Mandarins and growing conditions

[treeguy123]

I saw this posted by "bsbullie" earlier this year on here:

"This has been discussed before...Gold Nuggets will not grow/fruit well in Florida, and this may be an understatement."
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=227.0

Does anyone know why this was said?

What makes a Gold Nugget Mandarin any different than say a Owari Satsuma in where it will produce fruit?

Any help would be appreciated.

[HMHausman]

I saw this posted by "bsbullie" earlier this year on here:

"This has been discussed before...Gold Nuggets will not grow/fruit well in Florida, and this may be an understatement."
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=227.0

Does anyone know why this was said?

What makes a Gold Nugget Mandarin any different than say a Owari Satsuma in where it will produce fruit?

Any help would be appreciated.

Not sure why Rob (BSBullie) said that.  I am sure he will chime in and let you know the further details.  My Owari Satsuma produces reliably and heavily.  The fruit sweetness is affected by lack of cold and too much water, but otherwise, it does as well or better than most other citrus i have had over the years.

[bsbullie]

Gold Nugget, along with a handful of other mandarins, was developed by the Univ. of California at Riverside (not at Univ. of Florida like most mandarins that will give some type of decent production in Florida).  There are a number of "Cali mandarins" that produce well in Cali but not in Florida.  From everything I have read and researched, our climate does not lend well for this mid-late season mandarin (there is a UF/IFAS link explaining that I am not currently able to locate),  Just cause it is a citrus does not mean it will produce successfully here in Florida.  It is truly no different than Autocarpus, some will produce well here and some will struggle at best.  Same with Cherimoya (and I am not referring to the variety or two that Har as worked with here that supposedly could produce fruit).

[treeguy123]

Gold Nugget, along with a handful of other mandarins, was developed by the Univ. of California at Riverside (not at Univ. of Florida like most mandarins that will give some type of decent production in Florida).  There are a number of "Cali mandarins" that produce well in Cali but not in Florida.  From everything I have read and researched, our climate does not lend well for this mid-late season mandarin (there is a UF/IFAS link explaining that I am not currently able to locate),  Just cause it is a citrus does not mean it will produce successfully here in Florida.  It is truly no different than Autocarpus, some will produce well here and some will struggle at best.  Same with Cherimoya (and I am not referring to the variety or two that Har as worked with here that supposedly could produce fruit).

Thanks for the info.

"Our climate does not lend well for this mid-late season mandarin"

Could you explain the reason why the FL climate does not lend well for Gold Nugget  (if you remember what the UF/IFAS article said)?

I've searched some and the only info on both Florida and Gold Nugget together are quoted below:

"Gold Nugget produced their first fruit this year on very small trees. Though small quantities of fruit from young trees do not provide enough information to accurately gauge the utility of these varieties in Florida" "Gold Nugget is not expected to have Alternaria issues"
http://www.growingproduce.com/article/26394/citrus-variety-pipeline-full-of-potential

"Gold Nugget mandarin performance in Florida is not yet know. Grower trials are needed to determine their potential"
http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/trade_journals/2011/2011_June_alfred_krezdorn.pdf