So I have had a Gold Nugget Mandarin plant since April of this year so I guess 8 or 9 months. The mandarin plant has always had extremely light leaves and has constantly lost leaves. The only new growth it has put it is below the rootstock. I am wondering if it is the variety of plant or if it was the plant sold to me. Both my Owari Satsuma and Cara Cara have done great which I bought from other nurseries but my Gold Nugget only seems to get smaller by the weeks.
I have one,that is okay.There are even fruit.
I wonder,if the graft union is failing on yours and the top is slowly dying?
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See I wondered that too. That would also mean the Four Winds Growers would have sent me a dying plant for 55 dollars plus shipping which kind of sucks. I thought the plant did not look very healthy when I bought it and posted on here when I got it.
I bought an Owari Satsuma from them,which never flowered and has fairly long thorns.Some other people on the forum were writing about theirs also.
I contacted Four Winds and they wanted me to send them pictures,but haven’t done that yet.
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I sent them pictures. They just said it looks good. I have bought from nurseries and sent pictures more than once. One was good (One Green World) where they sent me a free replacement and told me they talked to their growers about the quality control. Others said it was fine or just denied it was their plant. Like I said Four Winds growers said it was fine. Berries Unlimited refused the blueberry I bought from them was their plant saying “theirs should have been bigger”. To add more to make me not want to buy from them I left a bad review and over a year later they asked how my plants were doing. Kind of like well I am pretty sure they are dead like I mentioned in my review.
Bumped to follow…
Also, why is it these Gold Nugget (and the Lumpy Bumpy) mandarins don’t seem to be available each year? Were the polar vortexes of the last spring an issue?
My wife loves these as well as the Sumo variety…
Scott
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They actually may have been, first year in around 10 years without any fruit. This variety likes the be fertilized often, and is hard to get going. Once you do it is one of the best citrus fruit you can imagine, resembling the Sumo, but better. Only mandarin that is better to my taste is the Owari Satsumas, which I have had to 20 brix here, amazing citrus fruits! Here are my 2 fruitless tress this year….
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Post a picture of the graft union on your tree. Could be one of the possible problems
My Gold Nugget looked good when I purchased from a local nursery and fruited for a year or 2 in a pot. I don’t remember if it stopped fruiting, or what, but I think it must have. I believe I neglected it and that the potting soil was too heavy. I upped it to a half wine barrel a couple years ago and the roots/soil did not smell good. I should have thoroughly cleaned the root system and root pruned, but I didn’t. It has not done well since. It has tried to flower each year but they decline before reaching full bloom. I still want to pull it out and take care of the root system, I’m pretty sure that’s the problem with mine.
As I type, I am committing to myself to stop procrastinating and get it done!
I haven’t had any other citrus exhibit this kind of problem.
I had a Sumo from the Grocery store and was not impressed. To me I like a little more something I can’t really describe in citrus. I love Cara Cara, tangos and the normal mandarins told at the stores under Halos. For Sumos and your typical Navel orange there is something I could care less about. If the gold nugget is like a Sumo I am not missing out on much.
@elivings1 , they are very good here in California, but just like most fruits, probably just ok by the time they reach you. Like I said above, I like Gold Nugget better, and we live in an area where we get to try some of the best citrus available. So definitely worth growing, but temperamental. Almost all my citrus trees were bought from Four Winds Nursury, a very reputable nursery. We can not stand any of the Halos or any other citrus from the store though, once you have tree ripened fruit, it is impossible to enjoy store bought fruit of any kind here, with the exception of the California grown Kiett mangos. This may be why we are not huge fans of Sumo from the store, although it can be decent, probably much better home grown.
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I guess it depends on where you live on your opinion of fruit. California is a major fruit growing state and you can grow fruit there nearly year around. I live in Colorado where citrus is a novelty where you get a few fruit but not enough to truly feed you. When you start to actually get fruit here it is with cherries, pears, apples, grapes, peaches etc. Basically something that is going to be outside. Even those fruits you will struggle to make it through winter. The fruits you do get home grown are amazing but when it snows from October to May it is kind of hard to get fruit all year. Without a doubt home grown will always surpass the store bought but I do think there is something to variety.
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@elivings1 ,yes, many varieties, sounds like you like the Tangos, which we refer as Tangarines, high acid and good sweetness. You also like Cara Cara, high sweetness, little acid. Both are complex and very good, but taste profile is different, as is most citrus. Getting to taste these all tree ripened fruit, you can pick your favorite fruit, and reject the ones you do not like. But most are pretty good, regardless!!
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