Bought a box of Dekopon today and split with my friend Kern. We ate three fruits and some were better than others. None were the best mandarins we've had but they were good, huge fruits, and completely seedless. I will want to grow this and hope to get budwood at the end of 2012.

We met a friend in Santa Cruz and tasted fruits there enjoying Fremont, Caffin, and others that I can't even remember now and then we went to Gene Lester's for his annual tasting and enjoyed more there. Gene has some plants budded to Xie Shan which we were hoping to try as well, but they were just small trees or branches I guess and we didn't see them.

None had a stem attached ? Many times you get a fruit with a stem still attached. The stem usually has some buds on it...

Nope, I'm sure this packer is going to be especially careful with this one since they've got exclusive rights to marketing it. The small boxes they are sold in must also add a fair amount to the cost. Big marketing effort on this one!

I read earlier that Gene Lester had reported he had tasted Dekopan at Lindcove and wasn't impressed. Since a friend brought some of the fruits to the tasting yesterday I thought he might comment on it further but he didn't say much. Doron Kletter is a big enthusiast and very knowledgeable and was also at the tasting. I asked if he had tasted Dekopan at Lindcove and he said "yes, it is good, I like it".

I'm still a bit surprised that the fruit in the box we bought is as variable as it is but then imagine that these are coming from small trees that are not very well established.

The largest of the fruits in my box weighs .85 pounds and another weighs .83 pounds, but there are some that are probably not more than .50 pounds. Most have pronounced necks but some don't.

Pronounced necks can be, more or less, a common occurrence for fruits produced by the first couple crops of young trees. As the tree ages, many times the necks either disappear or greatly recede. Weather Dekopon is normally a necked fruit or not I don't know, as I have never seen one. .- Millet (673-)

Dekopon is very popular in Japan, probably because of the high level of quality control that occurs before the fruit hits the shelf.
Any marketed Dekopon fruit must reach a brix level of 13, and a citric acid level of less than 1%. Also fruit is stored for 20 to 40 days post harvest to cure it. Trees are pruned to let light into the canopy, to increase sweetness of fruit.
http://www.practicallyedible.com/dekopons

It sounds to me that the unless the same level of attention is payed to fruit grown at home, the results might be ordinary.
However in different climate zones to Japan, the fruit might(or not) reach the brix/acid levels of high quality fruit without the extra work ?
This could also explain the mixed results of taste tests reported in this forum topic, from different people in different areas of USA?

Nope, no hope of a wee bit of stem, Todd. They look to be deliberately clipped right above the bump:

SEEDS!!!!

Hot off the press!

Just now I ate my sixth "Sumo" (all others were shared with others under my supervision). This particular fruit had three complete seeds and one unfilled seed. The fruit was one of the smaller fruits included in the box but still quite large, probably about .50 pounds. The fruit was similar in taste to the others though, as I reported above, flavor has varied from one fruit to another.

Now what? I've never grown citrus from seed and haven't been particularly motivated to do so since I've read that I can expect to wait up to seven years or so for fruit. Is it worth the bother when I expect to possibly be able to get budwood in less than two years from now from CCPP? I do have a greenhouse that doesn't get colder than the mid-30s during winter that could speed up growth but I still don't know what timeframe that might put me in.

Could not happen to a nicer guy. - Millet (672-)

Thanks, Millet. May you be as lucky with your one fruit which should arrive in two days.

Harvey,
Don't let them dry out. Put them in a small container and potting medium. Keep the medium moist, but not soggy. Lots of sunshine. And they'll sprout. You can put each viable seed in its own container and that way, you'll be able to put each of them in increasingly larger containers without disturbing the roots. Pot'em up!!

I'm eating dinner at the moment so they're resting in Ziploc.

Pretty cool around here but I've got a propagation mat going already for some tissue culture bananas. It's set at 82F. I'll try to plant the tonight and will nuke some potting soil in my microwave to sterilize it.

The potting soil I have on hand is mostly ground fir bark and perlite with a 5% topsoil (I had a custom blend of 10 cubic yards for some chestnuts). Should that be okay?

Thanks, Harvey

That should be just fine. Sterilizing is great, will kill any noxious fungii, and of course a warming mat is ideal. Gently wasy off the seeds to remove any of the pulp. Not sure if this particular mandarin is going to need to "break dormancy", but I'm betting that since Sumos are refrigerated for a significant period, the seeds have already had their "cold", so I doubt you'd need to refrigerate them. Some folks like to remove the cover, but I think that can damage the seed. You can try snipping off the pointed end if you feel compelled to, but they should germinate without that step. Soak the seeds for a couple of hours in water, then plant. You can cover the pot, but be sure it gets air. Should take about 2 to 6 weeks to germinate. Since Sumos supposedly are polyembryonic, you should see some sprouting with two sprouts per seed. Key is to not let them get moldy. Remember we used to do this in grade school with paper towels and a plastic bag? Egads, if we could do this when we're 8, certainly we can do this now!

I'm having flashback memories of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when everyone is looking for the golden tickets in the candy bars. I'm going to go buy a box of Sumos and look for golden tickets, I mean seeds.

Phillip