Out of these varieties, which are your favorites?

[gunnar429]

I am new to the citrus game and it isn't as easy to sample all the varieties here, like I can with mangoes.  Which would you consider top-tier, and which (if any) do you think aren't worth growing. 

Changsha?
Xie Shan?
Sugar belle?
Owari Satsuma?
Kishu?
Fremont?
Fallglo?
Fina Sodea?

Thanks

[bsbullie]

Fallglo not worth it.  I think you would be wasting your time, space and effort to grow any of these in your location.

[Millet]

I like Xie Shan, Sugar Belle, Owari. Kishu is good tasting but the fruit is too small.   Of the varieties you list Chansha is the worst.  Xie Shan is the best in my opinion.  bsbullie why do you advise gunnar429 not to grow any of these varieties. Is it because of the Citrus Greening problem in Florida? - Millet

[brian]

I like Xie Shan and Owari very much.  Havent tried the others

[Tom]

Right now Kishu is my favorite. It is small but it is excellent and my tree is thriving ! Xie Shan would be a very strong second but barely. Instead of Owari I'd say Browns Select for third. It's very similar to Owari because it was a sport or chance limb of Owari but is generally regarded as better. I don't have any experience with the others. Owari can be very good and is usually regarded as a benchmark to judge against others.  You maybe so far south that the heat during the night will prevent some sweetness in any of my favorites Good luck. Tom

[achetadomestica]

I live close to LaBelle Fl in 9b. I have the following trees:(2)Ponkan, sugar belle, kishu ,(2) owari, cara cara, ortanique, temple, Xie shan, brown select, rhode red, nules clementine, unidentified clementine.
I wanted a couple tangerines and as usual I over did it. So far I have found that the fruit ripens before they turn orange especially this year. It never cooled down until January. When the fruit turns slightly less green and softens pull it or it dries out.
 I like tangy tangerines and the ponkans are real good. They are alternate bearers so I have two. Last year I pulled the fruit off one tree and had about 50 on the other. The year before they were sweeter and turned orange by mid october. This year they were mostly green and more tangy. I think because I have so many different trees pollinating some of my fruit tends to be more seedy then the books say. Ponkans are considered seedless less then 6 seeds and most of mine had ~10-12 seeds. I gave some ponkans to friends to try and everyone really likes them. My sugarbell had about 50 on it and they ripened around October which is early. They have some grapefruit in them and I really enjoyed the unique tangy flavor. Unfortunately they were a bit seedy too. My kishu tree had a light year and were green when they ripened in September. I have never had a seed in the kishu so far? Last month my Kishu had 500+ flowers. My owari ripens in August and it is ok but not my favorite. I plan to dig up one and give it away. The first year when the fruit turned orange in October and I picked it, it was worthless. It also had a few seeds in half the fruit. The brown select had a couple fruit on it when I got it 2 years ago and it really was way better then the owari in my opinion. Last year I pulled the fruit to let the tree grow. My Xie shan is small and I also pulled the fruit last year. This year it is flowering but still relatively small. I may pull the fruit one more year. I keep hearing people compliment it and can't wait to try it. It is an early ripening tree and will probably get soft in August and be ready to eat. It will probably never have significant cool nights to sweeten? My unidentified clementine from Lowes ripened in August this  year and was very good. I let a couple fruit stay on until they turned orange in october and they were not edible. The nules clementine is suppose to be the best but I pulled the fruit last year also. The cara cara has been a great growing tree but the fruit is very dry. I picked a green fruit the other day that softened and it was not good either. I plan to chop it down. I ate some temples this winter and they knock your socks off with intense flavor. The problem was not every fruit was that good? I plan to get rid of the cara cara and replace with a small temple which is still in the pot. The rhode red is a very juicy juice orange. I prefer tangerines that peel easy. It is a late ripening fruit though.
 I could eventually end up having thousands of fruit mostly in August through november. I probably should have got one ponkan, one sugarbelle, and one temple/ortanique. Then I would have had fruit in the fall and winter. As soon as I produce allot of fruit my kids quit eating it. When it's $9.00 a bag they eat a bag every two days.
 

[bsbullie]

I like Xie Shan, Sugar Belle, Owari. Kishu is good tasting but the fruit is too small.   Of the varieties you list Chansha is the worst.  Xie Shan is the best in my opinion.  bsbullie why do you advise gunnar429 not to grow any of these varieties. Is it because of the Citrus Greening problem in Florida? - Millet

Its not greening, its cause the wont do well, production wise, in South Florida.   It is much different than in central Florida.  Certain varieties are semi-suited for central to north central Florida but not down South in Miami -Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.   Despite what some will say, none of these will match their quality produced in California.

[mrtexas]

Fremont is very good and tastes similar to fairchild

[Pancrazio]

According most reports, changsha appears useful mostly to those of us that aren't capable of growing anything else because of cold winters, sort of last resort scenario; when you have to choose between anything and something, that something is welcomed; but once you can choose between several varieties...

[shah8]

From what I've read and understand...citranges are more useful fruits than changsha, despite the greater edibility of changsha.

Anything that has more cold hardiness than satsumas just aren't going to be great out of hand eating fruit.  One of the real paradoxes is that most attempts to get better quality fruit wind up tripping themselves.  US119 is less hardy than a normal citrange, and approaching satsumas, yet, the fruits ripen in January.  Presumably you can still pick them mature, but no wonder it's the people from colder Mediterranean places that like this tree!  Orange and Arctic Frost don't seems to offer all that more hardiness than satsumas, but has significantly inferior fruit.  Etc, etc, etc.

While Mr. Texas is always too harsh--I think that Troyer is plenty edible, and a more useful fruit than, say, a wild persimmon or goumi.  It's just not something that you grow if you have real citrus alternatives where you are.

One thing I sort wonder about is that, at least for the Atlanta area, US119 is probably a quality ornamental.  Trifoliate orange blossoms suck, citranges are better, and the more genuine orange look/fragrance of the tree and blossoms really ought to fit many landscaping schemes.