In 2008 I built a garage on the south side of the poor tree and it now has a lot of sun blocked from it.

Last year I brought in sand to help slope water away from the garage and hopefully to help shed water away from the kumquat. It stays so wet around the tree that pennywort (or dollar weed) is growing around the base. Since then I have learned I should try to keep the soil bare around citrus. This is from December 2012...an amazing number of kumquats for a small tree and they are delicious! I have the sweet kumquat.

And here is a recent photo. It's loaded with green fruit again. I'm having trouble with scale bugs but who could say this tree hasn't had a little stress?

good job, looks great.

Thanks Houstontexas, it will be time for kumquat pie again this fall!
It's funny how many folks I have visited with who have the sour kumquat. They are apparently not as tasty so they let them fall each year and become a smelly nuisance.

Great job, John! Kumquats are such sturdy little trees, it's hard to get one down! Now, I have never heard of a "sweet" kumquat. Kumquats have sour flesh but sweet skin. Do you eat the kumquat skin and all? Is the flesh actually sweet llike an orange? If so, I want to know the actual name of your cultivar. I've never heard of a truly sweet kumquat, before.

Patty S.

Patty, I'll have to double check to make sure which I have. I think it's the Meiwa, which is described by the Kumquat Growers Inc. web page (kumquatgrowers.com) as the "sweet kumquat". I do eat my kumquats whole. I think you have to eat a kumquat all in one bite to get the fullest experience :>) Pop it in your mouth whole, chomp down on it and you get an intense citrusy oil release from the skin. The next few chews exposes the sweet skin and pulp flavors. The last little flavor is a touch of tartness from the very center.

When I am forced to harvest before winter temps get into the 20s, I like to make kumquat pie. Also from the kumquatgrowers.com website with a few of my notes added:

Kumquat Refrigerator Pie

(A few days before you make your pie, pick a few nice kumquats and slice them neatly at 1/8" (1/2cm) thickness. Sugar them well and place in the fridge. After you make the pie, blot the excess sugar and moisture off the slices and decorate the pie. You can add a few kumquat or peppermit leaves if you really want to get fancy! I'll try to post a photo soon.)

1 baked pie crust, 9 "
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping
(I make the topping from real whipped cream)
2/3 cup pureed Kumquats
1 can condensed milk ( I think the can is about 14oz, and it is sweetened)
1/2 cup lemon juice

Beat condensed milk and whipped topping. Add lemon juice and beat until thickened. Add pureed kumquats, pour in pie shell and chill in refrigerator for several hours.

Kumquat Puree Preparation

Wash fruit, cut in half and remove seeds. (Removing the seeds takes FOREVER since they aren't all exposed with a single slice through the fruit. Let me know if anyone has an easy way to remove kumquat seeds.) Place in blender or food chopper (A blender makes a finer puree). Do not cook. Use puree in recipes as called for or freeze in zip-lock bags or other freezer containers. Frozen kumquat puree can be stored for six months or more. When you use frozen puree .. defrost and drain the excess liquid before using.

Okay. Meiwa is certainly the sweetest cultivar of all the (sour) kumquats, due to the thickness and sweetness of the skin, but the flesh is still sour :-) I have both Meiwa and Nagami (the more frequently seen cultivar in my area). Frankly, they are both too sour for my tastes, but make lovely ornamental trees in my garden. And, I will save your recipe, sounds like the one way I can eat kumquats besides making marmalade from them :-)

Patty S.

Patty, you aren't the only one to say that about kumquats but I don't think anyone who has ever eaten a calamondin can say a kumquat is sour! I'm still trying to figure out how to use calamondins. A neighbor with a huge tree gives them to me. Back to the kumquats, maybe I'll ship you some this fall when mine get ripe and you can tell me if mine are also sour. Maybe they ripen differently or something about the soil is different here.

I double checked, yes, Meiwa is my variety. Here is the pie photo I promised.

Very pretty! I think my family would like this recipe a lot. And, we can't ship citrus products into the state of California (or out of any "citrus" state) due to all the quarantines, but I bet I'll think they're sour. Your right about calamondins, though! Closer to a lime or lemon in sourness. Meiwas are still considered sour - just peel it and try to each the flesh (pulp) and you'll have to agree, it's sour. Not maybe as sour as a lemon or lime, but certainly not in the orange or mandarin category :-)

Patty S.

That pie looks great! I'm going to have to try that this year.

You know, in all the kumquats I have eaten, I don't think I ever even thought about peeling one. I'll give it a shot this fall.

I haven't tried growing mandrians...I had some store-bought mandrian marmalade a while back that was to die for. Next citrus I plant, I want to experiment with planting it on a fairly broad mound to help reduce the moisture on the trunk and roots. I also wonder if one could bury some of the perforated sewer line pipe in the hole around the tree to help aerate the root zone. I'm in far SE Texas and we seem to either be really wet or so dry you can hardly dig a hole in the clay just beneath the surface.

Sure, John. If you're on clay or on soil that does not drain well, using a French drain system is standard practice. That, and planting citrus on mounds. Works quite well. There are French drain pipes out there both in PVC (more expensive) or the corrugated black French drain pipe (less expensive but less rigid). Clay soil is actually great soil to grow citrus in, if you can fix the drainage issues, as it is very rich in minerals. Citrus love it.

Patty S.

Patty, I think you said as much about clay soils in another post I wrote. I have a few trees that really do well but some either don't grow much or don't fruit. I may try an experiment to see if I can improve aeration by inserting a perforated PVC pipe section at an angle under one of my trees that just hasn't grown much since I planted it several years ago. I'm running out of sunny spots for trees and I would like to eiter replace them with a better suited tree or see if I can alter the conditions. I have too many hobbies and don't seem to have enough time for any of them!

I mentioned earlier I had lots of wax scale on this kumquat. Now and then I spend a little time removing the scale by hand, squishing it. It makes my fingers red from the tiny critter under the scale but I feel like I'm helping. Recently, all of the scale seems to be dead. I am not sure if it's because the hot summer finally took its toll on them or....maybe they succombed to the mosquito fogger I remember seeing go down my road a week or two ago. I think they use malathion.