Poncirus citrus trifoliata - Flying Dragon

You can grow an orange tree even if you live where it snows.

Flying Dragon is a small, beautiful tree with multitudes of fragrant white flowers and small sour fruit that are used to make marmalade. It has an interesting crooked shape, grows only 8'-15' tall and makes a great ornamental houseplant. And it's hardy to zone 5, maybe colder.

Poncirus is usually grown as root stock for commercial varieties. Its cold-hardiness and superior disease resistance makes it ideal for grafting, and its naturally contorted form makes an extraordinary bonsai.

These seeds come from a commercial grower and are guaranteed to be authentic Flying Dragon. Citrus seeds must be super fresh to be viable. Yours will be fresh!

Flying dragon seeds can take some work to get them to germinate, but having the plant is worth the work! These seeds require 30 days of cold stratification.

The first step is get coarse sand to start your seeds . If you go to a home-improvement store it’s usually labeled “builders sand.” You want to get your pots ready, fill them with the builders sand and then water the sand. Squeeze out any excess moisture, and then gently push your seeds into the sand. Make sure the seeds are covered, but not buried too deeply. Cover your pot with plastic wrap and put it in refrigerator for 30 days.

At the end of the 30 days, get your potting soil ready and water the soil. After it drains place your seeds from the sand in the refrigerator into your pots. Bury them about half their length deep and cover with potting soil. Put them in a warm/sunny location, a windowsill that gets a lot of light is good. I recommend covering your pot with plastic wrap because it keeps heat and warmth inside. Seeds will germinate once the soil is consistently warm for a few days. Once you start to see seedlings remove the plastic wrap.

10 seeds.

Moisten a handful of coarse sand, which may be labeled as “builder’s sand” at the home improvement store. Squeeze all the excess moisture from the sand.

Push the "Flying Dragon" citrus seeds into the sand and seal the clump in a plastic sandwich bag.

Place the bag in the refrigerator for one month.

Fill planting pots with seed-starting potting mix, to within one-half inch of the rim.

Wet the mixture thoroughly and allow the water to drain from the bottom of the pots before planting the "Flying Dragon" seeds.

Remove the bag from the refrigerator and pick out the seeds. Push the Flying Dragon seeds one-fourth to one-half inch into the planting medium.

Place the pots in an area that receives full sun so that the soil remains warm. Expect your "Flying Dragon" seeds to germinate within 7 to 10 days of planting.

Allow the "Flying Dragon" seedlings to grow indoors until they are 6 inches in height. Keep the soil slightly moist and keep them in full sun.