So my Satsuma is flowering and has a few small fruit, when will these ripen?

thanks Frank

Oct - Nov.

Will turn orange by the fall. But don't pick to early. I live in zone 8 and pick them before the first frost. Sweet as sugar last year

Actually Satsumas are ripe before they turn totally orange. They can have quite a bit of green in them when ripe. Frank should have no problem with them ripening before a hard freeze in MA.

I think color is more a function of temp, if you are in a warm climate they will be green (ish) when ripe, if in a cold climate they may be solid orange before they reach their peak sweetness. My sister's Owari in zone 8, was solid orange by late Nov, but was sweetest in late Dec.

I have read that the market for satsumas in central FL is not that good since they are sold as "Emeralds" (ripe, but totally green). Zone 8 is ideal for satsumas to reach their best flavor--they just need protection on those really bad freezes in the 10-20 range.

Yes, the coloration truly depends on your weather pattern. For us here with good diurnal fluctuations between night and day during summer, our blood oranges have truly consistent deep dark pigmented flesh, even the rinds. Our satsumas are temptingly deep orange colored rinds before they are sweet.

The Miho Wase is the first satsuma to ripen, around late October until December. The Owari Satsuma ripen around January.

Joe, I thought Seedless Kishu was the earliest. I thought I had read that it ripens in August. How does it compare to Miho Wase time-wise?

But Seedless Kishu, although a mandarin type, is not a Satsuma.

I was just comparing satsumas like Owari, Miho Wase, Obawase, Kuno Wase, Frost Owari, China S-6, China S-7, China S-9, China S-11. Except for Owari and Miho, none of my other satsumas have fruited yet, or they have fruited but forgot to take note (probably due to producing only one or couple of fruits, so not a good sample) when they fruited.

And I have fruit sets on my Seedless Kishu this year. So I will surely be able to tell or compare the taste. I grafted it a couple years ago to my now 80-n-1 tree. The seedless Kishu has not grown that much on my clementine tree, it didn't even bloom yet.

if you want to factor in the satsumas, you need to use the LA early & Early ST ann. both of which ripen in Sept - Oct. Both very good quality, but not as good as Owari.

The down side of LA early and Early St Ann are that they do not hold on the tree well, so you have to eat them when that are ready. The peel was still a little green on them when I tried them last year in Fairhope in Oct, but they were good.

Owari does hold on the tree much better and was good in Nov, but better in the end of Dec---might have even been good in Jan, but there were not enough to make it that far.

Harvey,

I myself often mix up the classes or categories of various citruses. I am glad there is Bonnie, Millet, Laaz, Jim, Citrusboy, Phillip and others who would spot and correct my mistakes or typos.

The Seedless Kishu at Gene Lester's farm tasted excellent, so I am expecting an even better performance in my yard and soon in yours. I've got it to take on your Citrange rootstock. Haven't sprouted yet, but soon will, especially if you place them first in your greenhouse or as soon as we are consistently in the 80's to 90's.

I also have Armstrong Satsuma that gave me two fruits last year. But that growth is so slow, and it did not bloom this year. I did not take note about its taste. One of these days, I have to recheck my inventory of grafted plants.

Back to Frank's satsuma, I think he has a good shot of getting good fruits before the freezing temps sets in. There is somehow some trigger in satsumas, that after a couple of cold nights, they quickly turn color from green to orange, just like a couple of days at the quickest. Then they slowly get darker. But it would still take time before they taste good.

Joe

so this winter, I got one to rippen. It was the first year in the ground so I would expect things to be faster...........I am picking fresh kumquats now!!! My 22 month old son loves them!