Go to the California citrus clonal protection and get the info on all satsumas. the China 9 is a good one, Silver hill, Miyagawa and XIE shan are excellent. for a small mandarin the Kishu if one of the best, what it like in size it make up for in flavor.

Barb, i have three in the ground; - i love them.

I gave away loads of the fruit to clients in early December and the feedback was very positive. Most asked for more.

The main reason i love them (other than the flavor) is that the fruit is ready to eat by late October; ahead of any freezes that i might get in the locations. They are very cold tolerant; almost no damage from the December 2013 freeze (got down to 16F one night).

All were bought through Costco [W&N]. All are on "Trifoliate" rootstock. 1 is in Danville and 2 are in Napa. The Napa pair have been producing loads of tasty fruit since the first year in the ground. The Danville Okistu was subjected to inadequate irrigation last May (2014) during the quick bout of 100F days. It promptly dropped a bunch of leaves but grew lots back right away. no fruit this year.

I have them all planted in relatively shady, but differing areas. I'd say they do better with afternoon shade and are fine with just half day of sun. [my best growing / producing Okitsu is planted on the north side of the house and does not get much sun at all this time of year.]

BTW: They get definitely sweeter by late November and mid December. By the end of the year they are falling off the tree.
! -George

Thanks, that's just the info I was looking for. I think I might hold off though as I counted up the trees I have to plant in the ground this spring and I got up to 25!
Soooo... I think I'll wait on this one anyway, even though it sounds great!

Or I'll give one of my three Key Iimes away to a neighbor, lol!

BarbJP,

Since you say you had an Okitsu Wase at work, where do you work? Been looking for this Satsuma for some time and haven't had any success with grafting either.

(I called Burchell and they said they are on quarantine and can't propagate any citrus trees now.)

I used to work at SummerWinds Nursery in Campbell Ca. I don't work there anymore. They had them when I posted this thread but that was over a year and a half ago. I have no idea if they have any now. They've probably sold out by now.

Yep, I believe that. Now all citrus propagation has to be done in either green houses or full screen houses, with bio-security measures.

Several wholesale growers used to propagate a few citrus on the side, like Burchell and Monterey Bay, but not anymore. Too expensive for just a few varieties.

I have Okitsu grafted on to a honey mandarin. I it was done only 9 months ago, so no fruit. I picked this variety partly based on taste test from this web site, http://www.fruitmentor.com/okitsu-wase-satsuma. Van

Thanks BarbJP! I called this morning and when they couldn't find it in the nursery, they went to ask the buyer. However, the buyer said it wasn't even an option to purchase when looking at their lists. :(

Thanks Van! Dan's site is actually what prompted this search of mine that started last year!

And thanks Brett, I'll look into the Miho!

Brett, I've been on the search for the Miho satsuma this morning, but have been unsuccessful. I'm assuming it may have been awhile since you purchased it, but was curious where nonetheless.

I actually purchased the Miho through 4 winds about 5 years ago or so. They only had a few trees. They were planning on propagating the other ones. I wonder what ever happened to them?

You can get Miho through the UCR budwood program. I have been dabbling with inverted t-buds on citrus recently with a reasonable amount of success. It is actually fairly easy to do.

-Brett

https://onegreenworld.com/product/miho-wase-2/

Is this the variety you are looking for?

Thanks Brett. I haven't gotten in touch with them yet, but don't see them on their website at the present time. I plan to try my hand at grafting again this Spring. How does the t-bud (http://www.fruitmentor.com/grafting-orange-trees-t-bud) differ from the inverted t-bud?

Yes Laura! That's the one! Only thing that prevents me from buying that from OGW is that I live in California.

Oh...I get it. That's a bummer. I just got one from them. I'm glad it's well thought of. It is pretty small, but has two fruits in it and is actively growing.

When I purchased it from them in the past they didn't have it on the website. I sent them an email and requested it specifically. I actually think they propagate a lot of varieties that are not on the website, however they don't produce enough of them for mass distribution. For instance, I know they propagate the fremont mandarin, but you can only get it by special ordering it through local nurseries. I think the inverted T-graft just means the top of the T is at the bottom of the vertical incision, so basically the same thing. Good luck.

-Brett

P.S. Where are you located in California?

Grafted an Okitsu Wase on to a Calamondin two years ago (actually, Dan did it while teaching me how to graft). This year, first fruit. I haven't tasted one yet as there is still a little green on the ripest one. The fruit is large - I'll report back on flavor later, but I'm not expecting much from this first crop of 7 or 8 satsumas.

Can you post a picture of the graft and fruit? We all would love to see it.

Can you post a picture of the graft and fruit? We all would love to see it.

Cory

I grow it also in Houston TX and love it. Early producer. Small, sweet fruit. Some seeds but not bothersome to me. Don't know if fertilization would result in bigger fruit. Here is pic of my tree. 5-7 YO w/o looking in my journal. I protected it
when newly planted then mild winters have followed so no protection in last 2 years.

Hi all I bought my house a year ago it has a oksitsu satduma planted in the backyard first year I had 3 mandarins this year I have about 5 on the tree but they aren't ripening everything I have read about them is good e.g 80% sunlight etc etc getting more fruit so obviously something is right but why arent they ripenjng to that mandarin orange ripeness???

Also I'm in Townsville