Ok here is another of my seemingly endless questions. In this one I am looking for the best of the Tangerines. I appreciate your comments, critism and advice. My soil is a sand base and the planting area is almost full sun. Please tell me if you disagree with any of the characteristics that I have assigned to the varieties. Taste, production. strength of tree, size, problems. Anything you know will be appreciated.

Thanks


Mandarian/Tangerines – Easy to peel and separate sections

Clementine
Cold hardy to ???
Fruit matures early
Needs pollinator
Sunburst
New variety from USDA
Florida usage
Juanita
Cold hardy to 15 degrees
Sweet and flavorful
Dancy
Susceptible to new citrus disease
Fruit matures December through January
Large crops of excellent quality small fruits
Bears heavily and limbs may need propping
Very thin skin and fruit must be clipped

Clementine is very easily "pollinated" with a gibberellic acid (GA3) spray at full bloom. The problem with using a pollinator tree, to pollinate Clementine, is that the fruit will always be very seedy. How the citrus industry produces seedless Clementines, is by using GA3 as the pollinator. - Millet (908-)

Awesome. Is other citrus also pollinated this way and how much is the GA. Isn't that the same thing Camelia growers put in buds they break off to induce the remaining bud to get larger?

Any citrus can be pollinated with GA3. Note, that even with GA3, if your Clementine is growing right next to a pollinator tree, cross pollination can occur. Sorry, I don't know anything about Camelias. - Millet (0

I would recommend two Satsuma trees, one being an early cultivar (Xie Shan, Miyagawa, Okitsu) and one a late cultivar (Owari, Kimbrough).

I also really like Page and Nova (both Clementine/Tangelo hybrids).

Dancy is one of the best tasting fruit and the statement is true.
Large crops of excellent quality small fruits
Bears heavily and limbs may need propping

Xie Shan, Miyagawa, Okitsu

Are these available to Florida growers and do they like our climate. It seems that California growers have a lot more varieties than we do. With all the rules on shipping it really complicates buying Citrus in Florida.

and one a late cultivar (Owari, Kimbrough)

I am looking at both of these and believe they are both suitable although the Kimborough I have not found in Florida yet.

I also really like Page and Nova (both Clementine/Tangelo hybrids)

Page sounds like a winner. I haven't found any good data on it yet except from a seller and of course with most sellers they just want the dollar and don't care about if it really will thrive where you plant it.

If anyone has links to non seller data on any of these I would appreciate it. I have information on Owari and Kimborough.

Dancy looks real good although there is supposed to be a new disease that it is susceptible to.

if your Clementine is growing right next to a pollinator tree, cross pollination can occur

That doesn't sound good. I am planning on having quite a few varieties. I hope that all my fruit isn't going to be mongrels. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has a good variety of trees. What is the rule or reccomendation here.

Variety Information: http://ccpp.ucr.edu/variety/index.html

Millet (907-)

Millet

That site gives a lot of information about the fruit which is good but I need to know about the tree to. Things such as tree height, growth habit, cold hardiness, adaptability to SE USA summers, susceptibility to virus and diseases, and pest problems.

Some of these might change with the geographical location so I also need the information to be relative to my location.

Thanks

Ponkan is one of my favorites and very cold hardy.

Ponkon

Being very cold hardy is important. What temperatures have you expierenced? What size tree is it? Does it have seeds? Pollinator?

Thanks,

I covered a lot about mandarins on the other thread.

Much of the size and disease tolerance of citrus is related to rootstock.

As for Owari and Kimbrough, Monty Nesbit at the Auburn experimenta station in Fairhope say that they are the same--he said Kimbrough was supposedly identified as a more cold tolerant somatic mutation of Owari, but they have been growing them side by side and testing cold tolerance in Fairhope and have seen no difference.

I wanted to get Dancy and it was one of the 17 varieties I got as budwood from FL DPI the last yr that they provided budwood to homeowners, but it was one of 3 that did not take on any of my grafts. It is highly rated for this area and probably about the same cold tolerance as most mandarins.

Clementine
Cold hardy to ???
Fruit matures early
Needs pollinator
One of my favorites, seedy with other citrus around

Sunburst
New variety from USDA
Florida usage
Supposed to be very good

Juanita
Cold hardy to 15 degrees
Sweet and flavorful
This would be illegal to grow in Florida as the budwood/trees are from out of state.

Dancy
Susceptible to new citrus disease
Fruit matures December through January
Large crops of excellent quality small fruits
Bears heavily and limbs may need propping
Very thin skin and fruit must be clipped
Don't know much about this one

Satsuma
This would be the best. One bad thing about satsumas is they take so many years before good fruit quality, at least 5-7 years. Before then they are puffy/dry.

Ponkan has seeds, but not many. My tree is about 15' tall and has seen 21 F for a short period. Flesh is very firm and super sweet.