My Satsuma is not flowering or shows no signs of buds yet. Millet said something about keeping it below 60F. How many hours should it be kept at that temperature? Other citrus next to it are blooming now.

I don't know about specific requirements of satsumas, but in general, citrus require between 650 to 800 hrs of chill hrs (68 F is often given as the break point, but as Millet said 60 F is more certain). It is a form of stress and some form of stress is required to initiate bloom in citrus. In the tropics, that stress is from drought (a dry season). In Italy, lemon growers use drought to force lemons to bloom in the fall so they can get a better price for summer lemons.

I have 2 satsumas inground near Bordeaux in SW France (zone 8b I presume). They have usually no flowers now but in spring during 1 or 2 months.

In my area, it is different. It is now the harvest season since last month.
I don't have blooms this time but in last years I had.
The first pic I still have ripe fruit on the tree pic taken 12 29 07




and the 2nd pic taken last 11/24/07 and the fruits were all gone.



But I have my other citrus blooming now (but mostly I cut the flowers for vegetative growth).
Some examples are my midknight valencia, oroblanco, cllemenule, dancy, gold nugget, seedless kishu etc.... just to name a few.

Benny, that shows we ripen earlier here than where you are. But we ripen later than those in Southern California.

About my mandarins here:
My Miho Wase and Owari satsuma are long gone. Peaking in flavor are Ponkan and Page. Can't wait until the Yosemite Gold and Shasta Gold are ready. They're bigger this year and more in numbers.

Was surprised to see that there were three fruits on my Clemenule, hidden near the bottom. I gobbled two of them immediately on New Year morning. I left one to stay how long it will keep before falling off. They're yummy tasting.

My Frost Owari graft lost all its sprout (sprouted last November) but still green. hope that it will come back in spring. That's my latest graft last year. Almost all of my fall grafts sprouted when it warmed up in November. So am tracking which one will survive the winter.

None of my Mandarins have flower buds this winter, so spring could be loaded with more blooms.

And I know which backyard to go to if I still wanted some delicious satsumas.... But that's a 3-hour drive.

I had ripe fruits on my okitsu in october, still green but sweet. And I picked up my fruits on my owari around 12/10 (still green too, but a bit dry, perhaps because of the frost : -6°C, 21°F ? several times in november).

JoeReal what is the difference between a "Frost Owari" and "Owari". You mention them above...OR are they the same cultivar with different names?

greg, the difference is that the other one is from the selection one by Dr. Frost. So it should be better for California climate, which usually is the southern Ca. I am curios as to the difference in my yard. I grafted it unto Owari Satsuma. Will let everyone know 2 years later, and if I don't forget.

Alot of good comments, I wish I lived closer to some of my California members the fruit sure looks good. The operative question now is since my mandrin is not flowering now I guess I will leave it outside in the spring when the nights are above 32F/0C so it can get the cold hours it needs to bloom and maybe I will have fruit for Thanksgiving (27 Nov 2008)

Sunrise,

Do you have a garage or basement where you can place the tree until temps outside are safe? Not only would you get a head start on the cold hours, but you'ld induce dormancy, to help protect the tree when you set it outside in the early spring. Going directly from typical home temps to low 30's at night could be risky.

Now on the other hand if you're looking to maximise vegetative growth, you'll want to forgo the cooler temps and dormancy. But it sounds like you're looking for fruit.

My $0.02 worth,

Kent

I've kept my greenhouse at 55F from the middle of November throughout December and will continue through January. That should give my tree approximately 900 +- hours of chill. Starting in February I will raise the temperature up. The higher temperatures, plus the longer days should give the tree a good bloom. The Hamlin Orange is already in full bloom. - Millet

Kent - Sounds good but my garage faces north and is usually colder than outside. I have a unheated greenhouse that I take down because of the snow threat. I will probably set it up earlier than normal. I will leave the mandrin outside for a gradually colder time period. I normally take my plants outside on sunny days since the solar gain makes it warmer than it is. I work at home so taking my plants outside at 10 and bring them in at 2 is no big deal. I have a wireless therometer that I use in my greenhouse to moniter temperatures.

A followup to my original posting "My Owari Satsumas Mandrin is not flowering" I traded places with my clementine which was flowering. I moved it next to a door I use to let the dogs out and faces SW. Now I have small early stage buds(6), but my clementine appears to have lost all its fruit . Maybe the clementine will change its mine and start budding again hopefully.