I was wondering if anybody has the Korean summer ripening tangerines growing here in the U.S. and would be willing to share scions with me?
These tangerines are grown almost exclusively on Jeju Island where the winter highs are in the 40’s and lows in the 30’s. While agricultural areas on Jeju Islqnd are a zone 9 because they NEVER get temps below 20 F, the temperature range is far more consistent with mild areas of the Pacific Northwest than zone 9 in California. Plus the summer ripening quality of these tangerines seems very promising for growers in the Willamette Valley.
Here are some articles about the citrus growing on Jeju Island, and the climate data so similar to parts of the PNW:
Below is a link to the wiki climate data for Jeju City. The Willamette Valley gets far more warm sunshine than Jeju because of the rainless PNW summers. Which also means Willamette Valley get about 1/3 less rainfall and rainfall days than Jeju. And while coastal areas on Jeju get snow nearly 20 days each year the Willamette Valley has only about 5. The only significant difference I can find is that west of the Cascades in the PNW severe lows can sometimes settle over the region. Regardless, it is very rare to drop below 20 in the Willamette Valley. It has only happened once at my house since 2019. And that was only for a few hours on a particularly unusual morning. Considering all of this data it appears that the summer ripening tangerines of Jeju Island would be fairly well suited to grow in the PNW, particularly the Willamette Valley where the summers are significantly warmer and drier than coastal Oregon and Washington.
Another word used interchangeably is satsuma. That was applied when large numbers of mandarins were grown in the old Japanese province of Satsuma.
The only citrus we can grow here without much fuss are the 2 yuzu varieties: the sudachi is quite good, but the ichandrin is very seedy. They ripen rather early by citrus standards, late September and October which is excellent for the region. Other varieties are pretty reliable if you grow them under a cover against a south facing wall. But the possibility of getting a mandarin they ripens in summer is very exciting.
There are mandarins already that can be ripened in summer based on location. One example is Encore which is considered very good here (holding on the tree until Fall)
UCR has an irradiated version EncoreLS with fewer seeds.
I’m in the central Willamette Valley of Oregon. Most of the rural areas in the region are 8b, but I’m on a hill that gets cold air drainage during winter nights so we very rarely drop below 20 F which would make the properties up here a zone 9. There are many pockets of zone 9 in the Pacific Northwest, and even a zone 10 on the coast of Humboldt County in extreme Northern California.
I’m familiar with ccpp. I’ve been in touch with a person who collects specimens and he really wants to get scions from the trees on Jeju. Evidently the hagyul is unlike anything they currently have collected in the ccpp.
You mention the summer ripening depends on location. If you are in California that makes a big difference. I’m interested in getting them to ripen in a location with similar cold temps as Jeju. The hagyul is proven for that.
As you probably know, California has a wide variety of climates even though most areas come under zone 9B. You can’t even grow tomatoes in (parts of) Easy Bay due to lack of heat while summer temps are >105F in Sacramento. I suggested Encore as it has been tested by local growers in Bay Area and Santa Cruz. I am not familiar with Willamette valley but these areas of California have mild summers.
That doesn’t mean the new citrus from Jeju is not worth testing and I am sure CCPP will be interested. It will take many years for them to propagate, evaluate and release it for distribution (assuming funds are available) while you can try Encore now.
I have to disagree with you about growing tomatoes in the east bay. I lived in Berkeley for over a decade and grew lots of lovely tomatoes in my garden. And I didn’t only grow stupice. I grew all sorts of heirloom varieties that did very well. I should also point out that over the hill in east bay towns like Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Alamo, Dublin, etc… tomatoes grow very well. Those places are typically fog free in the afternoons and get very HOT.
I am definitely interested in trying the Encore, depending on its hardiness. I don’t bother with any citrus that isn’t at least hardy to 20 F.
It isn’t ideal here for citrus, not by a long shot. But I’ve seen enough success to keep going. A friend of mine has a massive lemon tree covered with fruit in Salem, Oregon. He follows the method of growing the tree under a polycarbonate top.
You are right. I meant (and should have typed) parts of east bay. I was referring to areas around El Cerrito compared to Central Valley as both are z9b.
