Hardy Orange Seeds

currently unavailable The trifoliate orange is not known much in Michigan. To mention it in horticultural circles is a good way to get a laugh. Just say 'hardy orange' and you live in Michigan.  Yet we have been growing it now for over a decade while watching the white tail deer eat the foliage.  Our plants are not producing fruit yet but it is not the cold that has slowed it down.  Heavy snowfalls are common at our farm which is in the snowbelt of western Michigan. As a result this has greatly protected the plants. 

The trifoliate orange is well known in the south, as it is often used as a rootstock for citrus. There it persists in abandoned orchards.  Its large thorns are a means of protection to browsing especially to feral hogs.  Hardy oranges produce a crop of small oranges that have the flavor of a lemon crossed with a lime. There are producing plants in Lansing, MI and Philadelphia, PA and other northern locations depending on the location of the plants and their protection against sudden drops below minus 15 F. This temperature might be its limit but further selection could be done on this and we have noticed some seed sources appear better than others. My original seed sources came from central Europe where the plants have been grown for some time and likely selected over a period of time. As of 2021, the oldest trees are not producing seeds yet but are close. A few of the seedlings have that flying dragon look to them but others do not. Since I only have a few trees, seed availability is not possible. A newer was done about 4 years ago on an exposed windy sight and some of those trees look promising. That seed source was done from other domestic seed sources. There actually is quite a bit of variation within seed sources. If I decide to use other seed sources to sell, I will let you know the source of the seeds and the strain and how it has performed here in southern Michigan. It might save you some time. 

Hardy orange-trifoliate orange has been sold in the retail nursery trade since the early 1900's. It never has caught on and rarely will you see the plant in old landscapes. I think part of it might be the hardiness and the other part would be the thorniness. This seed source is unique for sure but not new. It needs to be further developed for hardiness which would not take too much time or effort as the ground work has already been laid. 

This tree is used for fencing to keep deer out as well as a means to grow some type of citrus in the north. It thrives in rock and sand.   It has potential use as a windbreak tree plus double as a source of  citrus for juice or syrup production. The rinds could easily be used for oil production as well. The amount of seeds within the fruit could also be used as there is potential for healthy compounds found within the citrus seeds.