Author Topic: Sugar Belle Mandarin  (Read 892 times)

AlexTrees

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Sugar Belle Mandarin
« on: March 29, 2020, 08:16:36 PM »
Just added this beauty to my small but growing collection. I know citrus isn’t the smartest tree to plant in south Florida because of their disease issues - but apparently this variety is more tolerant . Anyone have any success with sugar belles in Florida? Chime in please. Thanks


« Last Edit: March 29, 2020, 09:09:05 PM by AlexTrees »

achetadomestica

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Re: Sugar Belle Mandarin
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2020, 08:43:03 PM »
You said you got a sugarbelle but asked if anyone has experience with honey belles?
I assume you know the sugarbelle is a cross with Honeybelle and clementine?
There is a grove very close to my house and the guy has a bunch of sugar belles
and tangos and some other new releases. His trees look REALLY nice. If it wasn't
for the fruit drop below the trees they would look perfect. He fertilizes the Hell out of his
trees. I live around some pretty big groves including Duda, Barry, and others and his
trees look better then anyone else. I experimented with some tangerines including the
Sugar belle and for me I had the best luck with Kishu. It does get ripe in September
and October and usually I eat them green. They don't have the benefit of cooler weather and
are not super sweet but I get 300+ tangerines every year from my tree. They are tangy and
I have never had one seed in any fruit. The sugar belle is suppose to get ripe later in the
season and benefit from cool nights but allot of tangerines are flowering constantly with the
lack of cold weather. With the citrus greening most people are fertilizing year round and you
should still get a couple hundred fruit from your tree when it is bigger. My sugar belle never thrived
and I assumed it was not on the right root stock? Your tree is much bigger and looks great.
     

AlexTrees

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Re: Sugar Belle Mandarin
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2020, 09:16:47 PM »
Hey thanks for catching my mistake - it’s a sugar belle. Glad to hear there are folks having success growing them. I will look into Kishu , it would be nice to extend season some. Thanks for your help!

johnb51

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Re: Sugar Belle Mandarin
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2020, 10:47:00 PM »
I planted one in Deerfield Beach in 2014, but it didn't stay healthy for long.  It was a total insect magnet!  And not being into insecticides, I got rid of it.
John