Absolutely! El Cerrito and Richmond catch the wind coming onshore through the Golden Gate. There’s no structure to break the flow. Feels like a wind tunnel most of the time. I suspect summer veggie gardens wouldn’t do great around there. On the other hand avocados and citrus flourish. My girlfriend’s parents rented a house in El Sobrante and the backyard had huge lemon and avocado trees.
USDA growing zones can be vastly different depending on region. Jeju Island is a zone 9 and has winter highs in the 40’s with nearly constant cloud cover, rain and snow.
PLEASE do not ask for or try to graft any citrus not from a certified source like Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP) http://www.ccpp.ucr.edu. It is illegal to do so in California and a bad idea anywhere. The risk of spreading disease is far too great.
It is best to buy a tree from a reputable source. I do not trust the “Big Box” stores.
It has 10-18 snowy days per year. That’s way more than zone 9 climates in the PNW. What it also has is way warmer nights than any place in OR or WA. Two months in summer with nights in mid 70s and days mid 80s. That’s pretty warm. Spring and fall nights warmer than OR. So I think it has more heat and probably considerably more than say Eugene OR.
Northern California doesn’t have warm nights like Jeju and still manages to have lots of commercial citrus. The reason you can’t have commercial citrus in Oregon isn’t because it lacks enough warm nights during the growing season. There are commercial citrus grows in Croatia at 43 degree north latitude. You can grow every citrus imaginable in Shelter Cove, Humboldt County, California at 40 degree north latitude. The Willamette Valley is plenty warm during the non frost season to produce citrus. The biggest impediment for growing citrus in western Oregon is that it gets too cold in the wintertime. It would be really worth trying to grow satsumas that have a long history of enduring winters with extreme cloud cover and temps below freezing, and excessive cold rain. Having warm nights would definitely make a place more desirable for ripening commercial citrus, but it is possible without warm nights. Plus the goal in Oregon is to grow citrus for a hobby not commercially. Though that guy Bob Duncan in Vancouver Island has very prolific yields of lemons, limes and Yuzu. Are you familiar with him?
I didn’t ask anyone for anything like that. Besides hyper vigilance is far more important where commercial citrus is growing. I wouldn’t be too concerned if you are a hobbyist 500 miles from the nearest commercial groves and raise the trees in a modified greenhouse.
When I was growing up in Southern California people used to bring citrus scions back and forth from homes in Mexico, Arizona and California. Nobody was foolish about it. They had been doing it for generations.
Winter in Jeju according to my link above is no colder than western OR or WA in winter. Days 47-51 F in January and nights 37-41. Rain about 3-4 inches. Sunshine 30-40%. That’s probably more sun than PNW. Extreme lows are warmer. I’d say the winters aren’t colder and summers are warmer. What is very different is that summers in Jeju are very wet and cloudy. PNW is much drier and way more summer sun. Summer nights are way warmer due to all the cloud cover.
Well they’ve been growing commercial citrus on Jeju for over 1000 years. There’s no question the PNW is not an ideal location for citrus, particularly commercial grows. What interests me is the genetics of the dominant satsumas on Jeju. There is enough of an climatic overlap with the PNW that these varieties could possibly offer some advantages to the hobbyist citrus grower in marginal citrus regions. There is no denying that the satsumas on Jeju easily survive cold down to 20 F. Plus they are adapted to very wet soil. I can’t find any information about them in any of the university databases. I have many questions, particularly what the rootstock is. That’s why I posted. Not to share my great secret. Hahaha. Currently, here in Oregon, I get good yields of sudachi, and ichandrin. I would love to find a satsuma that does as well as those. For now I will continue with the system that works. Would be nice to fret less over those specimens. The most sensitive citrus I get reliable fruit out of now is a meyer lemon.
I know what people used to do, I did it myself. My advice still stands. Hualongbing is one of that worst citrus disease but certainly not the only one.
Soliciting a possibly infected scion might seem a small risk to you, but sending such through the mail risks spreading the disease.
This post is to discuss the climatic overlap between Jeju Island and the Pacific Northwest. The people I trade with are all here in the U.S. and my state in not in a citrus restricted area. Besides, virtually all the citrus grown by hobbyist here in the PNW comes from reputable sources. And Jeju, for that matter, is vigilant with their citrus industry’s health. I would trust a cutting from Jeju just as much if not more so than a citrus I ordered online. The regions where those regulations really matter are California, Arizona, Texas and Florida. I am not within 500 miles of a citrus orchard. And if I was I would be.