when to pick Chandler pummelo?

[brian]

This is the first year that my container Chandler has produced full size fruit.  Previous two years it is had made a few fruit that reached only grapefruit size. 

Any suggestions on when to pick this fruit?  It is the only one on the tree so I can't do the usual sampling.

[tedburn]

Hello Brian,
I have also a Chandler with 3 fruits this year.
After my experience from last year I decided to wait with harvesting until March/April. Because last year I tested in October, in January and March and the March fruit was the best.

[sc4001992]

Brian, one of my large pumello tree is a Chandler tree. I have many varieties grafted over it but I still get some Changler fruits from the lower branches. Your fruit looks nice, the Chandler fruit will hang on the tree for about a month after it is ripe so you should not worry about it getting over ripe if you wait. From your photo, to me it does not look ripe, it is still green even if it reached it maximum size. There are two methods I use to determine if I should pick my fruits, the first is you can wait for the skin to turn more yellow overall than it is green like your photo. Also check you fruit now by lifting it upwards, remember how heavy (or light) it is. If it feels like its not 2 lbs for that size fruit, wait until it feels heavy. The last thing is, when the fruit is fully ripe and hanging to long, you can just lift it and slightly turn it, if it falls off the stem it is ripe for eating. Main thing is to let it get ripe, so you get the best flavor.

The Chandlers they sell at the market is always green since they pick it before it gets fully ripe, but at home you can wait until it turns yellow. My pummelos start to get ripe in Dec, and goes until March here.

[brian]

Thanks, guys.  I will try the "light twist" test once it becomes yellow. 

Yes, they are always half green when I see them at the grocery store.

[Millet]

I picked a Valentine Pummelo this morning.  The peel looked much like Brian's (mostly yellow with some light green).  Upon cutting open the red coloration was not fully distributed, and the pulp was still some what grainy.  I will wait another two or three weeks to try another fruit.

[sc4001992]

I picked a Chandler pummelo yesterday that was light yellow and it was not ready, no taste or sweetness.
I think for me in CA it won't be ready until end of Dec, mid jan.

[FV Fruit Freak]

Is Chandler considered the best Pummelo?

[brian]

There don't seem to be any consensus on pummelos, I have seen every type rated both excellent and terrible depending who you ask.  I really like Chandler.

[Plantinyum]

Doesnt pomello just fall of when it is ready, or is it past prime condition when that happens?

[brian]

I have no idea... does it?

[sc4001992]

No, if the pummelo fruit falls off then its already to ripe. But you should be able to eat it still, it lasts weeks before it will be spoiled.

[FV Fruit Freak]

Thanks Brian, glad I added it to my tree last spring and lookin forward to tasting it!

[Millet]

 have had a few small  immature Chandler Pummelo fall off so far this season.  They have been laying on the ground for several weeks.  I will cut one open to see if they still mature when off he tree.

[luak]

have had a few small  immature Chandler Pummelo fall off so far this season.  They have been laying on he ground for several weeks.  I cut one open to see if they still mature when off he tree.

Lot depends when flowering start. Are your trees growing in a greenhouse, colder zone, lots of cold days?

[tedburn]

Hi Luak,
look nice your pomelos, are they in a greenhouse, do you heat your greenhouse ? On which min. temperatures do you heat your greenhouse ?
I have mine from about october to march in the greenhouse and I only try to avoid freeze, min. temperature I keep by about 2 degree Celsius for my chandler pomelo and other citrus.
Regards Frank

[luak]

No greenhouse but a Greenroom/ X workshop. Temps for winter storage, around 65*, from November till March.
Red dots are trees I am growing in the room.

[tedburn]

Thank you Luak for your information and pictures.
So you keep them pretty warm, mine are kept at about 35 ° F, as minimumtemp. at night, daytimetemperatures normally are much higher due to sun warming.
For my Chandler this worked quite well in the last winter in my greenhouse.

[brian]

I lifted it slightly today to look at it, and the fruit fell off so I guess it is ripe.  It was very good, sweet and juicy. 

It wasn't what I expected at all, though.  The pummelos I have bought at the grocery store, which I had always assumed were Chandler, are not juicy and all and the pieces can be pulled apart dry.  Also, the grocery store fruit is pink inside while my Chandler is yellow.  I wonder what they the grocery store is selling?

