My grandparents had a pair of excellent tasting tangerine trees, no one could tell me what variety they were. Their appearance was very much like Satsuma, but the average fruit size was just a tiny bit smaller. The trees were very old, well over 30 years, and I could tell the trees were beginning to reach towards the end of their productive life. Years later, I finally found locally-sourced Satsuma tangerines being sold at the health food store. They reminded me very much of my grandparent's tangerines, but the flavor was not quite as perfect. Recently I was able to try Kishu tangerines for the first time. It was the same type of tart flavorful taste that my grandparent's trees had (but of course Kishu tangerines are a lot smaller). The tangerines from my grandparent's trees were mostly seedless, but maybe 1 out of 4 of the tangerines had 1 or 2 seeds in it. I remember the tangerines had a very flattened shape, and for the most part did not have that bulging bump on the top where the stem attaches. I also remember the color of the fruit tended to be more of a yellowish shade of orange. The skin was often so loose it was almost like the inside fruit was not attached to the rind, nearly effortless to peel open. This was in Southern California so the trees got a lot of sun. From various pictures I have seen, I think the shape and exact color of Satsuma tangerines can be very variable depending on the environmental conditions. I don't know if my grandparent's trees might have been another variety of Satsuma (other than 'Owari'), but I do not believe there were other varieties around (at least commonly available in America) when those trees were planted so long ago (this would have been in the late 50's or 60's probably). I suspect it might take many years for Satsuma to reach its optimal flavor. I have tasted fruit from a very young Satsuma tree and it was very watery and bland tasting. Again I think my grandparent's trees were Satsuma (I have researched all the other tangerine varieties and do not know what else they could be). Those were the best tangerines I have ever had, I could eat a whole little paper bag full of them in one sitting. They had a nice fragrant aroma too. I think even grapefruit lovers would have a hard time deciding between those tangerines and a grapefruit, in terms of their favorite.

I prefer bushier trees as well. Looks great!

April 15 is last frost date here, which is when I put things out this year (earler then usual) and I'm not sure about fall, generally not until 2nd week of December onwards, could be a cold but no snow Thanksgiving (or hot). I won't put out before After May 7th in the future or even wait a week more. I gained nothing and set things back that were growing. Very wet May's two years in a row.

Genetic studies done in Japan have actually revealed Kishu to be one of the parents of Satsuma. The other parent was a now obscure Japanese variety called Kunenbo, basically a large sized very aromatic tangor-type mandarin that contained a lot of seeds, and in old times was the most popular variety in Japan before Satsuma (unshiu mikan) came into existence 400 years ago. "Satsuma" is so called because the southern tip of Japan was once a province known as Satsuma, and that was a popular growing region for mandarins due to the climate (and probably its proximity to China also, since these citrus varieties came to Japan during China's Tang Dynasty). (The pomelo would not reach Japan until a little bit later, and that came from a Cantonese sea captain who was sailing from Taiwan. This was probably because the region of China closest to Japan where those other mildly hardy varieties came from was a little too cold for growing pomelos)