yes in panhandle, had Christmas lights and blanket on during the cold nights maybe thats why its flowering already

Now THAT is a tree I would love to have! We picked up some Dekopons from our grocery store a couple weeks ago. We are hooked!

Kristopher

i never tasted one, but cant wait to, so hopefully it will produce some fruit. it has hundreds of flowers on. planted it this january and it was in 9 gal container.

The fruit we purchased last year were very good. The ones that came into Houston this year were very poor at $4.99 a lb. I won't be buying anymore. Would love to have a backyard tree though.

there some new pictures of my tree

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I just saw a comment that if picked too early the fruit will not taste right so the writer above may have gotten a bag that the grower got a little too eager to harvest? I just heard about this fruit and am interested to know how the rind tastes. If anyone has tried it, let me know, please!

I have one as well but your tree is much larger than mine. So far it has been a reluctant grower.

My shiranui is close to the size of yours ollemar. We bought it at Home Deposit a year ago and it had one fruit on it then that never amounted to anything. This year there are 12 fruit on it, and from a hard blow a couple weeks ago one of the stems broke so I removed one. Just opened it since its barely taking on color on the sink (all are very green yet) and it was pretty tart, just as I had expected. HOWEVER, are they supposed to be grapefruit sized?? I didn't know what to expect, but these seriously are at least 4" or more in diameter! I thought they'd be maybe 2". Is this normal?

The Shiranui(aka dekopan & Sumo) is going to be a tuff one for you Florida guys. To my understanding there have been fruit trials in FL with unsatisfactory results. The tropical climate there is not ideal for this variety. Although its pretty early to know for sure, shiranui most likely will require warm days and cool nights (more diurnal variation) to develop the expected flavor profile. Even after this, the fruit is stored for another 20 days for the citric acid to mellow out, creating an even sweeter fruit.

For this reason the interior valleys of CA is going to be the best area to get that expected flavor. In the US, this is where they are grown today and these are the fruit you have seen and tasted.

However, if you are out of the normal citrus growing areas you may be in luck. you can create the ideal diurnal variations in a greenhouse. In Japan they grow the Shiranui in large greenhouses and create this ideal temperature swing and the expected flavor is achieved. As you probably know the Shiranui is a Japanese hybrid.

So for now, only California commercial growers(this variety is not available in CA to non commercial growers) and small scale hobbyists with greenhouses outside the citrus areas are probably the only Shiranui growers that will get the right flavor from this variety, for now. :)

'Wanted to share my experience with the Shiranui Tangerine.
Late summer I purchased a lone tree that had someway gotten shipped in to the Orange Park, Fl. area (Jacksonville). This tree was about 5 ft. tall and just green leaves. It now has about a dozen fruits on it and seems very healthy. I love sour fruits and I tasted one that has a good tang to it. I will enjoy them until they turn sweet, sweet and the someone else can have them.
I am very pleased to have found this fruit tree variety and will watch it over the winter to make sure I don't risk loosing it. My yard is full of fruit trees of all varieties but my old tangerine tree has too many seeds for my liking.
You can bet I will be on the look out for another one !!

thought I give you an update about this tree. It's been growing create, I have some leaf damage made by leaf miners, but that's about only issue I had with it. these pics are couple weeks old and by now some of them actually are turning little yellowish. Enjoy the pics.

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This post was edited by ollemar on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 14:41

I want one!!

thanks for the update

Mike

Awesome! and very nice sized fruit also. February Through May looks like the session of maturity in California. It will be interesting to see what you find out. Keep us posted!

next update will be tasting and pics from the inside of fruit and weight, cant wait.

To bigdogmomma: i think they average fruit size should me 3/4 pounds.

Thanks so much ollemar! I was beginning to think they had put a shiranui sticker on a grapefruit tree!! I believe I've managed to attach a picture of the ripest of my ripening fruit. Because of lighting I had a difficult go with the tape measure.