[tedburn]

Looks very nice Brian, good to hear that it tasted sweet and juicy. Mine are still more green than yellow - its hard to wait 

[Millet]

The pulp of a ripe Chandler pummelo is pink in color

[brian]

I guess it is a bit pink, might not be fully developed.  I will buy one of the pummelos I see at the grocery store for comparison.

My tree is from Fourwinds so I highly doubt they would mislabel the variety.

[sc4001992]

Brian, good to hear you pummelo taste very good. But yours does not look like a Chandler to me. I have a large tree and the fruits do get about 1-2 lbs and pretty round shape, but your flesh doesn't look like a pummelo. It looks more like a hybrid of a pummelo and grapefrut.

My Chandler pummelo fruits always showed some pink around the outer flesh of the fruit, never fully pink all over. Also when you cut the Chandler you can't easily peel it, and the individual sack segments needs to peeled apart, then the membrane needs to be removed before you can get to the flesh.  See the photo from UCR of what the Chandler normally looks like.

Your fruit looks more like my cocktail_grapefruit or the Oroblanco. The Chandler should have seeds, your has super small seeds.

[Seanny]

For here, most years they are ready by new year.

Tastes much better than Sumo at this time.

[brian]

I ate a Melogold (pummelo/grapefruit hybrid?) that I bought at a grocery store when I was in Florida, and it was just like the supposed Chandler fruit from my tree.  I wonder if Fourwinds sold me a mislabelled tree?

I am thinking of ordering a new Chandler from MadisonCitrus, and of course I see they have a bunch of other pummelo types I've never tried.  Hirado Buntan, Large Pink, Red Shaddock, Pink Sensation, Siamese Pink.  I will probably just stick to Chandler though as I know I like it.  The only other pink pummelo I've tried was a chinese type from a grocery store that was quite similar to Chandler but not quite as good in my opinion.

[Seanny]

Cooler pomelo fruit means more lycopene, deeper red.
The bag above blocked most light to keep fruit cool.

Maybe your Chandler fruits were too hot inside GH?

[brian]

My Valentine pummelo right next to it gets good pink-lycopene coloration, though.  Only the purple-anthocyan fruits are weakly colored for me

[tedburn]

My last of 3 Chandlerfruits looks nice, but I still want to let it ripe a few days more to get maximum taste. Do you know if there is a risk that the fruit gets dry if the fruit hangs too long ?

[brian]

I'm not sure, I haven't had a pummelo crop large enough yet to have any left over, I eat them as fast as they ripen.  Somebody else may know, though.

this reminds me I'm still looking for a "real Chandler", nobody has it in stock yet though. 

[Millet]

I have not seen them dry much, but quickly deteriorate, especially after falling from the tree.    After falling from the tree the fruit will quickly become soft and  start to decay.  The pummelo that I have seem perfectly fine to eat when quickly picked up after they fall from the tree. The best time is to pick them (especially grapefruit) when a slightest twist easily removes them from the tree.

[tedburn]

Thanks Brian and Millet, good to know not to get a dry fruit by hanging too long, so I still let the sun do their work. Nevertheless it s hard to let it hang, but I' m really curious to fully ripe flavour ? I will report then 😅

[tedburn]

Today during the visit of my daughter the curiosity was to great, so I had to harvest the last fruit. The taste we found very pleasant and sufficent juicy and sweet. Still very light bitterness. Next year I try to wait still a little bit longer  to see if taste still changes. But overall Pomelo in Germany is great  .
Regards Frank

[Yorgos]

Fortunately, my Chandler died due to winter storm Uri.  My Bloomsweet and Ruby Red grapefruits nearby all developed wonderful flavor, but the Chandler always tasted flat to bad even when picked all yellow.  And when I let it hang until Feb or Match it got dry and really bad.  Never could figure when the best time to harvest the fruit was because early or late it was less than satisfactory.
Clearly I was doing something wrong.

[poncirsguy]

The rootstock your Chandler is on can make a big difference in fruit quality.

[brian]

I just got email notification that MadisonCitrus has Chandler in stock, so I ordered one.  I will see if the fruit is the same as the "Chandler" I received from FourWinds.

