Author Topic: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?  (Read 4983 times)

BonsaiBeast

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What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« on: February 20, 2018, 07:06:44 PM »
I currently have a Valencia orange, Moro blood orange, Cara Cara orange, Satsuma mandarin, and Ruby Red grapefruit.

Are there any specific, lesser-known varieties that stand out? 

I have been reading about new hybrid mandarins coming out that are supposedly phenomenal. I had "Ruby Tango" and I am obsessed with the flavor. It almost doesnt taste like mandarin. More like berries with good tartness and complexity.

fyliu

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2018, 07:32:24 PM »
These stand out to me each in its own way. Finger limes, Valentine pummelo hybrid, Pixie mandarin, Gold nugget mandarin, Tarocco #7 blood orange, Sumo mandarin, ponkan mandarin, Xie shan satsuma, fukumoto navel orange, Lane navel orange, Vaniglia Sanguigno acidless orange, Pineapple orange, Jincheng orange, kaffir lime, yuzu ichandrin, sudachi ichandrin.

They might interest you or not. Some of these are low acid, so not a lot of complexity to some people.

BonsaiBeast

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2018, 08:13:17 PM »
Thanks, these are good leads for me.

What would you say has the most acid between the mandarins listed?

Also, is the clemenules mandarin at all interesting?

Millet

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2018, 08:43:50 PM »
At the Citrus Expos, which are held each year, they frequently have a citrus taste test contest.   Xie Shan (pronounce She Shan) has been the taste winner at every contest that I was present at.   Xie Shan is normally ready to pick in late September/October.  I would also go along with fyliu, in recommending the red fleshed Valentine pummelo, ready on Valentine's day..

BonsaiBeast

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2018, 09:18:42 PM »
I'm intrigued by this xie Shan. The ucr collection calls it a satsuma.

I have a satsuma that was bought and planted about 6 years ago. It was purchased at a home Depot type store. Any chance it's the same fruit as the xie Shan? Here is the tag.


Tony714

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2018, 09:46:17 PM »
Another thing to consider is harvest time.  Beside favorite  varieties, i also want others can harvest different time of year.  So ill have some thru the year.

Tom

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2018, 12:04:40 AM »
I'm intrigued by this xie Shan. The ucr collection calls it a satsuma.

I have a satsuma that was bought and planted about 6 years ago. It was purchased at a home Depot type store. Any chance it's the same fruit as the xie Shan? Here is the tag.


Probably not a Xie Shan but it’s possible. Owari is the most common Satsuma planting in the US. One spring I saw lots of plants for sale at Costco. They were all tagged “Tomato”. That’s all, just Tomato ! Frankly that’s covering a lot of ground but that’s all it said. Cheap price and I like Costco but that was a shock !

luckycloud

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2018, 09:17:37 AM »
Wow, wish our Costco did citrus! All we ever get is blueberries, Japanese maples, evergreen shrubs, and a million azaleas.

Johnny Eat Fruit

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2018, 10:44:21 AM »
The Best is relative to individual taste but I will list my preference based on growing citrus the last 25 years at my location.

Oranges: 

-Washington Navel and Cara Cara but the Cara Cara is a smaller slowing growing tree.

Mandarins:

-Gold nugget - a high sugar mandarin with very Good to excellent flavor.  A tall tree with good production once the tree is mature (6+ years) Note: the juice content is not high but it is seedless.  The best late season Mandarin.

-  Yosemite Gold Mandarin - A large fruit and very juicy. Excellent strong mandarin flavor that is more sub-acid than super sweet. My tree is a consistent and high producer of quality fruit. (seedless)  January to April.

Kinnow - This one has it all (high sugar, high juice and high flavor impact) and may be the best mandarin I ever had if properly tree  ripened but it has several major flaws in that is is alternative bearing and has 25 seeds per fruit. Very seedy. (If this tree produced annually and had no seeds it would be the ultimate late season mandarin)

Lemon:

Meyer Lemon - Everybody loves this fruit and it is the only lemon tree I recommend to homeowners.

Grapefruit:

Oroblanco:  My 22 year old semi dwarf tree produces the most fruit, in poundage, of any of my citrus trees.  Over the years it is the most reliably consistent producer of high quality fruit with no alternate bearing whatsoever. A winner indeed.

There is my two cents

Johnny



Millet

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2018, 12:09:50 PM »
BonsiBeast,  there is no way of knowing what type of Satsuma you have by looking at that tag.  A tag like that would be the same as a tag on a new care that said "CAR".  With the large variety of satsumas available the chance of it being Xie Shan is very small.   You can get almost year around fruit from just two trees = Washington Navel and Valencia.

BonsaiBeast

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2018, 04:45:15 PM »
BonsiBeast,  there is no way of knowing what type of Satsuma you have by looking at that tag.  A tag like that would be the same as a tag on a new care that said "CAR".  With the large variety of satsumas available the chance of it being Xie Shan is very small.   You can get almost year around fruit from just two trees = Washington Navel and Valencia.

I was hoping someone might know about this Durling Nursery and what they carry.

But looking at picture of Xie Shan mandarins, my satsuma is definitely of another cultivar.

Badfish8696

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2018, 07:24:22 PM »
I am very familiar with Durling, most of my trees are from them as they are local to me. Their Satsuma is Owari, I have one planted, it has a drooping spreading habit and the tree took about 5 years in ground to produce killer fruit. I can say with 100% confidence it is Owari as that is the only Satsuma that Durling has offered in the last 10 years. I see their citrus availability list regularly. I would rate Owari as excellent once established but have only just grafted my own Xie Shan and Miho Wase so cannot compare to them. Durling is a great nursery so you should be happy with the tree. They mainly use triofoliate for their semi-dwarfs so your tree is likely on that rootstock. I hope this answers your question.

fyliu

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2018, 01:28:05 AM »
Lesser-known varieties like Xie Shan are also lesser in demand, which means nurseries don't tend to carry them.

I think all the oranges I listed are low in acid, as in lower than Washington navel. I'm not sure about the Tarocco #7. It seems to be the lower acid of the blood oranges.
All the mandarins will be very sweet once established, although my gold nugget was tart for the first several years.

Thomasha

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2018, 06:43:56 AM »
If you know how to graft then order budwoods from ccpp.
Shiranui/ dekopon
Xie Shan
Cara cara Orange.
My shiranui/ dekopon grafted last yr end of march now starting flowers



Miho wase Satsuma
China s-9

fyliu

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2018, 01:40:01 AM »
My shiranui/ dekopon grafted last yr end of march now starting flowers
How much has it grown? Was it a bud or did you graft a stick of several buds? All mine grew about a foot. The buds grew faster than the sticks.

SoCal2warm

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2018, 03:07:58 AM »
I was very positively surprised by Shasta Gold mandarin. But it can be hard to say since so much of this may be a matter of personal preference.
Minneola Tangelo is also a favorite. Not a huge fan of Dekopon here, the flavor is a little rich and just doesn't seem to sit as well in my stomach for some reason.

Thomasha

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #16 on: February 27, 2018, 12:44:00 AM »
I did t-buds grafted and now the tree around 3 ft tall.
Here is last yr April


 Second pix around June or July



Thomasha

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Re: What are absolute best citrus varieties for the backyard?
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2018, 12:51:42 AM »


1st pix