Juanita tangerine

[Tom]

I bought the last Juanita tangerine plant that Stan McKenzie had for sale right now and this is not really a blatant advertisement ...... The Juanita tangerine was a seed from a grocery store tangerine originally planted in a pot with a house plant in South Carolina. The house plant died but the tangerine seed didn't and it thrived and it eventually got planted outside. Years later in 1985 or 1986 this area of South Carolina had a low temp one winter of 0* F. This chance seedling was burned back but it did not die. There must have been a brick wall near by that probably had a lot to do with its survival.

I have heard the story for years but I've never tried hard enough to locate one. I sent Stan an email on the chance he might have one but I don't think it's on his website right now. Maybe it is , I just knew he was in the same state and same general location. He told me the woman named Juanita and the parent tree died last winter. The tree had to be close to 30 years old or older and three 24 hour days below freezing when temps never got above 32* F ended its life. I'm thinking it was just too large to protect and the temps and duration were very unusual for this site.

I'm sure Stan and others will have Juanita tangerine plants for sale including at the Southeastern Citrus expo in Fort Valley Georgia this November. Maybe there is a local guy where you live that has some Juanita right now !

I know Juanita has several seeds but is said to be very fruitful and is thought by most people  to have much better flavor than the 10* tangerine (or maybe satsuma). I'm really excited about my purchase and it's supposed to be here tomorrow (Wednesday) !

Recently I read an old entry by Milet on another blog posted maybe 10 years ago where he said Juanita tangerine and Valencia orange were two excellent varieties for beginners (and future citraholics) ! That was an unexpected surprise ! I wonder if Millet has a new or recent top ten list that could be another thread on this forum ? Tom

Millet : I meant to put this new thread under cold Hardy citrus but in my joyful eagerness I must have made a mistake ! You can move this entry to cold Hardy citrus if you want.  I don't know how that works unless  I delete this entry and retype the whole thing. I can copy this by hand then delete it and type it over if you send me a private message. Tom

[Millet]

I had a Juanita tangerine tree.  The tree I had grew pretty much straight up and did not get a bushy  (round) shape to it.   It did produce a lot of fruit. I met Juanity at the Charlston Citrus Expo some years back.  To bad she has passed away, as did her original Junita tangerine tree.  - Millet

[Tom]

Thanks Millet. I'm guessing Juanita would not be in your top 10 citrus but maybe on a list of cold Hardy citrus. What is you top ten right now, maybe on a new thread ? Tom

[Millet]

Tom, I really don't have a top 10 citrus.  Some of of citrus that I think are special are Xie Shan Satsuma, Golden Nugget, Valentine Pummello, Cara Cara Pink Navel Orange,  Dekopon (Shrianui),Marsh Grapefruit.  Brian, got me interested in Kumquats, so I now have a Fukushu, Meiwa, and a Nagami. As I am in Colorado, I have to grow my citrus inside a greenhouse, so I am limited in the amount of trees that I can have.  Therefore I wanted to be sure to have one each of the big six (Orange, Grapefruit, Mandarin, Lime, Lemon and Satsuma). For the orange I chose Cara Cara which is planted in the ground and is now a large tree.  For Grapefruit, I chose the Marsh, which is a white variety and also planted in the ground.  Personally, I think  Marsh Grapefruit when left hanging on the tree until March becomes an awesome tasting fruit.  With mandarins there are so many to chose from, but the one that I planted in the ground was a Ponkan, which is one of the largest mandarins in size.  I also have 5 or 6 different mandarins in containers.  Choseing a lime I first planted a Bearss lime which grew to be a large in ground tree, but I eventually cut that tree out to replace it with a Black Twig Lime.  The Black Twig lime is a difficult variety to locate.  I got a cutting from Joe Real some years back.  It is a great lime variety. The same thing happened when I chose a lemon.  I first planted a Eureka Lemon in the ground, and after it grew to approximately 11 feet tall, I changed my mind and  dug the tree up and replaced it with a Saint Teresa Lemon, partly because I think it is a better lemon, but also because I personally like Saint Teresa - a great saint. I also have a Saint Dominic Sour Orange tree, which Saint Dominic himself originally seed planted the tree 800 years ago on the grounds of Saint Sabina convent in Rome. I was very lucky to obtain some seeds from that tree and planted them eight or ten years back.  It is now 6 feet tall and bearing fruit.  Of course when it come to a satsuma there really is only one choice when space is limited, and that is the famous Xie Shan satsuma, one of the best citrus varieties of all time, and the winner of many of the best tasting citrus contests.  Lastly I have many container trees, too many to mention. - Millet

[brian]

I'm looking forward to getting Marsh Grapefruit as my tree is now blooming heavily.  I didn't used to like grapefruit much but it has grown on me in a huge way and I now prefer them to oranges.  I agree that Xie Xian is excellent, I got a single fruit last year and expect a half dozen or so this year.  I just tried Sumo/Dekopan for the first time last week when they were for sale for $2.50 each at a local grocery store.  The fruit was very good, with an almost vanilla hint, but I thought the bag of generic mandarins I got at the same time was still superior.  I'll have to try a few more. 

I have been thinking about the same space concerns you have, Millet, as I get closer to my new greenhouse installation.  I expect I can fit 3-5 full size trees in a 30ft wide x 48' long x 15' peak greenhouse along the center line.  It will be tough to choose varieties.

[Florian]

Sorry to dig this post up but could anyone tell me when Juanitas ripen? Any chance they ripen before the end of the year in cooler climates?

[Laaz]

Juanita is identical to my Ponkan. They ripen mid Dec - Jan.