I had company over last weekend and was asked for the obligatory garden tour. When I presented the ‘Kishu’ mandarin tree to my friend’s wife she jokingly said, “Gesundheit!” I then told her the fruit was nothing to sneeze at.
The tree is loaded with fruit that is still green shouldered, with a bit of yellow/orange blush, but I grew bold and started to peel one for grins. That wonderful perfume jumped out like it always does, a sure sign that the essence was there. Even slightly early, ‘Kishu’ is still a winner.
Lesson learned, don’t wait for full blown orange. They are very good with some green still on them. Get out there and try some now. OK?
Agreed. Start sampling when they are becoming yellower. I hope to find a local seller with some Kishu trees, but saw none last year to buy. I just ate my first couple Page mandarins, and they were nice even though not yet full color ripened. I will let most of the satsumas and mandarins continue to tree ripen until they get exposed to some 30-40 degree weather for the final sweetening boost before they get picked and given away or juiced for the freezer. A local grower loves munching on the small Kishu’s when he is out working in his orchard, so he grabs a pocketful before getting started with his work.
Mr. Clint, do you feel like your kishu tree is a slow grower? Ours has been in the ground for two years now but seems to be growing much slower than our other mandarin trees (gold nugget and satsuma). Maybe a worse patch of clay for its site but I looked online and another person also mentioned relatively slow growth.
That might be a matter of perspective. It’s certainly a very well-behaved and productive dwarf tree. I bought mine directly from Four Winds so it was expected to stay on the smallish side. It’s the only Four Winds dwarf tree that I have, so I can’t compare it 1:1 with any of my other citrus.
Most of my citrus are from Durling (not a conscious choice, just what’s always been readily available here).