Hello I was wondering if anyone has any up to date info on the snokist/snowkist (sp?) orange? I'm not sure what the actual genetic makeup of this is but I remember hearing about it back in highschool (7 or 8 years ago) I think it was being offered by a company called Oregon exotics but I may have the name wrong, the had lots of cool stuff like Andean crops that are just starting to catch on in the states. As I remember they were not good at responding to questions. the picture they had was a very small tree covered with oranges and snow! I have a feeling they were one of those not so tasty crosses, or I expect they would have become quite popular. Probably good breeding stock for similar projects though.

Most likely it will be snokist, which is a fruit packing company called Snokist Growers with some facilities in Yakima, Washington. Many growers and sellers of citruses can make up their own trademarked brand for existing cultivars.

Trademark names are different than plant patents. So the snokist most likely is a trademarked name for some mandarins that we may already know and the company is not obliged to tell what mandarin cultivars they have under that name.

Take for example Cuties which are sold in many retail stores including CostCo. The cuties are actually anyone of the cultivars: Clemenules, Tango, and other Satsumas or Clementines which were grown in monoculture blocks to prevent seedlessness. There is no single cultivar called Cuties.

And about the snokist, it is only my guess that it is a trademark name registered by the packing company or some locals trying to rename a cultivar so that it will click with the public for marketing purposes. But of course, a possibility exists that it could be another cultivar, but highly unlikely.

Oh, we love cuties. My 21 months old daughter goes through 2 - 3 a day.

Could it be a type of Satsuma? Snow can still fall in the 20 - 30 degree temps.

Oregon exotics made some crazy claims on many things including citrus, palms and tropicals. They have been out of business for a few years and I would not put any weight behind their claims...

Cuties are a tradename for one of the clementines, but satsumas should do well in your area and are almost as good as the clementines. A mature tree (9 yrs or older), properly maintained will produce 400 lbs of satsumas per year.

My area is zone 7 Humboldt County, Ca. Apparently we hit 0F but not every year. It is fairly coastal but that means we get high wind and hail. I have seen Meyers lemons grow in sheltered spots but I don't have a sheltered area for them. I know of a guy who has really ugly lemons on an old hedge in the shade!, but I don't think they get many, and the quality looks poor. I think I'll just start a variety of seed and see what lives and what dies... thanks for the input -Ben

Your friends ugly lemon is probably either a Citrus ichangensis or Poncirus trifoliata if it is growing in zone 7.

I've just had a look at my copy of Oregon Exotics catalogue from 2001.
They listed a "'Snow Sweet' Hardy Citrus Citrange", which included the desciption "they are as good as most sweet oranges". I think this is the citrange normally called #119.
Also listed was "'Snow Picked' mini-mandarin orange (New Citrus Hybrid)". There follows a highly favorable description of the fruit, and concludes with "The plants are so new in culture that the low temperature limitations have not yet been defined. In general, plants of this heritage endure 0 -5 -10 degrees with little damage."
The Oregon Exotics catalogue was a good read, but their desciptions had to be taken with a very large pinch of salt! Added to their reportedly awful customer service, this probably contributed to their downfall.

Sounds like a prescription of how NOT to run a business. (Once burned, twice Shy) - Millet (1,496-)

Here is a perfect example of misleading information. Seller claims to be selling Buddhas hand seed. Buddhas hand is seedless & the photo of the fruit is not Buddhas hand.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Citrus-medica-UNUSUAL-RARE-Buddhas-Hand-30-seeds_W0QQitemZ110337080565QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110337080565&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1199|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Oregon Exotics sold a "Snowsweet" orange that was actually a USDA 119 poncirus-grapefruit-seedling orange cross. It can be ordered from Just Fruits in Crawfordville, FL. I have two trees, 8 years old, in Z8B and it produces a somewhat sweet, edible, very firm orange with some gummy aftertaste however. The tree is very cold-hardy and produces prolifically.

Cohardy,

Fortunately, I planted last year a citrus USA 119, which has obviously not flowered yet.

Which 'gummy aftertaste' do you refered to

Franck