Thanks so much for this information. I searching the internet for this type of resource. Also thanks for educating me about citrus transportation laws. I will definitely go through UC Riverside to get the budwood. thanks again Patty.

You're very welcome, Amir. Your head will spin when you see the number of lovely citrus cultivars you can order from CCPP :-) Their last budwood order is coming up, so good luck! Let us know how you fare. In the meanwhile, if you don't already have a Gold Nugget mandarin in your yard, this is probably one of the finest mandarins UC Riverside has created. I LOVE the cultivar for many reasons, but besides its outstanding flavor and seedless qualities, it is a LATE mandarin, which will extend your season by many months. I am enjoying the fruits right now. My neighbors were over yesterday for a Margarita, and he asked about this tree with all the mandarins on it, and how funny they looked (they are ridged). We picked for him, and he is now off to find a Gold Nugget to add to the Seedless Kishu I gave them a couple of years ago as a birthday present :-) Two best mandarins going.

Patty S.

I haven't looked into Kishu yet. Is that a good mandarin. I love mandarins. I am to order my rootstock from citrus treesource tomorrow than order the budwood.

Seedless Kishu is probably the best tasting mandarin out there. It is very small, which to some may be a detriment, but for me, it is just the right size for a snack. If I am still hungry, I just eat a second one. Have never had a seed, yet, very seedless. Rich, delicious and is earlier than Gold Nugget. It, as well as Gold Nugget hang on the tree well. As I'm finishing my Seedless Kishu's, I'm starting in on my Gold Nuggets. I also grow Page mandarin hybrid mainly for it's outstanding juicing qualities. It is also up there for me. This are my top three best mandarins.

Patty S.

Amir can you let me know about ordering rootstock? Meanwhile, I grafted a Shasta Gold about a year ago and it's looking good! Ready to go in the ground in the winter.

Definitely, they only take order of 100+ rootstock. So I guess I will ordering and using what I need.

Menlo Growers in Gilroy carries Shasta Gold and Gold Nugget. 4 winds nursery in Fremont sells kishu and gold nugget. We have both Shasta Gold and Gold Nugget planted in the San Jose area, both are excellent but it took G. Nugget almost 5 years to produce fruit that was excellent while Shasta was good its first crop. Kishu is a wonderful small tree, precocious and very sweet but seems to want more water to produce good fruit. For us it starts around late December and is done by late January - it does not hang well on the tree unlike Shasta and Nugget which will hand well into late spring.

Only negative on Shasta is that it has monster thrones.

If you are from the bay area, also check out god's little acre nursery in San Jose. They have a very good selection of citrus trees and I saw Shasta Gold & Yosemite Gold the last time I was there. Almost bought one Yosemite Gold myself but took home a Gold Nugget instead. Now I am sad after hearing that Gold Nugget takes 5 years to produce good tasting fruits... well kinda, ha

Good description, gwarring. Seedless Kishu acts in many ways like Satsumas to me. Can get baggy and dried out if left on the tree too long, but boy, you cannot beat the flavor. Gold Nugget is VERY prolific, but tends to alternate bear. And of course, if you can't pick off all the fruit quickly, or don't thin on heavy years, it can be more pronounced. And Gold Nugget is a later mandarin, compared to Seedless Kishu, too. So, nice to have both. My Gold Nugget starts at about the time I'm done with Kishu. And yes, I have never seen such wicked thorns on a mandarin EVER. I had to check my Shasta to see if that was normal, or if I had something else. Holy Moly. Some of those thorns were almost 3" long. Hoping that calms down as the tree matures. Right now, they can be eye-seeking projectiles when I bend down or lean in to pick fruit.

Patty S.

I'm growing two from seed. It was very hard to find seeds, and I had to go through a lot of the fruits to be able to get these two. Right now the seedlings are very small and they seem to be growing slower than other citrus seedlings.

I do have to say, for any of you who haven't had the opportunity to taste Shasta Gold, it's a delicious variety, if you like your mandarins a little bit more on the tart and aromatic side. A lot of this has to do with personal preference though. I've read several comments from people saying Shasta Gold has a kind of weird off flavor, but for me personally I didn't pick up on any of that. Remember this is just my individual personal preference (and I think it's very likely you would disagree) but I think this may be my second favorite variety of mandarin, right below Satsuma. (But then again my preferences are probably not representative of most people, for example I'm not a big fan of Dancy and a lot of people say that's supposed to be the gold standard for mandarin flavor)

The fruits are a nice big size too, and not too difficult to peel.

I've also had the opportunity to try Tahoe Gold, but to me that has a flavor more like a regular mandarin and I like Shasta Gold better.

It's really hard to write reviews because I think a lot of this has to do with individual preference. What I like most in a mandarin isn't going to be what you like. It can also be hard to compare sometimes which one is "better" because some of these varieties can have slightly different types of flavor.