Pomelos are ripening here so I thought I’d share some pictures. I grow three varieties at my current garden in Napa: Chandler, Khao Pan, and Khao Phuang. Chandler is the main commercial variety. The latter two are important varieties for the Thai pomelo industry but have been in the US since at least the 60s. The Chandler is probably 10+ years old. I grafted the two Thai varieties onto it in 2022 and they have not fruited yet. I am planning on adding a graft of Thong Dee this year.
I lived in Davis while in grad school, and my rental there had a citrus tree that had been cut down and the rough lemon rootstock had grown up. In 2020, I grafted Khao Pan, Khao Phuang, and Tahitian. All three varieties bore a few fruit last year, but someone stole all of them except for one Khao Phuang. This year, I was finally able to get a good harvest from the three.
Tasting notes:
Chandler: Napa may be a bit too cool for this variety. It gets sweet enough, but there is noticeably more acid than commercial fruit (which I think is a good thing) and a touch of bitterness. The flesh only gets a tinge of pink in my area. Few seeds, but that may change when the other varieties start flowering.
Khao Pan: Extremely productive. Fruits are small to medium for a pomelo, rind is of medium thickness. Extremely seedy as well. Flesh is crisp and holds together well. Easy to peel but a little bland. It will be interesting to see how it tastes in Napa.
Khao Phuang: Largest fruit of the varieties I have. On the flip side, the rind is also quite thick. This variety has the best quality in my opinion. Good sugar:acid balance, less seedy than Khao Pan, and easier to peel than Chandler.
Tahitian: The best in terms of flavor but a weaker grower than the others. That might just be where the graft is situated on the tree though. Fewer seeds than Khao Pan, a little more difficult to separate the flesh from the membranes in one piece.
Beutiful pomelo’s! Do you have any problems with greening disease there? I grew dwarf pomelo here in Kansas in pots and they did very well. They usually yielded less than half a dozen softball sized fruits a year.
What is the approximate weight of the fruits? Which one is the largest/heaviest?
I grow those but no fruits the Khao Pan & Khao Phuang yet. I also grow and get fruits on Reinking, Valentine, Cocktail, and Thong Dee. For the pure pomelo, I did not like my Chandler so I got rid of it (top worked). Thong Dee is the best tasting to me. I need to try growing the Tahitian again. The Thong Dee has fruits that get up to 5 lbs each.
Those two Thai varieties are out of favor in Thailand and were replaced by better quality and newer varieties. The one I saw mentioned in the US is Thong Dee. It is very popular there, too.
The red fleshed called Siam Ruby gets high praises but I do not know if you can get it here.
Bob, @aap a member here is known for growing pomelos and other delicious looking citrus.
There are 2 versions of Thong Dee offered by CCPP, THONG DEE PUMMELO (CRC 3927) from Hawaii and THONG DEE PUMMELO (CRC 4027) from Florida. Does anyone know which one most people have and talk about?
I have the earlier one (no pink lined sacks, VI447), it is very good. Fruit gets up to 5 lbs. I also have the VI569 (FL) but not had fruits on that graft. I think they both tastes the same, only difference is one has a tinge of pink on the outer sack. It is top 1-2 best tasting pure pomelo I grow.
If you’re going to purchase budwood from UCR/CCPP, then get the Banpeiyu, it is supposed have excellent tasting fruit, top pomelo in Japan. The fruit will grow to 10 lbs each, one of the largest pomelo fruit variety. I have this one growing and it does have some large fruits. It is still green and not ready but weighs about 4 lbs so it might get to 6 lbs (first time fruiting).
Banpeiyu is on my order list! I forget where I read about (maybe here) but I’m excited to try it. I have Valentine and Chandler both relatively newly planted and will multi graft them.
I also have two hybrids, a good size Oro Blanco, which our family loves and anyone who tries it asks for more, and Cocktail which hasn’t fruited yet. Considering adding Melogold.
Besides Thong Dee and Banpeiyu, any other Pomelo I should get from CCPP? Will probably keep 2 multi graft trees in the orchard for Pumelo.
Tippy, when I spend a few years on the island of Java, Indonesia they grow pomelo,s called Djeroek Bali.
This variety might be the same one you described, very very big. A pretty good size tree. About 3 to 4 times bigger than a Thong Dee. 4 might be a little exaggerated.
I have or had most of the varieties sold by UCR/CCPP for the last 30 years. You should get Melogold, I like it better than Oroblanco. But it was my Oroblanco that had 110 fruits on one 2" diameter branch (my record). Don’t get Reinking, does not taste good, has some off flavor that is not good when compared to other varieties. Even Chandler tastes better than Reinking. Cocktail/Mandalo is a winner for me this year, it was the best tasting one (brix =14), Valentine had brix =10. Kinda low sugar readings this year. I’ll post a photo of the cut fruit.
So far, Khao Pan, Chandler, and Tahitian have been 2-3 lbs. Khao Phuang is usually 3-4 lbs.
Thong Dee was sold out both times I purchased budwood. Maybe this year will be the year.
I saw these for sale when I was in Japan in January. Was moving around too much to buy a 10lb fruit unfortunately so I didn’t get to try it.
Ironically, it’s supposed to be a top variety in Taiwan, but I have never seen it there despite having been there multiple times during pomelo season. Usually what you see is a pear-shaped, fairly dry bland variety.
Since you mentioned Ruby pomelo, I found one fruit for sale on Weee called Ruby Honey, it is a newer variety. I bought one fruit and compared it to the normal Red flesh pomelo that is called Honey pomelo at most Asian markets here in SoCal. The Honey pomelos (white flesh & red flesh) from the market (cost $8 each) has no taste even though they are big (4 lbs). This one called Ruby Honey has the green skin when ripe, but bright red flesh inside is very good. I think it also goes by the name Tubtim.
