Possible Citrus tree???

Found this growing near the overhang of my house... looks like it could be a citrus plant of some sort, but I'm not sure. There is a similar looking (much larger) tree across the street. So it wouldn't be too far fetched to think that a bird dropped this in my yard, would it? Any help identifying it would be appreciated.









Any idea what this could be? If it's nothing, I'd like to remove it. If it's a citrus of some sort, I'll let it grow out a while. Thanks guys!


G

looks like a citrus tree to me. i started some key lime trees a couple of years ago and the leaves and everything else looks just like what you have in the pictures.

Good potential for bonsai by any chance?

not sure. i have only been doing bonsai for about 2-3 years, but i started all of my key limes with the intention of using them for bonsai. even though i haven't seen many good examples of key limes and the like, i think they are worth giving a try and i like to have them in the house in winter because they smell nice. but like i said i'm not very experienced and not exactly sure what your tree is. hopefully some of the vets will jump in with some better knowledge/advice.

I have been growing a couple of these for a long time, don't waste your time. It is citrus and looks like "wild orange" maybe calamondin.

I am curious as to why you say not to waste time on these? Are citrus trees in general not good bonsai candidates? My key limes are quite young but seem to be doing fine, although I was wondering why i couldn't find many good examples with a Google photo search. What makes these kinds of trees more trouble than they are worth?

kumquat is an old standard for bonsai. Im growing a calamondon as bonsai. They are not your first choice as a beginners bonsai - a little hard to work with. The trunks grow very slowly. They are also quite hard to feed as they are terribly greedy trees - its hard to get enough food to them when they are grown in pure turface/biosorb - so the soil needs maybe 30% compost - sometimes they will need daily fertiliser in peak growing season. Also becuase the leaves are larger they need be larger bonsai - to keep nicely to scale. I grow mine indoors - the blossoms smell lovely and the fruit is very attractive. Very nice sliced into a gin and tonic too.

This tree is definitely a citrus but I don't know which.

There are lots of old citrus plantations/orchards down south and I am wondering how well they bonsai as well since I see them being bulldozed for development a lot. The trees have nice sized trunks, most are probably around 8" and have low branches since they are almost all only 8 feet tall (guesstimate).

I think Mr. Rhodes is right, the tree across the street appears to be an orange tree. I suppose I'll just let it grow a bit and see what happens. It's just sitting in the yard, so it's not bothering me.

I have grown Calamondin and a lime tree. Standard citrus, including Calamondin, do not make good bonsai candidates because of their growth habits. Just grow them as nice indoor trees. Kumquats are grown as bonsai, but they grow very slowly in the North. I bought a Chinotto last year and so far it looks like a good choice for an indoor bonsai.
Iris

Almost all cultivated Citrus is grafted but seedlings will be whatever the basic tree is. Seedlings are grown only to be grafted. (Actually Citrus is usually budded.)

Most standard varieties of lemons or oranges are not worth much consideration, for bonsai look to the heritage varieties like chinotto or my most favorite of all citrus, the Poncirus trifoliata contorta aka Flying Dragon.
This one is grown from a tube start and is about 21 yrs old now.

This is fall color

And this is what you get to play with, twisty-turny contorted branches with big teeth!

Wow, I've never seen one of those that big or that nice.

G, keep an eye out at Lowes and HD this spring and summer. Our stores on this part of the coast usually sell some small Key limes that aren't grafted. I think they'd be great!

R

Thanks Russell, I notice I grabbed the wrong pic.

Here's the fall color, it will keep its leaves in milder winters here, but sheds them if it freezes.

BEAUTIFULLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to have a Poncirus trifoliata bonsai in N. Florida and enjoyed it a lot. And, they're very hardy -- for citrus. They took Zone 8 freezing weather without a grimace. But mine didn't like how cold it gets up here and up and died on me.

I don't know if they'll make great bonsai subjects, but I do have a few of them in pots at the moment and they seem to be doing ok. They grow all over the place in Florida, and they do seem have several potentially good traits for bonsai. They do well in pots, they grow fine on their own roots, and they seem to handle being completely root pruned and trunk chopped. Once you cut them back, they will back bud very well, although they seem to grow a little bit slowly.

I don't really think you have much to lose, so I wouldn't let people put you off the idea of a citrus bonsai until you've given it a shot.

Try - Fortunella hindsii

I'm actually taking a Fortunella Hindsii workshop at our annual bonsai convention this year!! It begins April 11th, and I think the workshop is on the 14th... I'll post some pics when I get done.