Kyle, we've just chatted about our favorite mandarins (search for mandarin and not "tangerine", as the correct term for that group of citrus is actually mandarin) in another thread, so you might want to search the forum for that thread. If you can't find it, let us know, and we'll just re-post, again.

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 20:43

If you could, that would be great. I saw that you commented on other varieties in a sumo thread, but only one other person commented.

Thanks

Satusma, hands down.

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos and description of satsuma

Tango mandarin is my new favorite. Gold nugget mandarin is also very good!
Evan

I only grow Pixie; I am not a huge fan of mandarins, but Pixie to me is worth the space; and my workers love it.

I find that satsumas do not, overall, perform as well in S. California, as the above mandarin cultivars for me. My satsumas as still young, though, and it does really take a satsuma 5 years or so to fully mature. The first few years they can be not as full flavored as the other mandarins I've listed. I know satsumas do very well in the east coast citrus belts, though. And, I think better in Central and N. California.

Patty S.

Here in Northern Calif. we can have some brutal cold nights. My Satsumas planted in partial sun are the hands down productive winners. But they grow very slowly and in my case, have taken ~ 3 years to establish and get growing. Also, they will push too much fruit to their own detriment, so you need to trim excess fruit off the first few years.
Now having said that, i just tasted my first fresh Tango. very nice - - - and amazing that it survived the 10 days of [20-22F 38-48] temps we had in December. I am guessing that being against a west facing wall / close to the house gave it a warmer micro-climate and allowed the fruit to mature....( i was away on business and was not able to protect it).
Here is a pic of the Tango

Becauseican I can taste that tango fruit right now looks so tasty hardly wait to get fruit on mine.

Brian

That Tango was planted April 2012. No fruit the first year; 6 last year. A very nice acid / sweet balance. Very nearly as sweet as the Golden Nuggets (dwarf) grown in a pot not far away.....
I am going to move the other GN I have (Semi-D) to a warmer spot - all of those nuggets froze this past season. The transplant pitch fork will be out and active this week.
George

I have two Satsumas which are great and just planted a Gold Nugget (photo attached) which is taking off. Lots of new growth and starting to set buds.

The Satsumas gave me about 75 fruit for each tree. I'm in the SF Bay Area.

Becauseican...............
After seeing the Tango mandarin you posted, I am so looking forward to the fruit from my newly planted Tangos. They had lots of blooms and a few fruit when I last saw them just after planting about a month ago. We will be back to the house in about a month. Hopefully everything looks good. Glad to see the low temps you posted and yet they still survived. Tucson does have some chilly nights during the winter. The picture is just after planting about a month ago and it is south facing so should microclimate well.

that for the responses, everyone. so far my top three are Tango, Seedless Kishu, and Satsuma.

Also, Dochollywood, those those potted plants look really nice. i might have to copy that idea :)

Different varieties of satsumas will taste different. They are similar, but still different. Some are much better than others. My kishus should fruit this year for first time so can't comment on them. Have been growing satsumas 50 years. Tango will be just as sweet as satsuma, but much richer. My tango, along with my other California varieties are in Louisiana.

Kingwood, I just read you reply to (whats your favorite tangerine variety) Sounds like You have a lot of experience with Satsumas. I am going to start a small orchard of Satsumas in south ga. and need to know what varieties taste the best. Also which varieties taste good that are earlier then Owari. Your opinion would be appreciated.

Joe, the very best person to speak with regarding the best satsumas for the gulf coast area would be Stan McKenzie of McKenzie Farms in S. Carolina. He grows satsumas commercially on the edge of the citrus belt very successfully. He can give you his professional opinion on which satsumas have performed the best and are the best tasting. Brown's Select I would suspect would be up there on the best satsuma list and earlier than Owari, but he would be aware of others that do well and taste the best. I would also ask about China 9.

Patty S.

Thanks Patty, I know Stan and have been to his place, he has mostly Brown Selects, which I have also, along with a few S9's. Stan the Citrus Man knows his citrus, however what I'm looking for is whats the most popular Satsuma on the west coast and gulf coast that will be ripe in early October on the east coast, before the California Clementines hit the market. How about the farmers markets out there, is there a Satsuma that folks ask for? or one that is a better seller then others. I have not tasted a mature Miho Wase, Xie Shan or Okitsu, but I have tried the Seedless Kishu and they are Super Good. I have some ordered now on rich 16-6, and will try them in ground in Ga. I'm just need to know what early Satsuma to get propagated. Thanks, joe

I am a big fan of Okitsu - because i get great, ripe fruit! It ripens early enough to gain sweetness ahead of an early December freeze. Northern Cal's Dec 2013 freeze hit the first week of the month and thankfully did not damage the Satsumas; (other than the young leaves of a minor fall flush). The Owari, 10 ft. away was not ripe enough when i harvested ahead of the freeze. [BTW: An established Tavares Limequat 12 ft. away was killed.]
Here is a pic of the Okistu in Napa from November 8, 2013.
It is flushing new leaves like crazy right now.
- George

Joe, you just mentioned the two we see nere, Okitsu and Miho. China 9 is being planted now more frequently, but the older satsuma orchards are mostly Owari, Miho and Okistu. That's what I see being propagated by the comercial propagators here in Calif. But, hopefully we'll start seeing some Xie Shan, soon. Seedless Kishu will probably never get super popular commercially due to its diminutive size, but you could certainly give it a try, and sell is as a "Super Cutie" type of mandarin (couldn't use the "Cutie' moniker, as it's trademarked, but you get what In mean.) Seedless Kishu does extremely well in our S. Calif. climates. Glad to here it also does well for you in Georgia.

Patty S.

Thanks Ya'll, all four cultivars look good, I'm just going to put in all of them. Our Satsumas get ripe here earlier then out west so maybe the Seedless Kishus could be ready before Halloween and I could market them in stores as Citrus Candy, my grandkids and their friends just love'em.

Good luck, Joe. Seedless Kishu is probably my favorite of all my mandarins. I like them for a million reasons, and one being that they ARE small. I'm not a big person, so "small is good". They are perfect for snacking. And love the name, Citrus Candy. Perfect! And, I don't think it's really classified as a Satsuma. I believe its parentage is unknown, but it is a very old Chinese cultivar, and well liked in both China and Japan.

Patty S.