I don't think La Verne used 'Flying Dragon' much at all. Most west coast growers do not. C35 is one of the more commonly used semi-dwarfing rootstocks now, taking favor over Troyer/Carizzo these days. La Verne is a great nursery and produce very nice trees.

Patty S.

Patty, I just wanted to ask you if Carizzo is a good root stock.? I bought a Satsuma and Moro orange that are both grafted on it. Just curious if it is semi dwarf ? Thanks . Maggy

Perfectly fine, Maggy. Has been used for decades here in S. California. Since you're in zone 6b, I'm assuming your citrus tree will be in a container, so rootstock is really not as much a concern, as you're in a controlled environment. Yes, it is semi-dwarfing.

Patty S.

Thank you Patty. Yes my citrus are in containers. Appreciate your response. Maggy

Patty,

I doubt many commercial growers would consider Carrizo as semi-dwarfing. In fact it does produce a mature tree a bit smaller than say sour orange or macrophylla... but dwarfing or even semi-dwarfing is not something any of my knowledgeable growers would use to describe Carrizo.

I figured dwarf = flying dragon and semi-dwarf = c32/35 for california. I know Lowes labels their citrus as semi-dwarf and Homedepot labels them as dwarf so I was pretty sure they used a different rootstock. I was wrong.

Our commercial growers here in California do, indeed, consider Troyer/Carrizo as semi-dwarfing, John. It still produces a sizable tree, but not the same as Macroyphylla, Volk, Swingle, or sour orange (which of course is not used any longer, but that was the standard used to measure Troyer/Carrizo against). And yes, Mr. Z, that would be a good description, but as I've said, 'Flying Dragon' just isn't used here in S. California for a multitude of reasons. You'll see Four Winds Growers use Cuban Shaddock, which could probably be termed more of a dwarfing rootstock that C32/C35.

Patty S.

Interesting. Willits & Newcomb consider Carrizo a "standard" rootstock and claim largest size. They also suggested to me that it likes a pH of ~ 6.5 - a bit acidic. I have planted a dozen varieties on Carrizo in 2012 and have found it to be a bit finicky when first planted, but terrific once it gets traction. I also found Carrizo to be one of the better freeze tolerant rootstocks.
-George

And, W&N will prune their Carrizo to "standard" lollipop shapes, which is also part of the "standard" definition. Other growers will market Carrizo as "semi-dwarfing" and not prune.

If you read the last page of the "California Citrus Rootstocks" booklet produced by UC Riverside, you will see they categorize both Troyer and Carrizo as inferring a "medium" tree size. Swingle is small, C35 is small, C32 large, Volk as med/large (it can get VERY large here on my property) and Macro as medium (but betting that's not the case for John, who has ideal growing conditions for Macrophylla rootstock - his trees are big and get big, very fast).

I don't think I would consider 6.5 acidic, but within the neutral range (6.5 to 7.5). Carrizo and Troyer are essentially indistinguishable, so what I say for Carrizo would apply to Troyer. You'll see most growers are starting to favor C35 now, due to size constraints, more precocious,produce fruit faster, as well as they are more tolerant to phytophthora. C32 is a full sized, standard rootstock. Spent some time talking to the curators of the Riverside Citrus Park, and they shared that most commercial growers are switching over to trees on C35. I agree - Carrizo has not fared as well in my yard as the trees on C35, due to my heavy phytophthora issues. But, if I can keep the tree alive, it will eventually mature enough to overcome any phytophthora issues, which I found rather interesting.

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 14:28

Thank you for the input Patty! Yes, agree and it will be interesting to see how big the Carrizo gets vs. the C35 here in Danville. If C35 gets larger, some day the yard will look planted back-asswards - ha!

W&N does list the C-35 as SD. The trees are pruned to the same size as the "Standard" so there is a double "standard" if you will in this industry.

Interestingly, i bought a Australian Finger Lime from Four Winds last year - on Volk; and labeled as "True Dwarf". Its comical!

Just as FYI, the image below is a copy from W&N's color chart PDF.

I tend to believe my own experiences. A few years ago I planted 500 Meyers on Carrizo; I did not have a good experience with that rootstock; but as far as size the Carrizo Meyers were indistinguishable from my Macrophylla Meyers. Of course that is my soils and my climate; it could be different under different conditions.