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For those of you who have been following the progress of my satsuma grove that was planted 6 years ago.. here is the proof in the pudding! So far, around 3000 pounds of fruit has been picked!

Those trees have really grown since I last saw them. The fruit looks great. I won't make it to your place on friday, but I know you will bring some to the Expo, so put me down for 5 lbs.

I just got back from Belle Chasse, Louisanna where I toured Star Nursery and Satsuma Farm. They have some owari trees that are 22 years old, the taste of that fruit is fantastic. There is a huge difference between that fruit and the three year old stuff I have. See you at the Expo.

Very inspiring photo. How many satsuma trees do you have? I am curious, too, why satsuma mandarins?

I've been planting a small farm with citrus, mango and avocado and can't wait for the fruiting. So far, only lemons and limes have started fruiting (this year) and not many of them.

John

There are aprox 135 trees in the grove... I planted satsumas because they withstand cold weather better than any of the other sweet citrus.. Trust me when I tell you, This aint Fiji!

Wow looks Great! What Are the primary varieties you have there?

I have some 9 or 10 different cultivars
... Owari and Browns Select are the main two.. I also have La Early, St Anne, Silverhill, Miyagawa, China 7, China 9, Kimbrough and Dobashi Beni just to name a few.

Nice crop Stan!

Lots of sorts !!!

You see any of them as especial hardy or profolic in your climate ?

Sanguinello, they seem to thrive pretty well in my climate. In 2011, we had the coldest December ever on record for my area... just constant , brutal cold. One night, I did not get my water sprayers cut on in time and the lines froze.. the grove survived 14F that night! I was so afraid I had lost the entire investment but when spring arrived, the trees flushed out beautifully and produced a diminshed crop. I dont think there is any other sweet, edible citrus that could have done that!

That saved your orchard !

Ice has exactly 0° C !

That survive all plants.

We sprinkle automatically in frost nights to save our blossoms ( for example peach and apricot).
Sealed in ice they survive all low themperatures and after getting warmer , they growing on as nothing happened ...

Stan, that's amazing. Have a question, have you tried growing Gold Nugget mandarins? In chatting with Tracy Kahn, the curator scientist for the UCR Citrus Variety Collection, she told me that when they had their record freezes back a few years ago, the mandarin that sustained the least amount of damage, and fared actually better than any of their satsumas, including the Owari, was the shockingly the Gold Nugget. I would be interested in knowing if you've tried this cultivar?

Gold nugget grows well here. The problem with Gold nugget here is that it is a late variety & freezes destroy the fruit long before they are close to being ripe. Believe me, I have one in the ground & have never been able to ripen the fruit.

This spring I'm going to graft one up & keep it in a container & top work the rootstock to something else.

Oops, so true, Laaz. I keep forgetting how very late it is - March through August here (ready March and April, but hangs so very well on the tree). I didn't ask Tracy how the fruit made out during their freeze. Bet they lost it all.

Hope it does well in pots ...

It should, most mandarins do very well in containers. It's not an overly large tree at maturity, but it does establish itself well and vigorously, so that's good for containers. It's a must to have in a citrus collection. That, and the Page mandarin, which isn't really a mandarin, but a mandarin hybrid (3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit being a cross between a Minneola and a Clementine). It's my "Minneola" option, as I'm not so much a fan of the Minneola. But, Page I would think would not be an in-ground option for Stan, even though it is early (Nov-Dec). Too tender.