Very interesting!! I'm sure those go for a very high price and I bet they taste wonderful!! Hard work though.

I am wondering what the backyard growers are going to do. Are they going to try and emulate the production techniques of the commercial farmers or will they just treat the trees like regular citrus and accept what quality that produces?

Well I think backyard gardeners can emulate the thinning technique, that probably makes the most difference on sweetness and size. Regular watering is what we all aspire to, so not a problem there.

The rest is for perfect looking fruit and harvest/marketing purposes. No need for the average gardener to wrap all their fruit in little bags on the tree, lol!

I have heard before that some mandarins benefit from a bit of aging after picking to improve flavor. I would bet just picking a couple days before eating and keeping them in a paper bag in a cool place would be good enough.

And as far as the fungicides, one would have to see if that was needed in their area.

But yeah, this shows how much work goes into making those perfect looking fruit for those perfect gift boxes!

Guess I have something to look toward to lol.
Trace

Interesting read but not much if any technical information unfortunately.

Dos anyone know where to get one?

Harris Citrus in FL. Google then call. As long so you are not in a quarantine area I believe they can ship to you. So no CA, AZ,TX,LA,FL, ect..

I have several of these in pots and they do just fine. The fruit is good size and tasty.

I have seen them for sale in Wal-Mart starting about two years ago

Harris citrus can ship in Fl.( cause they are in Fl.)

If you do end up calling Harris-- ask to speak to Ruth- she is the Owners daughter and runs the sales end of things- she is very easy to talk to and deal with

This post was edited by dawgone on Tue, Oct 7, 14 at 19:53

Ruth is awesome all the trees I have ordered from them are top self trees. Tree cost 20-35 depending on what kind u get. Flat shipping is 13.00 great deal for size my sumo tree has grown from 4ft to 6ft tall in 6 months.
Trace

Here is a link that might be useful: Harris citrus

This post was edited by Tcamp30144 on Fri, Oct 10, 14 at 16:26