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.

UCR states that it produces more when cross pollinated. Mine is 20' and in my backyard with other citrus. I would say it produced 300 pounds last season, about the same amount as the Washington Navel that is next to it. My tree has fabulous sweet tasting fruit but I've heard some say Minneolas are tart tasting. I have heard it takes warm summers and cool winter nights to get the best tasting fruit. Modesto should have that just like Upland. Why don't you get another citrus? The correct number to have always seems to be "One more".

Not sure if you have a question or not? And yes, nurseries will routinely pot plants up as needed. You may have caught the nursery just potting up some of their 5 gal to 10 gal pots, which is why they may have looked about the same size. Actually, the smaller trees will acclimate to in-ground planting better and quicker than the bigger trees (15 gal, 24" box, etc.). Patty S.

I know, Steve :-) Yes, we're all freezing our collective fannies off out here. It is currently 41 degrees and it's 7:30 pm. So, again, we'll be very close to freezing tonight. Fortunately for us here in the S. California San Diego coastal area, our forecast was just revised due to a more persistent cloud cover over the next 3 or 4 days, so that brings our lows up to the low 40's/high 30's, now. So, hoping we dodge the freeze bullet here. Understand, I stand outside my front door and have a view of the ocean, so this is very, very unusual for us. Just to give you an idea - when I was growing up in Orange County, much more inland and north than my current location, I can remember ONE day where we actually had freezing temps and a little snow in Fullerton. I think we made the national news. Over my lifetime, temps have persistently become colder and colder during the winter months (and it's not even winter, yet). Patty S.