Yuzu citrus

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by Alyrx_c, Apr 1, 2019.

  1. Alyrx_c

    Alyrx_c Member

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    Hi! :)
    I'm new on this forum.
    I was wondering if any of you have tried to grow Yuzu citrus from seeds? I live in the Montreal area (Quebec) which is approximately zone 5. I ordered the seed online from a seeds shops from California and they have a good reputation. One of my friends told me it's taken something like 15 years before getting fruits! Does anyone has made experimentations about this type of citrus? Since I may be in a colder area without a greenhouse, it's something possible to grow here? I may say that many people have citrus and it's work quite well (calamondin, Meyer, and lime).

    Thank you!
     
  2. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    I have grown Yuzu from seeds. I grow them inside in a grow tent enclosure. They are easy to grow if you have the skill, experience, equipment, and knowledge of how to grow citrus seeds well. Under warm artificial conditions, enclosed to keep in the humidity, they can grow fairly fast too. Maybe to 10 cm in 5 months (approximately).

    However, I have also experimented with planting small Yuzu seedlings outside to see how they survive through the Winter here and they do not do too well.

    Larger plants on trifoliate rootstock can survive, especially if there's even the slightest bit of passive protection or they're planted in a warm spot with some protection from the wind. This is in climate zone 8a, Washington state. They would never survive outside in Montreal or into zone 7.

    Also keep in mind citrus seeds may only be viable for 2-4 weeks after being harvested from the fruits and kept from becoming too dried out. It would be important to find a fresh source of seed. There are many sellers selling citrus seed that never germinate.
     
  3. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Here are two Yuzu seedlings
    20190401_172249.jpg
    The one on the right has a less glossy sheen to the foliage because it is infested with spider mites (I'm going to take care of that right now).

    Normally Yuzu in the wild has a moderately dwarfed growing habit, which means that even though citrus grown from seed usually takes a long time to fruit because it is not on a different rootstock, this only half applies to Yuzu (in fact Yuzu is sometimes used as a rootstock in Japan).
     
  4. Alyrx_c

    Alyrx_c Member

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    Thank you for these useful pieces of information and sharing your pictures.

    I'll definitely give it a try since I have a small greenhouse and find a new source for seeds stock because for those I already have it's maybe too late (I tried the first time I received them) but nothing came out and the package also mention about the variability, now it's being a few months.
     
  5. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    In my personal opinion, citrus seeds from an online vendor are unlikely to germinate.
    Typically those selling seed for profit have a bunch of seeds sitting around, and they have not been harvested fresh.

    I would suggest finding a hobbyist gardener who has a fruiting tree, and ask them to send you seeds when the fruit are in season, and then be sure to send them a reminder later in the year.
    You might send them just a little bit of money for postage because seeds in an ordinary envelope typically get crushed as they pass through the automated postage roller machine.

    By the time the seeds are available for you, temperatures outside will likely be too cold to grow them, so you may research how to grow them inside. (Just sitting by the side of a window is a recipe for failure)

    Nothing worthwhile is easy.
     
  6. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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    @Alyrx_c: If you're at all serious about growing citrus, consider buying a tree. Small, grafted ones have become available in recent years and at reasonable prices. This way you're guaranteed to have the variety you want (which may not be the case with seed) and the tree will produce fruit in a much shorter time.
     
  7. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    Yuzu generally grows true from seed. I've seen two different sources giving the percentage of nucellar seed from Yuzu at between 90 to 98 percent.
     
  8. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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    For fresh seed, if you haven't already done so, check with Japanese or Korean food stores that have a produce section; you may find the actual fruit there when they're in season. (It may be called yuja in the Korean stores.) Yuzu was available today in a store here in Vancouver selling at a princely price of $8 per fruit.
     
  9. KittyB

    KittyB Member

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    Which store sells Yuzu??
     
