Coming from Indio.

The day was fun! I got to taste a lot of varieties. I really enjoyed everything they had to teach. I will try and go again next year and hopefully it will be held earlier so that I can try more varieties. Just awesome.

Okay, had a great time, got to taste a few really outstanding cultivars. Also got to meet Juan, great guy, btw! Snapped a few photos that you can see here:

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Some of the cultivar highlights:

1. EncoreLS - Unreleased mandarin developed by University of California. Late maturing (March) and will hang extremely well on the tree well into summer. Very easy to peel. Excellent flavor, it is very rich and unique. "LS" stands for low seed, and it is a low-seeded version of Encore. Will be available soon in the CCPP budwood collection. This cultivar will be added to my collection as soon as budwood becomes available.

2. Rojo Blanco pummelo hybrid - A very delicate, pigmented pummelo hybrid that melts in your mouth, very soft, smooth vesicles, delicate membranes, and very sweet. Also a later variety, ripens from Jan to May. Available in the CCPP budwood collection. Will be going in my collection.

3. Thermal Tarocco - Similar to Bream but actually I think better tasting, sweeter. Not as pigmented, but sort of speckled. Also available as budwood in CCPP.

4. Powell Navel orange - One of the several Australian navel oranges brought to University of Calif. for evaluation. The latest of the navels, and exceptionally good. It is a licensed cultivar but it is available through CCPP, worth adding to a collection if you're looking for a very late sweet orange.

5. Ellendale Tangor (mandarin) - a natural tangor found in Australia. Rich, very juicy. Deep orange. Very nice mandarin hybrid. Taste reminds me a little bit of the Page mandarin. Monoembryonic, and is used in hybrid trials for good reason, as it has many excellent qualities.

Patty S.

Yeah! What she said.
It was a pleasure meeting you Patty.

Thanks for the pics & update. Is that Juan in the straw hat?

HAH! No, Juan and I were in different tour groups. I'm sure he'll appreciate that, though. Nice young guy. He drove all the way out from the Cochella Valley area to attend. Thought I had a long drive.

Thanks Patty,I appreciate the info. And pics.

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I'm very excited to hear about the EncoreLS. Encore was my favorite mandarin that I grew when I lived in coastal Southern California, and a less seedy version ought to be fantastic. Thank you for the update!

Ah, Ryan, sorry you didn't get to go this year. It was nice that they decided to split out the commercial industry from just us backyard folks. Much smaller group, easier to get around, the edicational topics were very interesting (pruning, root rot, HLB, and a new pest which name eludes me at the moment. All the paperwork on it is in my car for our CRFG meeting this evening.

Ive never been. . Im sure it was fun and informative. The "meh" was that there where no new varieties all that interesting to me. I guess I was expecting more. Thanks for sharing though. There some cool new varieties coming out of Italy & Europe that are more interesting to me.

Patty, are you talking about that tiny beetle?

Yes, Juan, that tiny beetle. All my paperwork is in the car. Citrus is not a host plant, but can be affected.

Yea, my stuff is at home. I remember they said it really likes avocado trees, but it will eat what it can. They chew the plant to eat the sap, correct?