Orangequat and mandarinquat. I have been trying to get them after I saw a post from a fellow kiwi. I can pick them up next Wednesday but it has been a trial trying to track them down.
The reaction I received from most places I tried was that they are a poor choice compared to a satsuma mandarin and unless I live in a very unfavorable climate it isn't worth growing.
PLease tell me they are wonderful
Glenn in NZ

I really like the kumquat hybrids because they are very small, bushy trees good for backyard growing and high density planting, have good cold tolerance, and the peel is edible so they are very easy to juice...just throw the whole thing in a blender.

If none of the above is helpful or useful for you, then there are much better choices for eating out of hand and better tasting fruit/juice.

I have a Nippon mandarinquat, also called a Nippon orangequat. They are the same thing. It is pretty good, not enough pectin to make good marmalade without adding limequats to the mix.

Have you found anything other than this one?

A few months ago I was given a bunch of Indio Mandarinquat fruits. I and my children loved them and I had to get a plant.

Kyle

The Thomassville Citrangequat does well for me outside, it fruits fairly rapidly and the fruits are pretty good. It is minimally protected (some localized heat and plastic/blankets) in my zone 5/6.

well they seem to grow faster in the ground... I had a post somewhere talking about what I do for my outdoor citrus..

how cold does it get there?
I guess i would recommend the following

1. try to have it grow like a shrub, not a tree
2. In the winter, throw a frost cloth,plastic (I use a blanket and a blue tarp over that. (no sun)
3. Keep everthing held down with bricks as in New England it gets darn windy
4. I situate a35 gallon bucket between 4 cold hardy citrus and heat it with a 50w fish heater.


its a lot of work but I have meyer, kumquats ect in my yard

well I have the bucket in between 4 of them in 1 area and 3 in an other

1/2 PVC pipe supports the plastic, I am adding the frost cloth this year. also I have learned to really weigh things down

a mole ate a lot of the bark this winter which hurt some of the trees

you might also try a kumquat, not that much worse from a cold hardy perspective and better tasting, mine is starting to flow now (as is the thomasville)

Thanks
as an FYI , when I began this I ran heater cables around the roots, that had mixed results as they tend to go if they are too close,
If I was to do this again
I would dip a 1 foot deep hole, 4x4 feet and run the cables in this area, instead of locally around the roots

also my first enclosure has the trees 8 inch below my level lawn. I did this to get an extra 8 inches of growth, seems to have work ok..............lmk if this makes sense

Frank

The benifit of heating a bucket of water is that the cheap heater shuts off if the encloser is "warm enough" as the light bulb doesnt.... also try having as much water in the enclsoure has possible.

Even if u cover it (blanket) to reduce radiation it will heat up a little during the day and the water will store the heat........I do this with 1 gallon BLACK water jugs, 5 gal buckets of water ect

Even for you I would bundle it up for 2 months.............It reduces the risk of something going wrong......

also get a good wireless thermometer

( I should write a book on this lol)

( I should write a book on this lol)

Not a bad idea.

some updated pics of the thomasville and my cold hardy citrus area
http://uploading.com/files/a8dc67c5/thomas%2BJuly%2B23%2B2010.JPG/