Citrus Growers Forum

Malcolm_Manners · Posted: Thu 20 Aug, 2009 9:18 am

To elaborate on Millet's first post about 'Bearss' -- I don't know that it is specifically this cultivar; rather, I think all true C. limon cultivars grow to be too big under Florida climate conditions. The retail market expects a "Sunkist"-sized fruit, and they simply get bigger than that here. So the curing process is to harvest at the desired size, and store them at 60 °F, 95% relative humidity, for a period of time. Under those conditions, they turn yellow and soften, developing more expressable juice. No ethylene is used (although the fruit itself may give off some ethylene), and no dyes of any kind are ever added.

If grown for the extracted juice market, you want them as big as possible, since big fruit contain more juice.

A.T. Hagan · Posted: Thu 20 Aug, 2009 2:04 pm

Malcolm_Manners wrote:

To elaborate on Millet's first post about 'Bearss' -- I don't know that it is specifically this cultivar; rather, I think all true C. limon cultivars grow to be too big under Florida climate conditions. The retail market expects a "Sunkist"-sized fruit, and they simply get bigger than that here.

Well this is good to know. I've been wondering about this for years in that every variety of lemon and Tahitian lime that I grow produces fruit very much larger than the fruit available from the supermarkets.

I know I'm not such a hot-shot container citrus grower that my fruit should be so much better than commercial fruits so it was a mystery to me why they were consistently so much larger. Thanks for telling us this.

.....Alan.

Brancato · Posted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 2:16 pm

Is there alot of differance between the Sanbokan lemon and the Ujukitsu aside from ripening time?

Joe

Millet · Posted: Wed 21 Oct, 2009 9:58 pm

Well, I ordered a Santa Teresa Lemon from Four Winds Growers, and was told that their Santa Teresa trees were still a little too small to ship yet, but would be ready in a couple months. After waiting for a couple months when the tree never arrived, I telephoned to find out when I might expect delivery. I was told that, due to their rather limited inventory of Santa Teresa Lemon trees, Four Winds Growers, decided not to sell any of them, but to use them to bud additional inventory. Therefore, Four Winds will not have any Santa Teresa Lemons to offer to the public for at least a another year. So I purchase Genoa Lemon, which arrived in excellent condition, and was a very nice tree. I had my name put on a waiting list for the Santa Teresa, and was told I would be the very first on line. All in all Four Winds is still listed in my mind as a very good supplier of true dwarf tree. . - Millet (1,182-)

Ned · Posted: Thu 22 Oct, 2009 8:53 am

Joe, Sanbokan ripens December 1 or later here in coastal SC. Ujukitsu ripens a month earlier. Both taste a lot alike to me.

Ned

Brancato · Posted: Fri 23 Oct, 2009 3:16 am

Thanks Ned and sorry to hear about the Santa Teresa Millet!

Joe