Here's some info that I got from various sources, mostly from buddinman and would like to share this treasure of information to you all:

LA (Louisiana) Owari Satsuma
A leading variety of citrus grown in Louisiana, Owari is for both commercial and home garden use. It ripens from mid-October to early December and should be grown on Trifoliata rootstocks for best quality. The trees are quite cold hardy. They have a weeping willow like habit of growth, and foliage is open. The fruit is a small, to medium-sized "kid-glove" (skin separates easily from fruit) type that contains a high percentage of mild juice. The Owari Satsuma is generally seedless, but under all conditions has fewer seeds than mandarin types such as Clementine or Dancy. It should be in every commercial planting in Louisiana and generally should constitute 50 to 60 percent of the planting. This is believed to be a better sport both in taste and hardiness of the regular Owari Satsuma grown in Texas and California.

Brown's Select
This variety produces medium to large fruit that is oblate and yellow to yellow-orange in skin color when mature. The peel is generally smooth and separates easily from the flesh. Fruit keeps well on the tree without becoming puffy. The flesh color, taste, flavor and general fruit quality are similar to Owari. The fruit are considered seedless, but an occasional fruit will contain a seed or two. Brown's Select trees are large, productive and have an open spread-branching pattern. Blossom set and fruit buds are prolific, with fruit concentrated in clusters or along braches. Harvest can begin from mid-October into early November.

Early Saint Anne
Product of the LSU AgCenter’s citrus research program whose function is to develop fresh market lines of citrus cultivars such as navels, oranges, Satsuma mandarins and others with improved quality and production. This improved quality, early maturing Satsuma mandarin ripens in early September to mid-October and should complement the market of early satsumas for commercial production. The fruit is very sweet and will remain satisfactory on the tree for weeks with top quality fruit for the commercial market. Survives cold of 10*F. Zone 7-11.


LA (Louisiana) Early
Or Louisiana Early, a new early maturing satsuma mandarin cultivar, is a product of the citrus breeding program of the LSU AgCenter, whose function is to develop fresh market lines of citrus (navels, satsumas and other cultivars) with improved quality, fruit characteristics and production. This high-quality satsuma mandarin ripens in early September to mid October.


Obawase Satsuma
Relatively larger than most satsumas with 0-4 seeds, red-orange skin and orange flesh. Harvested between Oct-Nov.


Bonnie Childers #1 (BC1)
The BC1 is from a satsuma seedling that our very own fellow citrus forum member Bonnie Childers started back in the 1970s. Was grown on its own roots and have survived the severe freeze of 1983, it froze to the ground level but came back. It is an excellent satsuma.



There were growers in Louisiana that got budwood from the Louisiana Early, before it was named Louisiana Early and sold it as Armstrong, not Armstrong Early. The Armstrong Early has been around for a long time and has smaller leaves and is more compact growing. The Armstrong Early sometimes is edible as early as Labor Day. The Early St. Anne and Louisiana Early are height quality satsumas. The Brown Select is an excellent later maturing satsuma. The Brown Select, Louisiana Early and Early St. Anne were developed by the Dr. Ralph Brown who was superintendent of the citrus station at Port Sulphur Louisiana for many years. The Brown Select was named after him.

Most satsuma have better quality as the tree ages. The first year to bear is the worst. Alav Vaughn, county extension agent in Louisiana recommends not permitting the trees to fruit for the first 3 years.

The Louisiana Satsuma was imported from Japan in the early 1800's and immediately captivated the populace with it's easily separated sections of sweet, brilliant orange fruit and easy to peel, mottled green & yellow skin.

The name "Satsuma" is credited to the wife of a U.S. Minister to Japan, General Van Valkenburg, who sent trees home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province, now Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island. During the period 1908-1911, approximately a million "Owari" Satsuma trees were imported from Japan and planted throughout the lower Gulf Coast states from Florida to Texas. While this fruit is grown primarily for fresh consumption, a portion of the crop is canned as fruit segments or juice.

The Louisiana citrus industry began when early settlers planted citrus seeds along the Mississippi River below New Orleans. At first, only the so-called "sweet" seedlings were planted. They required from five to seven years to produce a paying crop. In most cases, these early groves were unmanaged. In about 1878, budded trees were introduced into south Louisiana. Budded trees, unlike seedlings, yielded crops in three to four years.

The Satsuma, introduced in the early 1880s, possessed more cold hardiness than other "sweet" citrus and prompted the planting of citrus in the more northern latitudes of Louisiana. By the 1890s, Satsuma trees were planted extensively along all the southern Louisiana parishes.

The Louisiana citrus industry involves over 900 growers who produce roughly 1,400 acres of citrus for a gross farm value of almost $7 million. Louisiana produces navel oranges (majority) and satsumas. According to the Mark Schexnaydre of the LSU Co-operative Extension, the Brown Select and Owari are two venerable strains that have been grown in Louisiana for over a century with great success. Of course, because all of the citrus fields are found in the alluvial soils of the Mississippi River, the groves have taken on the special flavor characteristics of the rich soil and the warm, sunny days that extend well into the picking season which normally begins in October. Both are grown on Trifoliata rootstocks.

The Kimbrough should be on this list as well, should it not?

I had one until last year when the fire ants girdled it. I've got an uknown variety satsuma that is my best growing tree.

....Alan.

There are lots more of course. These are just samples from those good friends I know who have these cultivars.

Joe, I have a BC-2 Satsuma (Bonnie Childers-2 Satsuma) which is another one of Bonnie's varieties. The BC-2 is a very sturdy/strong upright tree, that is a heavy producer. I have not tasted the fruit yet, as this is the first year that I have had the tree in my collection. I purchased it from Tree Search in Houston, Texas, which is a wholesale only nursery, but they will sell a private party a tree if he picks it up at their nursery in Houston. Tree Search, of course, knows Bonnie Childress very well, and speak highly of him. - Millet

I do have a Kimbrough growing in my back yard. Also had one when it was just a numbered cultivar that was gave to me by Dr.Ralph Brown

In the late 70s and early 80s we had 70 large satsuma trees that were killed by the severe freeze of 1983. A lot of the nursery stock was dug and covered with about 2 to 3 feet of pine bark grit. In the spring these were dug up and did fine. There were 1 row of Owari, 1 rows of Oba Wase and another row of, I believe was kimbrough, plus several other cutivars.
All produced excellent fruit. The trees could have been saved had they been banked. Dr. Sauls indexed several trees in the fall of 1983 for the triszeta virus. They were not infected. A couple of years ago Dr. Mani Skaria check them again and they were clean. The following spring of 1984 Dr. Sauls gave to me 3 cultivars on Flying Dragon understock. The trees have been moved and are in my back yard and doing very well.

Where can the variety, Obawase be bought. I have searched the nurseries online in several states and haven't found it listed. Also Big Early.

Great information got to read it again and make notes.If you want good information you cannot go wrong with the Buddinman,period!!.
With all that experience and always willing to share that tells you a whole lot.

Porte Naches (?) was a BC variety that Dr Powell and John Neighbors are very fond of. Excellent flavor. I believe it is still recommended by Auburn University. Dr. Powell wrote the recommendations while employed by Auburn a while back. He is now retired and helps his son with Petals From The Past. They might still propagate it. Tom