Early April citrus tasting

This is citrus tasting post #5 of the season.  The earlier ones are here:
http://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/02/mid-february-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/01/late-january-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/late-december-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/mid-december-citrus.html

From Mid March to early April I had only seven varieties still fruiting, the images and tasting are from April 3, 2018.  

Mandarins

We finished our Gold Nugget by early March. Here are two varieties which are later than Gold Nugget, Tango (top picture) and Pixie. Tango seems to be a little sweeter than Pixie.  They both are great mandarins coming from recent grafts onto Mineola Tangelo tree.

Mineola Tangelo

These fruits just got ripe in April.  They are very juicy, seedy, and never sweet enough for me.  I'll continue grafting over this tree new new cultivars.

Valencia oranges

This year I have two varieties fruiting, the standard Valencia (top picture), and Rhode Red. They both need a little more time on the trees. Rhode Red seems to be more ripe than Valencia. 

Red Grapefruit

Fully ripe now, but not sweet enough for me.  I'm grafting more other varieties over this tree.  I'll leave just few small branches with this variety.

Nagami Kumquat

Fully ripe now too.  Has a good balance of sour and sweet.  I'm keeping this tree for now, and I may add Meiwa onto it later.

To sum it up: Tango and Pixie mandarins were my best citrus in early April of 2018.

Mid-February citrus

This is citrus tasting post #4 of the season.  The earlier ones are here:
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/01/late-january-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/late-december-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/mid-december-citrus.html

Today I collected ten different citrus varieties in the yard. They are Navel, Boukhobza, and Vaniglia Sanguino oranges; Gold Nugget, Page, Tango, and Pixie mandarins; Minneola Tangelo, Nagami Kumquat, and Red grapefruit. The first five varieties listed are ripe now, and the other five still need more time on the trees.

Oranges 

Left to right: Navel, Vaniglia Sanguino, Boukhobza

I'm going to miss these all next month, as there are not many of these left on the trees. They all at their peak ripeness now.  They all are wonderful. Vaniglia Sanguino is acid-less orange, but it has very nice and not-so-simple flavor. I can detect a rose flavor in it.

Mandarins

Left to right: Page, Gold Nugget, Tango, Pixie.

My favorite now is Gold Nugget, Page is very good too, but it is almost gone from my tree.  Tango and Pixie will need more time on the tree.

Minneola Tangelo and Nagami Kumquat

Both are not ready yet.  Will try them next month.

Red Grapefruit

It's getting there, but still too bitter for me. They should be better next month.

Next month, I should be tasting the five varieties that are not ready now, and I might still have some Gold Nugget mandarins too.

Late January Citrus

Here are the results of my third citrus tasting of the season.  The first two can be found here:

https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/late-december-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/mid-december-citrus.html

Today I found a variety of ripe, and not-so-ripe citrus fruits in the yard. Below are my tasting results for some oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, tangor, and a tangelo. The pictures and the tasting are all from January 26, 2018.

Mandarins

Left to right: Daisy SL, 2 Page fruits from different trees, Pixie, Tango, and Gold Nugget

Daisy SL started to dry out and lost some sugar and flavors.  It was my favorite mandarin earlier in the season, but not now.  Both Page fruits are still very juicy and sweet.  The fruit from the small tree is more sweet and flavorful. Pixie and Tango mandarins are not ready yet, they are late varieties; they both are sour now. Gold Nugget is already very good, sweet and flavorful. At this time, Page and Gold Nugget are best mandarins in my yard.

Minneola Tangelo

Minneola is too sour now, it will need at least another month on the tree.

Pigmented oranges

Left to right: Vaniglia Sanguino, 2 Boukhobza oranges from different trees, and Moro blood orange.

They all are wonderful and ready now. Vaniglia Sanguino developed a nice flavor, and tastes great to me.  This is an acidless orange, so do not expect your typical orange taste in this fruit.  Both Boukhobza are very good, and Moro is at the peak ripeness too.  These three oranges could not be more different one from another, and each is great in its own way.

Navel and Tangor

Left to right: Washington Navel orange, Kiyomi Tangor from small tree, and Kyomi Tangor from the graft on the old Navel tree.

Washington Navel orange became even more sweet and flavorful comparing to its taste last month.  Both Kiyomi tangors are very juicy and good.  The fruit from the small tree seems to be a bit sweeter.

