Hello again other andrew
i would definetly get the tangelo. Whenever you eat one of those its BLAM smacked in the face with flavor, like a V8 commercial. I dont like mandarins that much though, so im kind of biasd

'Page' is the one variety that I think gives 'Minneola' some competition for "finest flavored of all citrus fruits'.

I'm not sure where the concept of high supermarket prices comes from, though; they are not commonly grown because they are so hard to sell. And that is because the fruit tends to be too small. 'Page' is notorious for making tiny fruit that no one wants to market. But as a home dooryard variety, it is exquisite. Page is more self-fruitful, but with your varieties you already have, assuming you also have some bees, a 'Minneola' should get good cross-pollination.

'Page' matures earlier in the season than 'Minneola' if that makes any difference to you (November vs. January).

Still, if I could only have one, I'd choose 'Minneola'.

Page tastes like a cross of tangerine and orange. I love Minneolas. You might consider Nova mandarin. It has great flavor, is early, and peals easily. It makes a larger fruit than Page. I have all 3 trees in the ground.

Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

Hello Mr Texas,
I cannot go with the Nova as I don'tr think it is offered thru four Wind but I will double check.

Hi Malcom,
I do have a lot of bees around here of which I am very thankfull for. With all the problems the bees have been having, I just feel fortunate! I know a guy that went to Florida when the Page were in season. He actually had taken a pic of the fruits with the price tag and I couldn't believe the price! Definetly the most expensive citrus that I have ever seen!

I have been wanting the 'Minneola' tangelo for a very long long time. I first tried the fruits about 4 years ago and loved them. Call me whizfire said the same thing I did. The flavor is awesome. I just wonder if the heat and light from my 600 watt HPS would be enough to sweeten the fruits up enough when they are ripe. I guess I will just have to find out for myself!
Andrew

My advice is to taste them both yourself and then decide. When asked what is the best tasting mandarin, many people answer Page. As you can see above, there are also a lot of Minneola enthusiasts. This is all just a personal preference and you should trust your own preference over anyone else's. If it was up to me, I would choose Page. It is extremely flavorful and is also a great juicing mandarin. I have found the Minneola to be a bit bland for my tastes, but again that is just my opinion. Actually, my final suggestion would be to get both. There is always more room for an extra citrus.

-Brett

I have not tasted a Page, but of the varieties I've tasted, Minneola is my favorite citrus, hands down. However, I have to qualify that a bit. The Minneolas I get from Showcase of Citrus each year in January are spectacular! However, ones from other sources have been so-so. Supermarket ones are terrible - no surprise. But even other roadside vendors have fruit that is bland and watery. I spent some time talking to the growers at Showcase of Citrus, and they said that Minneola is one of the most frustrating citrus to grow. It tends to alternate bear. It also has a very short productive life. For them, they stop producing after 5-8 years. The tree remains healthy, they just stop setting fruit. That, combined with the need for a pollinator made me decide against one. I got a Ponkan instead. I am curious about the Page though. Anybody know if they are less finicky to grow than the Minneola? Do they have a longer production life? Do they alternate bear?

I would go with the Page Mandarin simply because they are hard to find in the store while Minneolas are pretty common.

Reduced production in 'Minneola' after a few years is certainly not a common problem. I have know of many quite mature trees that still produce heavily, and I've never heard from any growers that they stopped bearing earlier than other varieties. The variety is somewhat alternate bearing, but you can somewhat alleviate that with the fertilizer program.

Interestingly, Floridians almost never think of 'Page' as a mandarin; we think of it as a small sweet orange (I know it's not, but it is considered to be so by growers and packers).

Certainly, climate conditions affect quality. While there are some fruit from California which are of excellent flavor, I have not had what I would consider a good 'Minneola' from there. On the other hand, it seems to like Florida's warmer winters and generally higher rainfall and humidity. Rootstock has a big effect on the strength of flavor, as does tree age (young trees have more dilute flavor).

IF I could get my hands on a Page mandarin I would love to try it but it isn't that simple. maybe I can check into ordering them online but I am sure it wont be cheap!

I have mostly had good experiences with the Minneola fruits.
Hello Malcom,
I have yet to have tasted a Minneola from California. I always see them with the little round sticker marked "Florida Citrus".
Andrew

Hi Andrew!

Welcome back. I have been a bit on the tired side, but I noticed your thread and I am very happy you are back.

That's all..

If I knew what these trees were, I would suggest something, but I have done my part in that department before with you:-)

Please let us know what you do..

Thank God for Four Winds, right? They are just awesome!

I will write you later:-)

Thanks malcolm for the info on Minneola production. Very interesting. What kind of fertilization moderates alternate bearing?

This may be repetitive, because others have touched on it, but if you're looking to grow the tree in your zone primarily for the fruit, it may not have the same flavor you enjoy so much. Esp. note Malcolm's last paragraph.

I concur, any Minneola I've eaten from CA is very bland.

If you like Sweet Orange and Mandarins, you will probably love Page. But it's not like the bang you described nor complexity of the tangelo.

Hi Cebury,
You bring up an excellent point on the flavor and USDA zone. I am going to go for it. If I end up dissapointed well, I guess I at least learned something and I can get a diffrent tree next time around.
Andrew

I have have had a few Ca. Minneolas that were from small growers that were sweet and had good flavor. Just about all commercially sold Minneolas these days are tart and not sweet at all. I have trouble calling that good.