  10. Will B

    Will B Active Member

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    I have made quite a few Yuzu from cuttings, a few are producing already although most of those are sold already. We normally just sell the plants. The mother plant is covered in fruit though, so I might sell some of the fruit in a few weeks when they are ripe. Let us know if you'll be on Vancouver Island around then ;-) Home | Aprici
     
  11. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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  12. KittyB

    KittyB Member

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  13. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    I saw Yuzu fruit for sale in Haggen (sort of upscale supermarket chain if you're near the Seattle region). They were only available for 2 weeks, a short time. I think it may have been late November?

    The seeds did germinate, and a single fruit contains all the seeds you would want.
     
  14. Will B

    Will B Active Member

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    How much were they selling the fruit for? I mostly sell the plants but am curious about what the viability of producing and selling the fruit is...
     
  15. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    It was over $7 a pound.
     
  16. Will B

    Will B Active Member

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    Thanks! Very interesting. I could definitely produce and sell a lot of fruit for somewhere close to $7 a pound...
     
  17. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    The trouble would be finding a buyer. Not that many people are familiar with how to use a Yuzu.

    It's not so good for eating out of hand like an ordinary orange, and in terms of using like a lemon, there's not that much juice inside because of all the many big seeds taking up space and most of the flavor is not in the juice.
    The rind of Yuzu, however, is much more tender with less bitterness than an ordinary lemon. It could probably be compared with citron.

    To use them I usually slice them, remove all the seeds (even though there's many of them it's not too difficult because the seeds are all quite large in size), and then dice up the remaining slices into little slivers without the need to remove the skin. They're good for cooking with, making a sauce for fish, I have a recipe for some really good tasting blueberry yuzu muffins.
    The Japanese add Yuzu to ponzu sauce for Soba noodles. It's considered to make the ponzu sauce extra special, a real delicacy (and regular lemon juice would not have the same effect here, the flavor of Yuzu is more appropriate for this dish).

    In Japan they also sometimes leave fresh Yuzu fruits floating on top of an onsen hot water bath to add fragrance to the air, sometimes the fruits are sliced in half but that's not absolutely necessary.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2019
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  18. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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    @KittyB,
    I was told fresh yuzu is usually available at Fujiya in November and December.
     
  19. pinenut

    pinenut Active Member 10 Years

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    I make ponzu sauce with them- a great steak marinade! If you're interested, you can get the extract by the bottle.
    Of my three citrus plants, at least one of them is Yuzu. Hard to tell...I've got bad habit of sticking seeds in the dirt and forgetting what they are.
     
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  20. Will B

    Will B Active Member

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    thanks! I have a bunch of ripe yuzu fruit on my tree to use up right now. The ponzu sauce sounds quite interesting, I will need to add it to my notes on yuzu. Does anyone have any recipes they recommend? Also, do you harvest them green or yellow?

    Here are my notes on yuzu, let me know if you can think of anything else to add: Yuzu Ichandrin | Aprici
     
  21. SoCal2warm

    SoCal2warm Active Member

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    For Yuzu, you harvest it sometime between when it is a green-yellow and between when it is fully ripe and orange-yellow.
    I think it's at its best flavor when it is fully yellow, maybe just the slightest hue of orange, before it turns a more orange-yellow and the skin loosens.
     
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  22. Will B

    Will B Active Member

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    For those interested in yuzu, here is some info on our yuzu crop this year: Harvesting Yummy Yuzu | Aprici ... also made a yuzu infusion, turned out quite delicious.
     
  23. pinenut

    pinenut Active Member 10 Years

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    Earl's Whitehorse serves a Yuzu lemonade that I think is really good.
     
  24. Alyrx_c

    Alyrx_c Member

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    Thank a lot, I'm SO sorry!! I will try to get seeds from a Japanese or Korean store, it's a very good idea! I did an experiment with a Sumo orange type and seems working so far but I may not get fruits. haha
     
  25. Akash

    Akash New Member

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    May I know what's online shop name from where you ordered the yuzu seeds?
     

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