrus celebica) and pomelo [it is known to be a hybrid of a papeda and a citron]. If used as rootstock, it has superb compatibility with lemons and limes (some varieties of lemon are incompatible with trifoliata), and many other Citrus too such as kumquats, and is emerging as a very high performing Citrus that copes with high salt levels and seasonal flooding. The fruit are sort of like giant limes and can be juiced or used to make marmalade.
Furr C-57 citrandarin (Citrus reticulata x trifoliata) is a hybrid between a Sunki mandarin and trifoliata. It is much more vigorous than trifoliata, and has a longer growing season (as it is evergreen). It is tolerant to Citrus tristeza virus, very tolerant to Phytophthora and very tolerant of citrus nematode – which are the most important diseases of Citrus in NZ. It is super cold tolerant if you want to grow it on for fruit, as it can handle about -15C once mature and so suitable for places such as inland Otago. The fruit can be juiced or used to make a marmalade.
We also have imported a lot of other rare seeds from the USA/Canada as well late last year that are also available too. Most special of which are hybrid persimmons (hybrids between American and Asian persimmons, we can highly recommend these) and Canadian pawpaw (Asimina triloba native to Canada).
We were very kindly sent some Torreya californica seeds by Don Thomas of the California Native Plant Society a few months ago, and today I took the seeds out of their cold stratification in the fridge to plant out. They should’ve come out a few weeks ago, but I have been having trouble concentrating lately due to very troubling world affairs…
Don sourced the seeds from the Santa Cruz mountains, and they are… ginormous as the post title states. In the photo below we have compared them to average sized New Zealand sourced Torreya californica seeds (the largest NZ sized seeds probably come close to the smallest Santa Cruz mountains sourced seed). I have no idea how much of the size difference is caused by genetic versus environmental differences, and unfortunately it will take decades to be able to tell. For now we hope to get as many of these sprouted as possible, and then get these trees planted more commonly around New Zealand.
Thanks once again to Don for his help and kindness!
Torreya californica seeds compared by size. Average-sized New Zealand sourced seeds on the left, ginormous Santa Cruz mountains source on the right.
Last Friday I was searching for old and wild fruit trees in Canterbury. As usual, much of the wild fruit trees that I come across are average at best. I was happily inspecting a plum, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw an unusual fruit tree, with small, bright yellow fruits. I thought it could be a hawthorn species (Crataegus). However, when I got closer, it was clear this was no Crataegus. No, this tree was a pear, unlike anything I’d ever seen before!
The tree was very large, approximately 90cm dbh, maybe 10-15m tall or so. I’d estimate very roughly it’s at least 100 years old, but I’m not very good at dating trees in Canterbury (more sun, less rain and different soils than what I’m used to).
The fruits had what’s called a ‘persistent style’, i.e. the flower structure (the star shaped part) is retained on the bottom of the fruit rather than falling off.
Persistent styles on hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) fruit
I smelled the fruits, and they had a strong pear fragrance. I took a small bite. They were very tannic (i.e. lots of tannins), yet still sweet and flavourful. Some of the fruits on the floor has begun to blet (i.e. turn brown), and these ones smelled strongly like marzipan!
Idid a bit of research then and there, and I was able to quickly narrow it down to high confidence this tree was Pyrus pyraster. The ‘pyraster’ part as I understand is Latin for ‘pear star’ or ‘star pear’ (aster = star, pyr = pear), and certainly the persistent style is star-shaped, so that fits well. I have visited a few Pyrus collections at various arboreta in New Zealand, and had never seen one with fruit like this before – almost all other Pyrus species in New Zealand are essentially tiny, sour nashis, so that is another clue this was something unusual that I hadn’t seen before.
As an aside it’s worth explaining what a perry pear is. Just as there are dessert apples and cider apples, there are dessert pears and cider pears. The cider variants generally have higher acid and higher tannins, as this helps to keep the flavour of the fermented drink from developing too many volatile compounds, the ones that make it smell like rotten fruit. Cider prepared from mostly dessert varieties, tends to be of low quality as a result (and unfortunately, most cider in New Zealand is made from dessert fruit…). Pear cider is traditionally called perry, and so the ‘cider pears’ are actually called perry pears. Perry pears are usually hybrids between Pyrus pyraster, and Pyrus communis.
One last special thing to note about pears and perry, is that they contain sorbitol, which is a sugar alcohol with a sweet taste (it’s sometimes used as an artificial sweetener). Sorbitol is not metabolized by yeast, so when pear juice with sorbitol is fermented, it doesn’t taste completely ‘dry’ (i.e. low sugar), because the sorbitol will provide the sweet taste. This is in contrast to apple cider, where if you ferment it a bit too far, all the sugar is gone, so it doesn’t have a sweet taste anymore.
As a massive co-incidence, earlier that very day I posted some pear fruit from a very old West Coast pear tree (also over 100 years old), to Trevor at Teepee Cider as I thought they might be tannic enough to make perry with. Perry pears are incredibly rare in New Zealand, and Trevor has been looking for them for a number of years now. Only 5 hours later after posting some possible perry pears off, here I was finding the first wild perry pear I’ve ever seen, what are the chances?
Pyrus pyraster fruits on a plate, compared to a $2 coin.
It’s probably worth mentioning that Pyrus pyraster is also considered as a subspecies of the common pear – Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster. I find this rather confusing so have avoided this name, as in my opinion it’s much easier to talk about the wild relatives with a distinct species name, e.g. Malus sieversii is the main wild ancestor of Malus domestica.
When I got home I asked the folks from EFNEX for help confirming the identification, and the replies agreed this tree was likely Pyrus pyraster. I also talked to a few New Zealand experts, but haven’t yet had a clear answer as to whether there are other known pure-ish P. pyraster in New Zealand, although they did mention there are at least a few perry pears in New Zealand. Certainly there are none on inaturalist (just one misidentified feral pear), and I didn’t find any references in a few online lists of New Zealand trees.
So the next steps are to get permission to propagate this tree, and then work on propagation via both grafting and seedlings. I believe there is a whole world of new pear varieties that inherit the wonderful features of this one, such as smaller fruit in clusters, bright yellow fruit with smooth skins (no russeting), disease resistance, and new flavours, and so it would be great to see them.
This is only part 1 of the story about this tree…. There is much more to come…
We are excited to announce that a shipova has been located in New Zealand, and will soon re-enter cultivation.
Shipova (x Pyraria irregularis, formerly x Sorbopyrus irregularis) is an incredibly unusual, intergeneric hybrid plant. It arises from a cross between a European pear (Pyrus communis) mother and a whitebeam (Aria edulis, formerly Sorbus aria) father. It is a triploid, with two chromosomes from pear and one from whitebeam.
The fruit are the size of a small pear, developing an attractive red blush on the side facing the sun. The fruit texture is creamy and a bit gritty. The taste has a rich bouquet of new flavours inherited from the whitebeam side of the family, the ripe fruit tasting very sweet with tropical fruit notes (variously described as mango, pineapple or guava). As the fruit ages, the flavours intensify and a strong marzipan (!) comes to the fore.
Superior shipova fruit grown by Marius Poenariu of Romania. Photos used with permission.
