The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hey all, are there any good summer ripening mandarins?  I have gold nugget which ripens in late spring and holds well on the tree into summer.  I’ve been disappointed with the fruit quality of gold nugget however.  It’s, in general, pretty dry.  It seems like I’m not the only one who has had this experience.  Are there any other mandarins that you can pick in the summer?  I would imagine that these would also be fruits that ripen in late spring and can hold on the tree well.  Thoughts?

-Brett

Some of the images look like greasy spot to me.

-Brett

It's hard to generalize about this.  Do you prefer a juice that is more like an orange or more like a mandarin?  It also depends upon how they preform in your environment.  Page mandarins in my northern CA environment are truly amazing and, in terms of flavor, completely destroy both Valencia and Minneola.

-Brett

Millet thank you for this interesting study.  I think what we can conclude from this study is that short term ingestion of blood oranges had no significant effect on HDL, LDL and several other serologic markers.  It does not tell us that blood oranges have no "significant effect of health" as that is something infinitely more complex than the results of some blood tests.

Luisport, at the same time, I would like to know the source of your assertation that anthocyanins strengthen the immune system and that blood oranges grown organically are richer.  Is there data to back this up?  We all would like to believe that statements like this are true, however the scientific method dictates that the null hypothesis (there is no effect) is true until proven otherwise.  A lot of what we think is based only on a personal belief, but not scientific evidence.

-Brett

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