I'm curious what the current opinion is, or your personal opinion, on the best cold hardy satsuma?
I have my eye on these varieties:
Satsuma Corsica SRA 145 (-15°C)
Satsuma Collot (-14°C)
Satsuma Hashimoto (-14°C)
Satsuma Iseki (-13°C)
Satsuma Maxima (-??°C)
Satsuma Miyagawa (-12°C)
Satsuma Okitsu / Owari (-12°C)
These temperature numbers are pretty arbitrary, but the number isn't very important to me, it's more about which variety is more cold hardy than the other.
SRA 145 seems very hardy, although I doubt a little if it's really that much more hardy than Hashimoto and Collot. Some people are very positive about the fruit, others a bit less.
Collot is supposedly a bit less cold hardy and less tasty than SRA 145, but ripens earlier.
Hashimoto has some positives, like being quite hardy, early fruit, good taste, but I've read it's a slow growing tree, not as vigorous as the other satsuma's.
Iseki is one I don't know much about. It's the most known hardy satsuma coming from Russia. Olivier Biggio mentions it in his book, and Adavo has it. Adavo writes that it's high quality, but Miyagawa became popular because it's more productive.
Maxima is a fairly unknown variety, sold by two French nurseries that have it from the same source in Italy. Bigger than average fruit, and possibly better than average cold hardiness. So I would put it above Okitsu/Owari regarding hardiness
Monjardinextraordinaire: Maxima' is a new Sicilian selection. It has been tested in our nursery in Loire et Cher (41) for 2 years. It is superior to Unshui in terms of fruit size, shelf life and cold hardiness. / From email: Our Italian salesman brought this variety to us after selecting it from his crops. The selection is still young. We are updating the variety as we receive feedback from the field.
Achat-vente-palmiers: Italian selection of the famous Japanese mandarin tree satsuma offering in November seedless fruits bigger than the type. Grafted on poncirus for better hardiness: -10 to -12°C.
Miyagawa is one I come across a lot, many people have it or recommend it, but it's a bit unclear to me why. It's not the most cold hardy, mixed bag on taste, I guess it might be like Adavo says and it's because it's a vigorous and productive tree?
Owari / Okitsu seem to be equally cold hardy, but not (much) more cold hardy than the average satsuma. High quality fruit, some people prefer Owari, some Okitsu...
My personal pick right now, without tasting any fruit or experience growing them:
- SRA 145 for hardiness and also good to great fruit quality depending on who you ask.
- Hashimoto for hardiness and it's very early ripening, even though it's not vigorous, maybe I'm biased and also just curious about this one. I think it might even beat SRA 145 in hardiness.
- Iseki because curiosity, but maybe I could do some more research on it first.
- Maxima because curiosity.
Even though many people have it, I don't see much reason to add Miyagawa. Collot seems like a decent one, but I think I would wait to see if I experience trouble with frozen fruit on SRA 145. I own and Okitsu, not sure if I keep if for good fruit quality or sell it to have more room.
What do you guys think about satsuma varieties?
Topic: Best and most hardy satsuma varieties? (Read 1360 times)