When to pick citrus (dekopon)

[sunny]

My dekopon is soft now, when i push the rind some juice is coming out and it smells great. But will this one turn orange in our climate (which is always hot). On internet i see totally orange dekopons grown in indonesia.

Should i pick it now since the color is getting more brown or just wait longer?

I have no experience with oranges/mandarins so any advice is welcome.

[brian]

Do you only have one fruit on your tree, or multiple?   If multiple I always pick the first once I see a bit of orange, then keep picking the next fruit at later stages of ripeness over a few weeks until quality declines, then I pick them all.

[lebmung]

Dekopon is a late ripening mandarin. In your climate because of high temperatures the mandarins don't get fully orange. But because you are in the northern part of the country where there is some cold temperatures at night like 6-12 C during winter some coloration happens.

Indonesia has different climate zones with mountains and plateaus. On those high plateaus they have warm temperate climates with temperatures dropping to 5C or even minus. Once I climbed to 3000 m altitude In Bali and I could see that every 1000 m there is different vegetation, and on top of the mountain quite cold.

Maybe you should wait more in Japan the are done in Dec-Mar for you maybe earlier one or two months , but don't expect your mandarins to get the same color like there.

Last year I saw an orchard in northern Laos in a mountainous area not far from you, with very healthy and ripe mandarins. Also very little diseases due to its remote location. Because of colder temperature they were very sweet, juicy and orange.

[sunny]

The biggest tree has 3 mandarins, then i bought 4 more small tree's with each 1 fruit which get more yellow all over them but those catch more sun.

The vendor told me that his dekopons got orange but never believe a vendor in Thailand.

On youtube i see indo's picking their dekopons when they are orange but i don't know how long they have been orange.

I don't want to pick too early so i wait some more weeks i think. The other ones on the large tree are not soft yet.

[Millet]

I have an in ground Dekopon tree in my greenhouse.  The greenhouse is at 5,440-ft  elevation (1,658 M).  Day  temperatures are around 70F during the winter when the sun is out, and the temperatures is set to maintain a 55-F night temperature.  Under these conditions the Dekopon's are now most completely yellow.

[sunny]

I have an in ground Dekopon tree in my greenhouse.  The greenhouse is at 5,440-ft  elevation (1,658 M).  Day  temperatures are around 70F during the winter when the sun is out, and the temperatures is set to maintain a 55-F night temperature.  Under these conditions the Dekopon's are now most completely yellow.

So how many weeks after they get soft do you pick them? I think mine will never color well but maybe it works to count the weeks after they get soft?

[Millet]

I pick them as I need them.  Anywhere from 2 weeks to a month or so.

[sunny]

I picked and ate the one on the pic...it was still not orange inside, more yellow and not really sweet...but it was edible and not sour. I will wait longer for the other ones.