Tangerines are bitter

[Mikhail2400]

Hi im Mike, im new here and I live in a small town in southeast GA.
Ive never really grown anything but now that ive inherited my dads old place I have become more interested. Theres quite a few different fruiting species on the property but the two im writing about here are the Tangerine trees which were planted some where between 20 and 30 years ago. For two trees which have had zero help they put out a pretty good amount of fruit. The only problem is they are so bitter as to be inedible.
I dont know what exact species of Tangerine they are but I do have some pictures if it will help, just tell me to post them. If any of you know what I can do to fix this problem I would be very grateful for their advice.

Thanks for your time, mike

[achetadomestica]

Maybe the tangerines died and the rootstock which is likely
sour orange is what is bearing the fruit now?
You can graft a known variety on the trees and start over

[Kevin Jones]

Pictures including the fruit would help.

Kevin

[Galatians522]

I agree that it is probably a rootstock tree. Cleopatra (often called Cleo for short) is the only tangerine that has been used frequently as a rootstock to my knowledge, but I would discribe it as sour more than bitter. Calamondin is a hardy, sour tangerine like fruit that has often been planted as an ornamental and is used for baking, drinks, and marmalade. There are also a couple other rootstock trees that might be mistaken for tangerines like Carrizo citrange which has a small bright orange fruit and trifoliate leaves. Pictures would be helpful.

[Mikhail2400]

Thanks for all the replys. Here are some pictures, I hope they will help you identify this tree.

[Galatians522]

Looks like Cleo. Its a good rootstock if you have well drained soil. Here is a link to a description. See if it fits what you have. The only thing I will throw in is that it will not fruit year round in your climate (that bit is at the end of the description in the link).

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/cleopatra.html&ved=2ahUKEwibgdjsvJT1AhUNSzABHeFoDyUQFnoECEkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Lc2udroieLJ16bZjqLP56

[Mikhail2400]

Looks like Cleo. Its a good rootstock if you have well drained soil. Here is a link to a description. See if it fits what you have. The only thing I will throw in is that it will not fruit year round in your climate (that bit is at the end of the description in the link).



Yeah it all fits. Leaves and fruit size fit. The fruit on the tree right now is the second bunch to have sprouted for 2021 which surprised me as I wasnt aware any citrus trees fruited year round until I read your post.
So is there any way to improve the fruits taste? Fertilizer of a specific type or some other specific compound I can use maybe?
I dont know why it posts everything in the quote

[Galatians522]

I dont know why it posts everything in the quote

I used to have the same problem (because I am not tech savvy). Whenever you quote someone, there will be some computer language at the end that looks like this: [/quote]. It means end quote. If you insert before that or erase it the computer thinks everything is part of the quote.

[Galatians522]

Back to the original question. I don't think you will ever be happy with the fruit on a Cleo Tangerine. You might pick up a few points on your brix (sugar content) through better cultural care, but as the old saying goes, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop." As has already been mentioned, your best shot at good fruit is to top work the tree.