Nordmann Seedless Kumquat

George Otto Nordmann discovered the variety now known as ‘Nordmann Seedless’ on a Nagami seedling tree planted in 1965 in DeLand, about 20 miles southwest of Daytona Beach. This was one of many citrus seedlings which he grew in order to obtain virus-free budwood. “He grew seedlings of Nagami, and when they fruited he saw that one of the trees had fruit that was seedless,” said Bill Nordmann in 2003.^⁠[1]

This original tree subsequently froze, but before its demise, George took budwood from it and budded it onto four Carrizo citranges; Bill planted the trees at the entrance to the Ben. J. Nordmann nursery, at 1600 West Plymouth Avenue in DeLand. The correct name of the variety, as first published by Alfred R. Loeblich III in 1994, is ‘Nordmann Seedless’ (Loeblich, 1994).^⁠[1]

Ben. J. Nordmann nursery sold a limited number of Nordmann Seedless trees as garden plants. The nursery itself was sold in 1997. As of February 2009, three of the second-generation trees at the old nursery grounds were still alive. (Bill Nordmann, Feb. 2009).^⁠[1]

‘Nordman Seedless’ kumquat was first released by the California Clonal Protection Program in June of 1999 (David Gumpf, Jan. 2002). It was never patented, and it was never commercialized in Florida. In recent years budwood has not been available from the Florida Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration (Michael Kesinger, Jan. 2003).^⁠[1]

At UCR’s Riverside collection, Nordmann Seedless is maintained on C-35 rootstock. UCR describes the variety as small to medium with dense foliage, summer flowering, and winter semi-dormancy. Separate videos show a young Nordmann in a pot setting fruit in Zone 6A and report one opened fruit as sweet, somewhat tastier than Margarita, and seedless. These are specimen-specific reports, not measurements of all Nordmann trees or fruit.^{⁠[1]⁠[3]⁠[4]}