Picked my first satsuma today! I was thrilled to eat my first citrus that I planted and cared for. It was great and it was not even fully ripe. I left about a dozen fruits on my trees this first year just to see what they would be like and I was really impressed with the falvor and sweetness without being pithy, as I heard the first and second crops would be pithy. The fruit color was light yellow and bright green, the next one I try, hopefully in about 10 days to two weeks will be fully ripe and orange. I have Brown Select satsumas, which I believe is a mid season variety, does anyone have an early Satsuma? Are they ripe? Also how can you tell when the fruit is at its peak?

Realize that with satsumas, just as with oranges, peel color is utterly independent of internal maturity ["ripeness"]. In our area, they often reach full maturity while deep green on the exterior. At one time (late 1970s?) there was a marketing attempt at selling them as "Emerald Mandarin!" It did not go over very well, as I recall.

In our area, early November is when they reach full maturity. And on your very young tree, you'll want to pick them early as opposed to late, so they don't dry out on you.

Unshiu is the only Satsuma commonly grown in Florida. It is our earliest maturing citrus.

Sorry, I must have been having a senior moment -- Owari is our common variety in Florida. Maxima mea culpa.

I grow two varieties, one early (Ukitsu) and one mid/late (Owari)...I think that is fairly common in zone 8 areas. It is usually what I recommend to people at least.

I picked some Brown Select satsumas near the ground and they were not very sweet and somewhat tart. They are normally sweet in mid November but not this year. Last year the satsumas were very sweet.