Luz Calamansi

The Luz calamansi is a fast grower, prolific and is much juicier than the native variety. Moreover, it has only two seeds compared to native calamansi which has 12 seeds. The Luz calamansi variety is ideal for container growing and bears fruits continuously throughout the year.

Interesting Article by:  Agri Business Week ( Posted on March 21st, 2009)

New Calamansi Is Juicier, Less Seedy

There’s a new calamansi which offers excellent money-making possibilities not just for big-time planters in the countryside but even for urban dwellers with limited space in their backyards.

This is the Luz calamansi, named after former First Lady Luz Banzon Magsaysay, mother of Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. A project is being funded by the office of Sen. Magsaysay to search for agricultural crops with export potential so these could be produced commercially. And the new calamansi has been chosen as the first crop for mass multiplication under the project which is being implemented by the Mama Sita Foundation in cooperation with the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, and the Philippine Agricultural Resources Research Foundation.

The new calamansi which was introduced some two years ago (but which has not been released to the public) has a number of desirable characteristics that make it a potential money-maker not just for export but for the local market as well. It is much juicier than the ordinary calamansi. Each fruit usually has two seeds while the ordinary variety may have as many as 10 or more seeds. Given sufficient fertilizer, irrigation and the right management, the fruits may be bigger than the ordinary kind. When ripe, the fruits also have an attractive golden yellow color.

The fact that it is very juicy, it is a good material for juice production. Calamansi juice is increasingly becoming popular not only in the export market but also locally. When grown in a plantation and given the right management, the variety could be highly productive. The plants that are being grown in large containers at the garden of Dr. Benito S. Vergara in Los Banos are very fruitful. It is safe to say that the trees could be much more productive when grown in the ground.

The main objective of the project funded by Sen. Magsaysay is for the identified varieties to be mass-propagated as fast as possible for commercial production. The Luz calamansi was formally released during the recent garden show in Los Banos. Since the available mother plants are still limited, the preferred buyers are those who are interested in multiplying the same. Small rooted cuttings are priced at P100 each. Bigger ones which are starting to bear fruit are being sold at P350 each while heavily fruiting mother plants grown in rubberized containers are priced at P5,000 each.

The fruiting mother plants may look expensive at first glance, but they could be more advantageous for the propagator to buy. After all, the plants have plenty of branches from which a lot of materials could be obtained for budding or grafting. The branches could also be multiplied by marcotting. Although marcotting will prove to be a slower means of propagation, the advantage is that the marcots are bigger arid could be the new Source of scions within a short time. The initial cost of a fruiting mother plant (P5,000) could be recovered within a short time.

,We are very sure that from now on, he who can produce planting materials the fastest will make a lot of money. This is because a lot of growers are surely interested to plant an outstanding variety such as the Luz calamansi. At the start, the propagator could sell his planting materials at a high price, say P150 per grafted plant about a foot tall and starting to bear flowers.

What’s good about calamansi is that it can be grown in practically every place in the country. Hence, there is an unlimited market for planting materials.

Another money-making possibility is the production of fruiting trees in containers. Such plants could be saleable to families in the urban areas who would like to have a ready source of calamansi fruits for their own home use. Other possible buyers of fruiting potted calamansi are the Chinese families during the Chinese New Year. The grower will only have to see to it that the potted calamansi trees would have a lot of ripe fruits in the months of January to February. The good thing is that calamansi can be induced to bear fruit at the desired time.

To produce potted calamansi with golden ripe fruits during the Chinese New Year, the grower will just have to induce the plants to flower in June. This can be done by stressing the trees by withholding water for a month before the desired flowering date. After that, the plants will have to be watered adequately. In due time the flowers will emerge.

Yes, here is one more opportunity for the enterprising plant propagator to make good money.