I'm looking for sweet oranges that will grow well and fruit in Pensacola, Fl 8b/9a. My soil is a sand base. I have listed some of the ones that I believe show promise. I would like your comments and corrections on the list. The notes I have gathered are from all over the web. Mostly from Southern university papers but some from hobbists expierences and some from sales brochures which is a flip of a coin on their reliability. So if you see something that doesn't look right let me know. If you like another variety tell me why. If you know other attributes or especially problems about a variety I listed tell me about them. All comments are welcome and appreciated even if you think I'm nuts. I am only interested in the Sweet Oranges here as I will post other types in separate post to try and keep it on topic.

I am purchasing a lot beside my house and it will be used to start a citrus grove. It isn't big enough to call it an orchid. LOL

Sweet Oranges
Hamlin
1. Cold hardy to 20 degrees
2. Fruit matures early to late fall

Hamlin Louisiana Sweet
1. Cold hardy to 20 degrees
2. Fruit matures early to late fall
3. Sweeter than Hamlin

Parson Brown
1. Cold hardy to 20 degrees
2. Fruit matures early to late fall

Thanks

All are good in that they are early maturing (start tasting in late September). I would definitely recommend Hamlin over Parson Brown, due to Parson Brown's low juice quality and higher seed content. I do not have any experience with Hamlin Louisiana Sweet.

There are navels that I think are much better for eating out of hand, but I get the impression that you want to stick to round oranges in this thread?

Thanks for your comments. That is exactly what I am looking for. Taste is a big player in the elimination process. Of course they have to live long enough to fruit. LOL

Hamlin Louisiana Sweet is suposed to be sweeter than Hamlin. Could just be hype who knows? Maybe someone has both of them and will comment.

Navels
I have not considered them as I was told they require a extra long season to mature and most won't mature till late January or even March. Was I told wrong if so I will do a post on them.

Thanks

Their are two cultivars that I would recommend for consideration. Many citrus industry experts, say that the Page Mandarin is the best tasting citrus of them all. I fully agree with them. I am currently growing 5 Page trees. The fruits are small (about the size of a Clementine Mandarin). If your looking for a sweet citrus, Xie Shan Mandarin is the sweetest cultivar that I know. The sugar to acid ratio is as high as 27:1. I have two Xie Shan trees and they are like candy. I have never seen a citrus cultivar that has a sugar ratio that even comes close to Xie Shan. Take care. - Millet (908-)

Thanks,

I'll add that to my mandarian list, although it might be trick to find one in Florida. How will it hold up to LONG, HOT and HUMID summers?

Page does well in Florida. Tolumina, a member of this forum who lives in Gainesville, currently is growing 20 Page Mandarin trees. They produce for him every year. I'm not sure about Xie Shan in Florida, but my Xie-Shan are grown in a highly humid greenhouse in Colorado, with summer temperatures of 100 for most of July and AugustF. The trees grow very well. - Millet (908-)

Cara Cara Pink Navel is my favorite orange for eating out of hand. It matures in late November early December and is definitely worth checking out.

I have added Page and Xie Shan to my list of prospects. Thanks for the suggestions.

I have both Page and Ponkan here and they are both very good--I rank them about the same. Page has a little tighter peel. I had the Page graft on my lemon produce fruit 2 yr ago when it was less that 6 inches long, but not last yr. As for cold tolerance, both made it thru last winter with protection.

Last yr the best tasting fruit I had in my yard was my Daisy mandarin. It was honey sweet. Daisy has a few negative characteristics--last yr wih our heavy rains in the summer and fall, a large percentage of the fruits split open. The peel is tighter than Page and a lot tighter than Satsumas or Ponkans. It has a good many seeds too, but if taste is the objective--it certainly has to rank high on the list. Murcott was also good.

One other point--there are annual variations in taste depending on climate and there are differences within a yr --they tend to get sweeter the longer they hang on the tree.

I had a Dancy tree some time back, but I tossed it into the compost pile, when I did my house (greenhouse) cleaning. Dancy tasted good enough, but the fruit was just to small to bother with, difficult to peel and had way to many seeds. Dancy generally does set a lot of fruit, and perhaps with a judicious crop thinning, the fruit size could possibly increase enough to make it worthwhile. However, with the available greenhouse space, there were just too many other superior varieties to choose from. - Millet (906-)

Skeeter wrote,

Last yr the best tasting fruit I had in my yard was my Daisy mandarin. It was honey sweet. Daisy has a few negative characteristics--last yr wih our heavy rains in the summer and fall, a large percentage of the fruits split open. The peel is tighter than Page and a lot tighter than Satsumas or Ponkans. It has a good many seeds too, but if taste is the objective--it certainly has to rank high on the list. Murcott was also good.

Skeeter you sure no how to complicate things. LOL Throwing those names in the hat that I have not even heard of. I have to give extreme consideration to your pics seeing as we are pratically neighbors. I probably need to take a closer look at your Daisy and Murcot. BUT I'm not a big fan of seeds.

Millet,

Boy you are throwing Dancy under the bus. Let's see it bears extremely HEAVY. So heavy you may have to prop the limb and thin the fruit. Plus you need to clip it since it is so thin skinned it tears when you pull it and now you tell me it is full of SEEDS. HMMM a small fruit full of seeds and pain in the *** to take care of. Wow a top contender is really fading fast into obscurity.

Thanks,
Charles

I just planted an Amber Sweet that I bought from "Just Fruits and Exotics" over in Crawfordville.

They said it would grow well in the panhandle and was sweet.

Charles,

No problem. I have been paying a lot of attention to your posts, since we are essentially dealing with the same climate and conditions!

Here is a picture of that Amberweet Orange tree. It was only a 3 gallon tree, but they propogate their own their at "Just Fruits and Exotics" and seem to take great care in doing so. Hopefully it will grow up quickly.