The Flying Dragon

[Mellow Mullet]

I bought my seedlings from ebay. No picture of the actual plants but the photo in the listing shows the straight ones with the straight spines.
Still really cool but not nearly as the contorted.

The contorted will always have the hooked thorns.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Good idea.....have fun with all the contorted views. It can be a different view every week or so. Interesting engagement.
i don’t know if they grow indoors....my inclination is strictly outdoors.

These are hardy to Zone 5, at least. I have kept them indoors like other citrus, but I prefer to keep them outdoors. I've had one in my landscape for 10+ years, including the back-to-back winters from Hell when I lost several Japanese maples. It gave me fruit this year, and yes, it is tasteless and contains millions of big seeds. Not even very decorative being pale yellow-orange. It's man size and where passers-by can see it up close. And give it some space...
You need to give it a lot of room indoors. I used to have a big saguaro cactus until my wife threatened to put both of us at the curb. It used to get caught in the curtains...

 

[penumbra]

Last evening I was reading about another cultivar called Baby Dragon and Tiny Dragon. It is apparently even more contorted and reaches a maximum size of 3 x 3. Hard to find and expensive when you can.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Last evening I was reading about another cultivar called Baby Dragon and Tiny Dragon. It is apparently even more contorted and reaches a maximum size of 3 x 3. Hard to find and expensive when you can.

Hmmmm... $65 for one doesn't seem like a lot? I like little leaves, but I hate thread leaf forms so I'll stick with the big one.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I got a really nice one last year, but for some reason its continually dying off over the winter. I'm hoping the trunk survives and puts out some new branches this year, but it looks like it may be toast. Unfortunately, not much information seems to be out there for these other than they are "very hardy plants" - Maybe it got too wet this winter? Middle Tennessee hasn't gone a week without heavy rain since around October.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Trouble inside? Sink the pot in the landscape with eastern exposure next year. Close to the house where the eves keep it drier, if you can.

 

[RKatzin]

What's your soil like? I've been in pumice turface mix for several years of Oregon winters. No problem with die back. Problem with deer munch and a bout with scale, minor setbacks, but she's going strong.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Trouble inside? Sink the pot in the landscape with eastern exposure next year. Close to the house where the eves keep it drier, if you can.

It's still in a nursery can, popped it of

What's your soil like? I've been in pumice turface mix for several years of Oregon winters. No problem with die back. Problem with deer munch and a bout with scale, minor setbacks, but she's going strong.

It's in nursery soil, got it right at the end of the year last year and figured I'd Repot this spring. I'm thinking Repot may be too stressful for how far gone it looks though.

 

[RKatzin]

Mine spent a lot of time in the ground and always did well whatever soil it was planted in. Sometimes good garden and sometimes good old Oregon clay. Since containerizing it's always been in fast draining inorganic. We get a lot of precipitation here, one form or another, pretty much all winter. Might do good to plant it in the garden or landscape and let it rage for a couple of years.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

Since you can't go anywhere because of the zombie apocalypse, after sleeping off the last midnight shift, I worked on a couple of tree. These two are putting out new foliage and really filling in.

 

[Woocash]

Bonjour mister mullet. I purchased two of these last year, one contorted, t’other isn't. Well, the one that is supposed to be contorted doesn't look like it at the moment, but both are 4” seedlings really so gawd knows if it turns out to be one of the 60% or not. I’ve got no reference for growth rates though so how long has it taken to get to that size? Thanks.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Either the thorns and branches are contorted, or they ain't.

 

[penumbra]

My are doing well with lots of new growth. I am treating mine as botanical oddities at this time.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Bonjour mister mullet. I purchased two of these last year, one contorted, t’other isn't. Well, the one that is supposed to be contorted doesn't look like it at the moment, but both are 4” seedlings really so gawd knows if it turns out to be one of the 60% or not. I’ve got no reference for growth rates though so how long has it taken to get to that size? Thanks.

6 or 7 years, if I remember correctly.

Either the thorns and branches are contorted, or they ain't.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell on seedlings when they first come up. Once they start branching it is easy to see.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

Some nice fall color, at least for me.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Repot today.

Before:



You have to be careful when working on these, they can bite you:



Lots of roots, it took forever to get them trimmed:





New home:

 

[Cadillactaste]

Stunning! I swear years back a nursery had one of these. I have never forgotten that plant.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Stunning! I swear years back a nursery had one of these. I have never forgotten that plant.

You should get one.

 

[Forsoothe!]

They are very hard to work with. They do not like wire and are very stiff and somewhat brittle. They take a long time to set and are a whole lot easier to use guy-lines on than wire, which is a painful experience.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

They are very hard to work with. They do not like wire and are very stiff and somewhat brittle. They take a long time to set and are a whole lot easier to use guy-lines on than wire, which is a painful experience.

I don't find them that hard to work with, you just have to have some respect. If you let your guard down, you will be impaled. You have to wire the new growth before it hardens, it will set in a month or so. The thorns are a little soft, so not as much a threat. Older growth responds better to tethering, it will set in one season. Not hard at all once you understand them.