Thought I'd share a photo of my first Okitsu Wase satsumas. As with all satsumas, this cultivar is very prolific. This is a small tree, about 2 to 2 1/2' tall, just planted this spring. I had two fruit on it when I bought it, so I left them on. It is growing vigorously, and has set another 13-20 fruits in varying sizes, that will probably be ready ealier in it's normal season, which is October through December. Wase means "early" in Japanese, and this is one of the better early satsuma cultivars that are very popular in Japan. I think because there were only two fruits, they ended up being bigger than normal. Much bigger. The size of a large orange. The skin is a bit greenish, but I attribute this to not having a lot of cool summer nights this year. I'm seeing this in all my citrus, although things are now starting to color up nicely for my later citrus. I snapped the pic with some other citrus for size comparisons, a Rio Red grapefruit, a Chandler pummelo (which is not overly large as Chandlers go), and a Wonderful pomegranate. I will commence the eating with lunch today! Yum, just love winter, it means citrus are ripening, yea!



Here's a link about the Okitsu Wase satsuma from UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection:
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/okitsu.html

Great lunch Patty. Satsumas usually take 3-5 years or even longer before they start to produce "quality" fruit. For the first few years they are puffy and not really up to par. You'll be surprised how much better they get with age.

Good to know, Laaz. Most citrus are like that - don't expect exceptional fruit for at least 5 years. There have been a few nice exceptions for me in my yard. My Clemnules was fabulous as was my Gold Nugget, Cocktail and Wekiwa. I did notice how puffy my two satsumas looked compared to the photos on the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection site. So, hopefully, they'll still be decent.

Surprised your still picking pomegranates. I picked my last Pomegranate two months ago. The tree has now discarded all of it leaves, and will start all over again in January or early February . - Millet

That pom came from a grove out in east San Diego county, Laaz. It was picked about a week ago. Some of our poms are later out here. None of my poms have produced, yet. Hoping for next year.

Congrats !!!

Nice harvest and beautiful pic !

Hope you enjoy !

Thanks, Sanguinello. I never expect fruit from a tree in the first season, so this was sort of a treat. This tree is acting like a typical satsuma, setting heavily. And, growing well. They do very well here, and I love their form. I think satsumas are one of the most attractive citrus trees. I may end up grafting some up on Flying Dragon pot them in pretty pots and use them as holiday gifts next year.

Early satsumas should ripen in Sept / Oct. This is quite late for satsumas.

First year in the ground, Laaz. Sometimes brand new trees will be a wee bit late in fruit ripening. I've found that to be the case across the board in my yard, with first year in the ground trees.