Interesting info RyanLo. I moved to Florida from California, and let me tell you I REALLY miss all the things grown there. The produce section at the stores here are about a quarter of the size in CA. : (

Thanks so much ollemar! I was beginning to think they had put a shiranui sticker on a grapefruit tree!! I believe I've managed to attach a picture of the ripest of my ripening fruit. Because of lighting I had a difficult go with the tape measure.

Interesting info RyanLo. I moved to Florida from California, and let me tell you I REALLY miss all the things grown there. The produce section at the stores here are about a quarter of the size in CA. : (

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very nice, i see yours is still in the pot.

Thats it. Im growing out some trifoliate and one of you two is sending me some budwood, LOL. not really, that would be illegal. :(

I will be ordering one of these next spring. Even though they dont list them Harris Citrus has them or atleast had them this past summer. They also are able to ship out of Florida. which is good for me.

thank you both for the motivation!

Mike

This post was edited by mksmth on Mon, Oct 28, 13 at 17:58

Would these grow outside in zone 9, SS zone 15? We do get some light frosts between Dec-Jan.

I have 4 seedlings that are quickly growing (found some seeds in my sumo's last year)....I wonder if I could ever plant them outside or does it get too cool here?
I am in San Jose....

Mia,

My "rule of thumb" about planting in the ground.... hold up your thumb at arm's length and look at it and what is behind it; now turn in a 360 degree circle. If you did not see any citrus in that circle, it is likely it won't grow there. San Jose is not a very severe climate; so I would think you could plant citrus there; maybe having to provide some temporary protection on the coldest of nights. I am not sure about the cold tolerance of the Dekopan when grown from seed; i.e., on its own root. Might be better, when it is growing to take some buds and put them onto a rootstock that is cold hardy?

This post was edited by Johnmerr on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 15:31

Mia, as John said, look around your area, in your neighbors' yards, etc. If you have citrus growing around you, then you should be able to grow the Shiranui (Dekopon). All mandarins even on their own roots are fairly cold-tolerant. The genetic background for the Dekopon is a cross between a Ponkan mandarin and a Kiyomi tangor. Mostly mandarin with a small amount of orange in it's background. I would wait, however, until next spring to plant in the ground, after any chance of frost has passed in your area. Good luck with your little Dekopon seedlings, they do grow true from seed, btw.

Patty S.

Thanks for the information :)

I do see quite a bit of citrus in my area. People are growing meyer and eureka lemons, some mandarins, limes, and Washington navel oranges. So, maybe I have a chance? I can always test one of them next spring and see how things go.

I was hoping that they would come somewhat true from seed as they taste amazing!!

Sure, mia, I would think so. Great number of commercial citrus growers actually in your area. And yes, Dekopon is polyembryonic, so the first and larger sprouts that came up from your seeds will be clones of the mother tree, and thus, true to type :-) But you won't be testing anything next spring! You're not thinking you're getting fruit from your seedlings next spring, correct? It can take many years for seedling citrus to fruit, some as long as 20 years. Just so you know.

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Tue, Nov 19, 13 at 14:13

I would plant the seeds now, indoors with lights; that will allow them to germinate while fresh; and give the seedling a little chance to grow before being planted outdoors in the Spring.

So does anyone have one of these trees in California????? I want one so bad.

im interested in more updates from ollemar too.

No, Kyle. They are not available to hobbyist growers here in California. Only available to commercial growers. I know UC Riverside's CCPP program was in search of budwood, which they may have acquired, but it will take a period of time to assure that the budwood is clean, then they have to graft to trees under screen, let them grow to an acceptable size in order to provide clean budwood through their program. So, don't expect to see this variety here in California for at least 3 or more years.

Patty S.

Ollemar.... How does your tree look this year? I can't wait to get one.

Shiranui Dekopon trees are available in South Mississippi, contact info is michael@gautiertreefarm.com

I will be receiving Shiranui budwood from UC Riversides's CCPP program in April, and I want to make sure I have the correct rootstock/mother tree to graft them to. I have a gold nugget mandarin tree, a key lime tree and a 30 year old mandarin tree of unknown variety, planted in ground. All three are in bloom right now. Can I use these trees to graft onto? If that won't work, and if I have to buy a plant to act as the rootstock, which one would you recommend I go with? I live in zone 10B in Orange County, CA.