[tedburn]

Today wanted to check my fruit and it was in my hand, without forcing it. Tasted a half of the fruit after lunch and it was delicious and juicy. The best of my Chandler fruits up to now. So I can confirm Chandler is worth to grow.
All fruits I have harvested this year, after bloom in spring, have been very juicy. So this seems to me, that some fruits overwintering in cool greenhouse could tend to dry out a bit during winter when the plant is sleeping.

[brian]

Hmm that looks nothing like I was expecting for Chandler, tedburn, but does look like what my tree produced.  I am starting to think that the pink, dry-flesh pummelos I've been buying at the grocery store for years are not Chandler, but some other pink type.  And now I have to try to figure out what it might be. 

My new Chandler from MadisonCitrus is still small, no fruit this year

[Millet]

The Chandler tree I once had produced pink fruit.  During the winter months my heater is set to turn on when the greenhouse temperature falls to 40 degrees F. 

[tedburn]

@ Millet and Brian, yes I also thought or expected Chandler to get pink, but if taste is excellent this is more important  .
Perhaps the pink coloration comes only in the warmer climates than ours.
In every case I was very pleased to be able to harvest in the same year than blooming and before winter, didn ' expect that, though this year we had a hot and dry summer.

[Citradia]

This is my first Chandler fruit on a tree l got from Madison citrus last year. It’s in a pot in my living room. Overwintered last year in a greenhouse just fine. I too wonder when to harvest it. It’s huge, but I assume it needs to turn yellow before it’s ready. I’ve seen them much bigger too.

[Millet]

Citradia,  do not pick the fruit green, Wait until it matures into a yellow fruit.

[fruitree]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNjDj9PkQ7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Here is my Chandler Pomelo this year
It is quite good variety

[tedburn]

impressing fruit concerning size and colour.
How long did your fruit take from flower to harvest annd how old is your tree ?
Thanks and regards Frank

[brian]

I am less concerned about the pink coloration than the juicy vs dry aspect.  One of the things I like about the store-bought pummelos is that they are dry enough I can tear one apart by hand without getting juice everywhere.  I was hoping to find a variety to grow myself that is the same way.

The juicy pummelos taste fantastic.  They're just messy.  I like the dry ones because I can take them into the office with my lunch

[sc4001992]

Brian, I had many different pummelos and they are usually not juicy but more as you describe the store-bought ones, dry enough that you can tear apart each fruit sack and eat them.  I got rid of my Chandler pummelo a long time ago (top worked tree) since it didn't have the pink flesh color and taste was just ok (not sweet) here in SoCal. Now the only real pummelos I kept are the Reinking, Thong Dee (my best taste), and Roys (seedling Chinese). All of these are dry enough that you need to pull apart each fruit sack. All have seeds, but at least they seed are in the middle so pretty easy to remove when eating them. The Hybrid pummelos (Valentine, Cocktail) are juicy and sweet.

[tedburn]

Now in the 3rd fruit year I left one fruit hang until last week - hope was to get a juicy and sweet wonderfull Pomelo.
No, it was eatable, not to dry, but not very juicy and not very sweet. O.K. to eat but no very positive surprise.
Compared to my Valentine- or Cocktailpomelofruits nothing special. So concerning harvest time long hanging brings no advantage in my region.

[sc4001992]

Yup, that's why I changed over my Chandler since it was not better tasting than average variety. I really like the Thong Dee and Valentine. Also my Roy seedling (Chinese pomelo) which are sweet and each fruit sack is easy to take apart, so is Thong Dee, but not the Valentine it's very juicy.

[sc4001992]

Ted, your Chandler rind is super thick this time.

[brian]

My new Chandler from MadisonCitrus is really odd looking with funky distorted leaves that don't even look like citrus.  I wonder if it had some scale (thrips?) attack on the tiny leaves before it arrived. 

In any case, I'm hopeful it will be a dry type, but I'm not really worried because my original questionably-Chandler is really tasty, just more juicy than I wanted

[tedburn]

Hi Kaz and Brian,
yes the rind is super thick, perhaps also because it was the smallest and latest fruit of this bunch and perhaps also cold overwintering by deepest 1°C is not very supporting for a good fruit. See my post up here from November, I had bigger fruit, thinner rind and more juicy.
Brian, hope your new plant will get good fruit.