Grapefruits

Left fruit is Cocktail, and the right is Red grapefruit.

The Red grapefruit is still not ready.  Cocktail is great tasting, sweet, and juicy.

In a month or so, I plan on re-sampling these varieties again.

Late December Citrus

Today I found a variety of ripe, or almost ripe citrus fruits in the yard. I'll describe here my tasting results on some oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, and lemons. The pictures and tasting are all from December 31, 2017.

Navels and Tangor

Left to right: Early Navel, Washington Navel, and Kiyomi Tangor

All these are ripe, but Kiyomi Tangor may benefit from couple weeks more on the tree. This tangor is the most juicy and the least sweet out of these.  Washington Navel has the most complex flavor, but I should note that it comes from the oldest (out of these three) graft.

Pigmented oranges

Left to right: Moro blood orange, Boukhobza blood orange, and Vaniglia Sanguino.

Moro needs a week or two more on the tree, Boukhobza is pretty good already, but should be even better and more colorful in couple of weeks.  Vaniglia Sanguino is sweet and juicy, and I suspect it is at the peak of flavor now.  It is an acid-less orange. 

Mandarins

Left to right:  USDA 6-15-150, Daisy SL, Page, and Algerian Clementine

All four varieties are fully ripe now.  Daisy SL is my favorite.  Page and USDA 6-15-150 are pretty good too.  Algerian Clementine is the most acidic, but has a nice complex flavor.  It's also very juicy, along with the USDA 6-15-150.

Grapefruits

Red and Cocktail.

The Red is not ready, may need 3-4 more weeks on the tree.  The Cocktail is perfect, very juicy and sweet.

Lemons

Lisbon (left) and my unknown lemon.

They are pretty sour and juicy.  I assume they are ripe.  The unknown has thinner peal, but does not pass for Meyer, as it is too sour.

I'm planning to re-taste many of these in mid-January again.

Mid-December citrus

These are the earliest citrus fruits in the yard. The exception is Corsica #2 that was all consumed by now.  The pictures and tasting are from December 13, 2017.

Mandarines

Left to right: USDA 6-15-150, Daisy SL, Page, Algerian Clementine

By this date, Daisy SL and Page have developed the flavor well, but USDA 6-15-150 and Algerian Clementine need more time on the tree. Maybe couple of weeks more.

In the order of my preference at this date, Dec 13:
1. Daisy SL
2. Page
3. USDA 6-15-150
4. Algerian Clementine

Oranges

Top row, left to right: Early Navel, Washington Navel, Boukhobza Blood Orange
Bottom row, left to right: Vaniglia Sanguine, Moro Blood Orange

All these oranges will benefit from more time on the trees.  Vaniglia Sanguine is the best out of this set, as it is an acidless orange.  Early Navel is almost ready. The other three fruits need more time on the trees.  Here they are in the order of my preference at this date, Dec 13:

1. Vaniglia Sanguine
2. Early Navel
3. Washington Navel
4. Boukhobza Blood Orange
5. Moro Blood Orange

Grapefruit

Cocktail grapefruit with Nagami kumquat for comparison

This might be the best grapefruit ever. Very sweet and juicy at this date, Dec 13.

Pink Fleshed Eureka lemon and Buddha's Hand Citron 

The lemon tastes like a regular sour lemon, and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to use the Buddha's Hand citron.  They both are fully ripe now.

One year of fruit harvest

Fruit harvest chart for mid May 2016 - early June 2017

I recorded the ripening dates for most fruit varieties collected in my yard (Davis, California) for about a year.  To my surprise, aprium Flavor Delight ripened on the same dates in 2016 and 2017.  We had a very late cold spring in 2017 that did not affect this aprium.  All peaches and nectarines fruited later in 2017 vs 2016.

Check our sales site if we have the scions available reallygoodplants.com

Peaches: Australian Saucer and Babcock

Both varieties were ready around mid-July in 2017.  They are white soft sweet peaches.  The main difference is in the shape and flavor.  Australian Saucer is a flat peach with significantly more complex flavor than Babcock.  Babcock is a simple sweet juicy peach.  They both are very easily bruised and hardly have any shelf life.  They both are good peaches to grow for home gardeners.  I have my Australian Saucer peach grafted onto the Stark Saturn peach tree, and Babcock is grafted onto my Redhaven peach tree. The picture was taken on July 21, 2017