I have a few that I started from seed. To me they seem fairly slow growing but I think they are worth the wait. Mine have not been bothered by any pests and I've never had to treat them with anything. I pretty much ignore them and they are doing just fine. Henrietta has some nice sized FD's in her garden. I'm not sure how long she's had them. I've never grown the regular trifoliate sour orange except as rootstock on some of my dwarf citrus.
Karyn

Sounds good, thank you for your input Karyn.

-Max

My FD was exactly 3' tall when I planted it in July '04. It's now 6'. Taller than that if you consider the half dozen or so sparse branches at the top. I don't consider that terribly slow growing. Mine produced lots of fruit 1st time this year and it's never been bothered by insects. Btw, it's still holding on to all it's leaves but they're starting to yellow up.

I got my tree from Edible Landscaping outside Charlottesville, Va. They have a beautiful specimen there that was about 10' when I saw it last 2 yrs ago. Nice day trip from where I live just west of Frederick.

There is a quite beautiful and muture example of this plant/tree at the bartholdi park garden near the US Capitol in DC, just of Independence Avenue - it grows quite wide and those enormous thorns are at adult person eye level - you could really loose an eye if you are not careful near this plant, so I would suggest that you not plant near any areas where there are lots of pedestrians... - Eric