Florida used to have a few good Minneolas shipped here but that was long ago.

Page grown in coastal Texas is full complex flavored and sweet. I have three trees. One on citrange and two on trifoliate rootstock. The tree on citrange was badly damaged in the 19 to 23 deg freeze in Dec '09, the other two were undamaged. The damaged tree took 23 to 26 deg several times with no harm. One Page was sold as a Lee. Page has the ability to give good yields, year after year, while many mandarin hybrids have alternate bearing crops. Page makes a nice sized tree, not too small or too large. Some citrus experts consider Page the standard for citrus flavor with balance of complexity, richness and sweetness. I tend to agree. Some line up in favor of Minneola. I have never seen a Page that was not of good quality from a healthy tree in season. I cannot be say that of Minneola.

Much has been said of Page being too small. Most of the fruit on the Pages I have seen are as large or larger than the Dancy's, and Sunbursts in the markets. Only 1/4 to 1/3 of the fruit is small and that is still larger than the "Cuties" that they are selling in today's markets. Yes the small fruit is hard to peel. I juice them and blend that with other juice that needs upgrading.

Minneola ripens late in winter here and the trees are generally larger than can be covered to prevent crop loss during a hard freeze. Page holds well on the tree after ripening in early December, before fruit damage is a problem. A big old Minneola full of ripening fruit in late Dec. is an awsome sight. And it is also one I don't want to worry about.

I have some Clem. x Orlando tan-tangelos that give such good fruit that it was an easy decision for me to plant them instead either of the two Minneolas I had on hand. These were Nova, Fairchild, and F-6-9-10. On a given year one of them is likely to be as good or slightly better than Page. I have a Fortune that on some years is as good a sweet Minneola but some years is just like a tart Minneola.

Just a quick note - a few posts here have said that CA grown Minneolas were bland and tasteless - as they like to say "your results may be different". I planted a Four Winds Minneola several years ago here in hot summers central CA and the fruit will absolutely knock your socks off - my wife and I both have never tasted anything so good. Perhaps the bland ones were not fully ripe (I let mine fall and eat in FEB) or its the soil, water, fertilizer, tree or something else - just know if you are in CA that great fruit can be grown - and I am not a good gardener (maybe just lucky!)

California grown citrusfruit, minneola and all others, sold in the grocery stores where I live are inedible IMHO.

They ought to charge California citrus fruit with impersonating a citrus fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

I faced the same dilemma this week. A true citroholic at heart, I purchased both the Page and Minneola from my favorite nursery. Satisfy the urge. My recommendation is buy them both!
Dan

I hate to stir this thread up again as it seems to have been properly bedded back down. The page mandarin is a cross between a Minneola tangelo and Clementine mandarin. Perhaps this is why tangelo lovers find its flavor so enjoyable.

As for the discussion regarding California citrus, I think it would be best for me to stay out of that for fear that I might say something uneducated.

I have never eaten the Page mandarin. I have eaten many a Minneola tangelo, though. What I will add about the general taste of tangelos is that home grown ones are better than store bought ones. One that I ate at a local citrus nursery was amazingly sweet with a tart background. A friend of mine has a Minneola tangelo tree in his back yard and his never taste watery. They are sweet and tart. I think the most important thing is to allow them to ripen on the tree to allow their sugars to develop. Obviously, this is not so important to major growers because some of the sourest tangelos are the store bought ones.

$0.02 - FWIW

Anyone who hears "ABC fruit bought in XYZ place are always bland" and generalizing the statement as factual (cause-effect, or even correlative) is using simplistic logic, if not emotion. I include myself in that category.

Every single Minneola I've tasted from CA has been bland and watery. Yet I still have my own young container Minneola, hoping to prove what the others above have stated about homegrown fruit. Sad to say, it's obvious a commercial growers goals are certainly different than a home orchardist!

I agree with axtrader, buy them both (or all)!

I was reading a post (not research, but did have some references) describing various reasons why CA fruit has declined in the last decade or two. Besides the goals for commercial profit (large, beautiful, & heavy fruit) it cited prime Citrus growing land converted to homes & strip malls (in itself, identifying many farmimg hardships), water costs/delivery to other quality land, exportation of the highest quality citrus, and of course climate change.

But yeah, I've spat out my share of CA-grown citrus purchased at both groceries and farmer's markets. Absence of my own fruit, I can depend on Cuties mandarins (from Thanksgiving to end of Jan, aka Clemenules) to be high quality and price.

mrTexas one-liners make great sig lines.

I have a Page for 5 years now. The last 3 years it has produced nearly one hundred. ( 9 3rd year then37, then 41). I am not a citrus grower and bought the tree by accident at Lowe's for a buck.( end of season).I did not know anything about growing citrus and still don't, but this tree is so easy to take care of.It grows in a rather large container with regular topsoil and feed it normal garden fertilizer and lots of water in the summer. I enjoy the fruits, and it does have a few smaller ones and it is not an easy one to peel.In the fall it goes in an insulated garage without losing its leaves and it has been outside for a few weeks. I am watching night temps.