This is my 3rd year having this one and if I had to guess I would say it is atleast 5 years old. The tag didnt have a graft date on it so im guessing by size. Anyways every year prior the fruit have been at least half this size. Plus now they dont Look like some of the photos of Armstrong that I have seen on the Web, UCR site in particular. I can tell that the skin is going to "zip" right off. I hope they taste ok as i have read that the Armstrong isnt near as good as many other popular Mandarin but Im wondering if its actually an armstrong now.




mike

Looks quite different from my Armstrong Early, which I picked up from Stan a few years back. The fruit on my tree tend to be small (2-2.25 inches), probably in part due to the shorter growing season.

hey scott. That is what i finding out. This doesnt seem to look anything like what an Armstrong should look like. Even the past few years the fruits were smaller, They did have a rougher skin most mandarins but didnt have that elongated neck. I hope whatever it is that is taste good or it may go to the trash. The few fruits that I did get last year and before did taste good. Ill know here soon for sure. I hate wasting years on a plant to find out its not what it was sold as.

mike

So I picked one that looked nice and ripe to me. The skin zipped off but strangley reminded me of they way Dekopan comes off. the segments were full and juicy. Color was what I think it should be but there is ZERO flavor. Hardly any typical orange taste. I remember the first fruits from this tree tasting good so I am disappointed. Only thing I can think of is either its still to young, too much water, or Armstrong just isn't that good. Im thinking the later. I may replace it with something else next spring.
I'll post some pics on the next one.
Mike

Thanks mrTexas. Im sure you are right.

I have had this one 3 years now and when I bought it my best guess is it was at least 2 years from grafting.

I had another fruit the other day and it had a bit more flavor.

thanks

My young trees are producing similarly. Don't give up for a couple more years at least. For whatever reason my tangerines Fremont and Sunburst produce quality fruit early on but I don’t know why.

Your fruit looks like what I call puffy. Juice them and add enough sugar to make it worth drinking and you won’t have a total loss!

Thanks Darkman. they are very puffy. The fruit on the inside is maybe 80% as big as the outside skin. I meant to take a picture last time.

Strange thing is they are very very juicy, nice and orange color, plenty sweet, just not much orange(or typicaly orange) flavor.

Ill give it a few more years to see if it gets better.

Thanks