Satsuma Tree - SoCal fruits

[sc4001992]

Yup, too much fruit left on the tree is not good. That's why I pick 200 fruits at a time from now until January or the branches will break from the weight. I'm picking another 200 fruits tomorrow.

[jbirdfunk]

People keep mentioning the Sarawak/Tahitian pummelo is good, but I didn't think so and I top worked my tree with other better tasting varieties.

I remember reading those comments about Tahitian and bought one on a whim at Lowe’s that was on sale. Still small but I’ll make a cocktail out of it if it’s not good. I finally have some Chandler coming in this year after 3 years in the ground. I don’t expect to be wowed and will graft others on.

Still a favorite in our house is Oro Blanco (more grapefruit than pomelo of course) but I’m planting a couple more because we get friends and family asking for them.

[sc4001992]

I have a few older Oroblanco trees which always gets many fruits. My tree has fruit clusters like grapes, and these fruits weigh over 1lb each so I need to put some rope to support the branches before they break off. I had one side branch (2" diameter) that was holding 110 Oroblanco, the fruits almost got completely yellow before the entire branch broke off.

You might want to add the Melogold (VI323, sister of Oroblanco) since it is also seedless, but sweeter, not much sour taste at all. On my Oroblanco fruits I can taste a little sour after I eat it.

[SoCalGardenNut]

Ok, she is right, that one is very good, I bought many from Weee online store. I'm not sure what the real variety name is, it may be buoi Da Xanh (Green Skin). There are a few other varieties from Vietnam that is supposed to be real good tasting called buoi Tien Vua, and buoi Tam Hong. The neat one is the Tien Vua, all red skin and red flesh.

I have a friend who is growing the green skin, red flesh pomelo so I hope to taste one from the tree in January.

Because of this thread I went to an Asian supermarket and got some Emerald Red(name according to Whee). This fruit is not super sweet, very deep green skin, i.e. I don't think it was picked at its peak, I personally want to taste it before I pursue this variety.

I have a spot where my mulberry Silk Hope is located, I’ll probably replace it with this pomelo variety.

[jbirdfunk]

I have a few older Oroblanco trees which always gets many fruits. My tree has fruit clusters like grapes, and these fruits weigh over 1lb each so I need to put some rope to support the branches before they break off. I had one side branch (2" diameter) that was holding 110 Oroblanco, the fruits almost got completely yellow before the entire branch broke off.

You might want to add the Melogold (VI323, sister of Oroblanco) since it is also seedless, but sweeter, not much sour taste at all. On my Oroblanco fruits I can taste a little sour after I eat it.

Thanks for the advice on Melogold - it's been in my ccpp cart a few times but never bought it. I will try it. I also have Banpeiyu pumelo, Thong Dee, Siam Ruby and Bakouzba on my list.

My Oro Blanco has about 60-75 large fruits a year but has not broken any branches. Mine also does the cluster growth, some branches must hold 10-20lb of fruit but no breaking. These branches recurve down to the ground and it almost looks like it's a bush citrus. Tree is only 5' tall but 8' wide.

My Gold Nugget broke several finger thickness branches last year and I was able to save a few with poly grafting tape and support and they've grown back and look strong but I'm keeping the fruit thinned this year.

[sc4001992]

SoCalGardenNut, I don't know how many different pomelo varieties you have tasted, but most have no taste or are barely sweet. I have tried most of the varieties that you can buy here in the Asian markets and from friends yards and from my UCR varieties.

The Emerald Red (buoi da xanh) is good (average to good) taste for the store-bought pomelos, at least it has some taste, most of the ones you will see during December-January celebrating the Chinese New Years (White Honey, Red Honey, is for looks, but no taste. I just order a few myself to see if they taste any better than the ones I tried earlier. Still tastes the same, good, but not very sweet at all, oranges or mandarins are sweeter. It will be interesting to see how the fresh Da Xanh fruit will taste from a member's tree.

My Cocktail grapefruits are excellent tasting with sweet, very juicy, but a little tartness. The Valentine pomelos on my trees are just starting to turn yellow, should be ready in late January to compare it. Also, my Roy seedling pomelos are all turning a little yellow now so by end of January I should have photos to show. The Thong Dee and Banpeiyu is behind, still large green fruits but no yellow so probably will be in February before it is ripe. Next year I should have about 14 pomelo varieties fruiting to do some taste comparison. I think some people like the pomelos which are drier, not as juicy as a grapefruit. I like both dry flesh and juicy flesh as long as they taste good with some tartness like the Cocktail grapefruit hybrid.

If you like sweet citrus fruits, then pomelo may not be what you want to add. Instead, I suggest you gets Satsuma (like the tree above), or other good tasting mandarins like the Gold Nugget, and Yosemite Gold (both seedless) which have high fruit production and are seedless. Don't buy a Kishu since it is just a miniature version of a seedless Satsuma.