Hi there,

First post in this forum you will usually find me hanging out in the antique roses forum.

I grow quite a few citrus trees in my garden in a typical med climate. This year my young Ortanique tree (grafted on bitter orange I believe) has produced its first fruits. I cut the ripest one today to try and found that while the juice was reasonably sweet and aromatic (needs a bit more ripening though) the membrane covering the juice vesicles was too thick to eat out of hand, not at all like my other mandarins (satsumas, clementines, willowleaf and encore) and oranges. Is this normal for Ortaniques, or is this a trait that might be related to the particular cultivar (I think it should be the Topaz / Mandora / Tambor selection originating in Israel) or growing conditions? I have heard that Ortaniques need somewhat warmer fall and winter temps than I can provide here and are more suited to tropical conditions. Maybe this is the issue?
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 15:30