All but key lime should be fine

Thanks for the info, pip313 :-) This will be my first multi-graft. Should I do anything at all with the non-grafted branches of the parent tree? I am thinking I don't have to, but I want to check with the experts here.

Technically the key lime will be fine to but one way to test for a certain disease is graft it to key lime and see if the key lime dies. I figure why graft to it on the chance that the tree might eventually come down with that disease.

I would order one but I don't know how to graft. I have a navel tree that I could use...

Go to a gardening class or club or something since you are in Cali and make a friend who knows how. I'm sure someone would love to graft for you for some budwood or a couple dollars.

You live in citrus mecca

I am tempted and almost convinced. I will post if I get it.

Pip - you convinced me...I ordered it, plus Shasta Gold and a blood orange. I have an in ground navel that I could use. I think I will take out the key lime tree next to it and plant something more interesting.

I would love to see an update from the OP.

ollemar...Where did you get your Dekopon mandarin tree in the Florida Panhandle? I'm looking for one too. Thanks.

Can you order from harris?

its been long time from last update, very sorry. the tree is not doing very well at this time. most of the branches died and had to cut of lots of dead limbs. Seems like its coming back though. i have Sambo Lemon right next to it and is thriving. I bought my tree from Panama City Beach. Once again i will try to keep this post going.

I’m sorry your tree is not well. Are you concerned it could be greening disease? Hope it pulls through.

well i was trying to figure out what wrong with a tree and while i was just standing there i saw large root on top of the ground. i started to dig around it and found out it wasn't from my citrus tree. Instead it came from a peach tree that is planted about 15 feet away from it. The peach tree root was about 2 inches in diameter and it went around citrus tree roots several times and looked like over the years just been suffocating it. i pulled out wheelbarrow full of roots. Dekopon is already starting to show recovery signs. Never thought something like this could happen.

yes, Olle, that also has happened to me - - - citrus' roots are not that aggressive and it is a challenge to have them mixed into a landscape - especially an established one.

I fear that later this week, I will be digging up a Trovita orange at a friends house for the same reason... I suspect that a mature plum tree 20 ft away suffocated the roots.

update us on this one again please!

Hi guys..

my brother just give me this shiranui tree which already set some fruits.. But as far i see the tree is not healthy.. I afraid it already infected with HLB/CVPD disease.. Can anybody here check the pic I posted, are this tree confirmed HLB or it just some sort of nutrients deficiency?

thank you

I don't know anything about HLB/CVPD disease, but your tree definitely needs some fertilizer.

I have a tree in a container from a graft I did last year or early this year. It's going into the ground when the weather cools down.

One thing about these...they were considered failures in Japan until one farmer started experimenting with pruning, thinning, ripening off the tree, wrapping the fruits in paper, etc. It's kind of a mystery. They seem to do OK in CA, but I bet the growers have to coax the quality out of them as well.

Hello everybody. Another update on my Dekopon. I have quite many fruits on it this year. Some got some black stuff on it and fruit stayed small but some look beautiful. after clearing all the roots from evasive peach tree it is showing good recovery signs.

Wow! Look at those fruit! Great job! The 'black stuff' is probably residue from sucking insects like scale or aphids, which are often spread by ants. I would inspect your plant carefully and treat accordingly.

Just had to show it off again. Been tasting few. They starting to get sweeter now and tasting like concentrate from the mandarin. Never tasted citrus like this all the work I put into this tree had paid off and I'm super proud of it. Happy new year everybody !!!

Well done olle. I will be tasting mine in February as my tree has 4 fruit on it this year. Its in the ground now and hopefully with have a nice growth spirt this season.

My in ground real estate is all but gone so to make room for my Sumo I took out my moro blood orange and transplanted it into a 1/2 wine barrel.