Mandarins

 My property is smack dab in the middle of the so-called Mandarin belt of the Sierra foothills.   This area used to be planted mostly with Stone Fruit and Pears which were loaded onto trains from Packing Sheds in Penryn, Loomis and Newcastle to ship east.   I have found a map of my property from the 1930's and there were almost zero other trees or plants except neat row after neat row of fruit trees to satisfy the "export" to the east market.   These family run farms started being out competed by much larger farms in the valley which could be managed with machines.   The crop that replaced them were Mandarins (Citrus reticulata), specifically mostly Owari Satsuma Mandarins.   The Satsuma Mandarins originated in China but were brought to Japan 700 years ago .   They were first grown in the U.S. in Florida but have been grown here in Placer County for over 125 years.   Across the street from my house is one of the oldest commercial mandarin farms, Mandarin Hill Orchards.    They have some very old Mandarins that have had to be regrafted to connect the scion (the Mandarin part) with its rootstock, likely a bitter orange used for most citrus hear called Trifoliate Orange.

My property had three Mandarins.   Because Mandarins can be alternative bearing (they produced a lot of fruit one year then very little to none the next year), having three trees helps have Mandarins every year.  One tree is super happy, in bright sun, with little competition from any other trees just the burmuda and dallis grass that grows undernearth since I do not spray it with Roundup as it was sprayed by the previous owners.   Tree number 2 gets a lot of noon to afternoon shade from Orange trees which seems to delay ripeing and inhibit some production.   The third tree has competition from a very thirsty redwood tree and usually looks a little sad all the time.   All three decided to produce a lot of fruit this year.   The commercial growers also had a good year this year and a bad one last year.   If we are all having problems, it's mostly likely due to spring weather when the vulnerable blooms are out.

Mandarin Hill Orchards across the street still has many fruit on their trees so I don't feel too bad that I haven't picked mine.   But now it's coming into Orange season and I have two very large Washington Navels.   There are actually two other smaller trees, one that being cut down after we take it's small oranges.   It's hard to take out a tree that still fruits but the fruit is small and we just don't need it.  It's problem is also a growing disconnect between the Mandarin and it's rootstock.  If it was my only tree I would try bridge grafting.

I have planted two new Mandarins, both very scrawny.  To help these get established, I will remove flowers this spring so they can focus on root, trunk and stem growth.   One of these is Gold Nugget which ripens later than the Owari Satsumas.  Another neighbor who recently planted a whole grove for commercial sales planted a lot of Gold Nuggets hoping this can be a competitive advantage.  The other one I recently planted escapes me now!  I will update when I go see if the tag is still on.   A long list of Mardarin type citrus varieties has been prepared by UCANR.