I have been eating Page Tangelos for about 2-3 months and they are divine.  Everyone who has tasted them is a big fan.  They are a great mix of sweetness, rich mandarin flavor and lively acidity.  They are not the easiest to peel and they are not entirely seedless, but the flavor more than makes up for that.

I have not had Xie Shan, but in general I find satsumas a little lacking in acidity and balance.  These answers are obviously highly influenced by the different characteristics that each of us prefer in our fruit.

-Brett

Great post!  Thank you.  One piece of anecdotal evidence, in the past I have had a moderate amount of citrus leaf miner activity which peaks in the late summer and fall.  This past year I planted a bunch of eriogonum species which attract a ridiculous number of native insects including hover flies and parasitic wasps.  This year I have had zero leafminer activity.  I’m sure there are many potential reasons for this but my hopes are that the eriogonum species with their ability to attract leaf miners’ natural predators had a significant impact.

Never had one out of thousands killed by fungus. Cover the whole bud or not?

Yes, I did cover the whole bud with parafilm.  Should I have left a part of the bud open to the air?

-Brett

I am growing Seville sour orange seedlings for rootstock.  I think the 85% nuclear number seems about right for sour orange.  About 10% of the seedlings really lack the vigor of others and grow much more slowly.  A few other seedlings here and there have interesting characteristics.  For instance, I have one with really large leaves and another with purple new growth similar to lemons.  The other 80-90% have the same characteristics of the parent.

-Brett

Citrus trees grown from seed won't produce fruit until a specific node count is achieved and this often takes many years.  If you prune it back this resets the node count to the remaining nodes so if you want it to produce fruit this is not a good idea.

-Brett

A greenhouse somewhere in Canada.

Is this tree going to be in a pot or planted in the ground?  I am a strong believer that planting 3-4 year old trees (about 5-7 gallon) in the ground is far superior than planting older trees.  They seem to adapt much better and grow much faster than older trees.   In a short period of time they will be larger.

-Brett

Hello all, I was hoping that people could make some recommendations regarding interesting/rare citrus varieties available through the UCR budwood program but not available elsewhere (e.g. Four Winds).  A couple of varieties that I would recommend include:

1. Miho satsuma
2. Tahitian pummelo
3. Rotuma island orange
4. Shiranui mandarin
5. Valentine pummelo (although 4 Winds carries this now)

Any other suggestions?  Thanks.

-Brett

Very cool.  Is there any difference in the flavor?

-Brett

I agree that it really looks like Gold Nugget.  I got a few fruits off of my Gold Nugget tree for the first time this year and they are already just as orange as that one.

-Brett

This variety is featured in UCR's "Tried and True or Something New" brochure written by Toni Seibert and Tracy Kahn.  It's a fun read, although most of the varieties are well-known to the true citrus aficionados on this website.  This was one of the only varieties I hadn't heard of.  Hopefully, there will be available budwood this fall.

http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8472.pdf

-Brett

I live in zone 9b in California.  Our winters routinely see lows in the mid-high 20s.  Occasionally, it gets as cold as the low 20s.  There are usually only a few hours of temperatures in this range, although 8-10 hours of temperatures below freezing are not uncommon.

In these conditions, limes are definitely more cold sensitive than lemons.  I usually leave my Bearss lime out all winter except in the coldest of conditions.  When temperatures drop to around 25 degrees, the lime nearly completely defoliates, whereas the lemons only get leaf burn in the outer canopy.  That being said, the lime can certainly tolerate temperatures below freezing and it has always bounced back in the spring after these cold winters, however the cold damage to limes is much greater than lemons.

-Brett