One of the best sources for looking at acid to sugar ratios at given times during the season is the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection web site. Frankly, I don't get too "into the weeds" over that, I base my preferences on what tastes good to my palette. I prefer citrus on the sweeter side, so I'll give you my opinions on the above as I can: Seedless Kishu - very sweet, just enough acid to be interesting for me. May be too sweet for others who prefer their citrus more "sprightly". Page mandarin - more complex, almost as sweet, exceptional flavor, makes outstanding juice that isn't acidic in the least, but the right amount to keep it interesting and not moving into the "insipid" category. Sweeter and less acidic than Minneola. Gold Nugget - about the same ratio I would say as Seedless Kishu and quite excellent. Maybe a wee bit more acidic, but may vary from season to season depending on heat, water, fertilizer, etc. A hair-splitter. Clemenules - deliciously sweet, like the Seedless Kishu. Patty S.

OMG!!! Patty, that manderine you speak of, I HAVE ONE! Let me tell you when I say that it is sweet and seedless! In fact, I just gave the only 2,lol, yes 2 that I managed to grow to my mother and father. 1 each. They said they had never tasted a fruit like that before. When I first bouht it I was told they were that good, but did not believe it and still paid 39.99 for a very small tree. Now I am glad I did. This one is my special tree:-) It also seems to be a very tough one to kill. It doesn't react to being over or under watering like the others and it stays very green even without constant feed. It can also adapt to temps swings. It flowers prfusely and grows the fruits at an ease. Thanks for sharing your experience and good time with us. In fact, you were lucky they weren't selling the whole trees or you would be in the poor house. Now to reread your post and figure out what is next on my list. What a nice thing to do for your community too:-) Have a great day to all. Mike

Yes, Patty is awesome! She's helped me and a ton of other folks! Btw, I don't want people to think that the grower of your kishu has bad practices. I know of them and they're a very good grower, and I've bought good trees from them. It's just that the soil mix a lot of wholesale growers use is not meant to be the sole support for any length of time. It's meant to grow the plant just long enough to be sold and planted in the ground quickly. I'm sure they figure the relatively small amount of mix will break down and decompose in the ground as the young trees roots grow out into the native soil. And the Wholesaler knows his soil well and knows exactly how much and how often to water and feed. That's why they look so good! But the retail nursery doesn't know that soil mix well, and more often than not, the tree doesn't sell right away. Retail nurseries often over-water, (and sometimes under water in the same month or week even, ask me how I know, lol) and the poor tree gets stressed, (damaged roots) and the mix breaks down faster. By the time a tree does get sold, could be months and months later, often that soil is done. Breaking down from being too damp, it will then hold too much water, and it makes it hard for the young roots to break free and grow into the native soil. Best advice I can give is find out when the retail nursery is getting new citrus stock delivered and buy within a week or less of that, and plant it into the ground asap. Or if into a container, semi-bare root it and put it in the 5-1-1 mix or gritty mix, asap. imo.

Well, I hought I'd post an update on my budding experience. My success last year and my research led me to think I knew what I was doing. Hubris is a harsh teacher. I don't know if it was time of year, bad technique, or phase of the moon, but it was an abject failure. I ended up with seven successful buds, and those haven't started to grow yet (though they aren't dead.) Still, spring is here, the birds and bees are flitting about, love is in the air, and my rootstock is still alive, so I'm going to try again. Howver, UCR didn't ship my January order, and in talking with them I found out that they may not be selling to buyers without a registration number in the future. So, since I have 100 rootstocks and no immediate source of budwood, I'm looking for anyone who might be interested in selling me some bud sticks. I have a wide range of interests (as can be seen from my first post,) but I'll consider anything. If you have some you'd like to sell me, please contact me directly and we can discuss it.