Good question. I don't grow this one. Is this supposed to be an early ripening Satsuma? My Early Armstrongs are getting better with each week. I've been sampling one a week or so for a while now. But I have lots to sample from. Unfortunately, you only have one!

My Armstrong are starting to turn golden -- maybe halfway there. My Owari is still totally green. Each variety is different.

Keep in mind the fruit quality on young plants is not necessarily indicative fruit on more mature plants. But I would think if the skin is starting to pull away (puffiness), that might be an indication that it's nearing ripeness. Hopefully someone more expert will weigh in.

In Florida, Xie Shan should be ripe October through November. I have a couple of fruit on my largest Xie Shan tree but I don't think they will be ripe until first of November. The skin is not puffy, but very firm. Let us know if it tastes good this green! It is tricky knowing when to pick citrus.

Thank you for the replies, Dave and Jade. Dave, yes, it is an early variety of Satsuma.. this is the only, lone fruit that is on the tree, so once it is picked there is no going back, hence the dilemma . Lol.. I would like to get more early Satsuma varieties to try down the road if they do well and survive going through their first winter underground.. I also have a Brown Select planted and a small Okitsu Wase liner arriving tomorrow. I would love to see a picture of your Early Armstrong tree and fruit. Do the fruit feel heavy in your hand when you pick them, or do they feel lightweight to you?

Jade, how old is your tree and is this the first time you will be picking and tasting the Xie Shan fruit from your tree? It would be at least another year before I might get another chance to taste the fruit. I am sure with experience it will get easier to decipher. . I need to pick the fruit when my husband is here because I promised that I would share it with him.. Otherwise I would be tempted to eat the whole thing once I cut into it and it is juicy and sweet.. Hahaha

Thanks again for the help.. :)

Wow! Gorgeous tree and fruit, Dave. I am in love with your tree.. ♡ How old is your tree, what rootstock is it on and what size pot is it in?? That is a lot of fruit! Amazing..Thank you for sharing a picture!

My Xie Shan is about 5 feet tall and came from Just Fruits and Exotics in north Florida. I think I planted it two years ago, but after the fruiting season, so this is the first fruit for me. The largest fruit does have a yellow streak on one side. I noticed there are two other much smaller fruits. Guess it couldn't decide when to bloom!

My citrus books recommend pulling off a fruit and sampling it to check for ripeness. That doesn't work if there are only a few fruits. Last year, I kept sampling Kishu before they were ripe and ate almost all of them! They weren't at peak sweetness, but they were delicious.

I mentioned the Florida ripeness dates because your tree should be on that general schedule for fruiting, at least this year. The Xie Shan is supposed to be the best tasting of the early satsumas.

Changsha Tangerine is very cold hardy and reported to survive freezes at 4 degrees. It starts easily from seeds and will bear in about 5 years from seeds. It used to be grown widely throughout cold areas in Texas. I am hoping for blooms this year on my oldest tree. I think the fruit is very good. It ripens October to January.

Thank you, Jade ! I heard so many great things about the Xie Shan and look forward to tasting the fruit. I know the Satsuma fruit just gets better and better over time as the tree matures. Yes, the tree is on a Florida timetable for this year. That is why I thought I had a bit of time left before I picked the fruit, last week the fruit were barely soft and now they are a bit softer and puffy.. I will keep an eye on it and maybe pick it by next weekend.. I hope you get some wonderful tasting fruit from your Xie Shan this year. It is certainly exciting when you are finally ready to pick and taste the fruit for the first time ever.. :)

The Kishu sounds amazing. I have heard from many who have it that it is a superb little mandarin! I have a little, Kishu citrus liner on order and it arrives tomorrow. It will be a few years down the road before it will produce fruit, but what an adventure it will be getting it there.. lol

Thanks again for your feedback and help. :)

Jinny, I have two xie Shan on my tree. They are starting to turn now, but I will not pick them till they are more orange. Why don't you wait a bit?

Laura, I made the decision to go ahead and pick it. I picked it 20 minutes ago.. lol ..

I read a number of comments on different forums that the Xie Shan fruit can be ripe while it was still green. If you let it hang on the tree, especially after it turns puffy, and wait for it to turn yellow/orange it could already be drying out.. The fruit started to turn softer and puffy and was feeling pretty light in weight compared to last week..I was worried that it was drying up and that was the determining factor so I took the chance.. :) Here are a few pictures that I took..

After I clipped it off.. It had already started to turn color..I dug my nails down in the peel.. you can see some of the juice dripping down the outside..I thought that was a good sign.. It smells amazing.. like fresh citrus :)I twisted the stem off on top where the deeper orange color is..Very easy to peel. Is this what they refer as zipper skinned??The membrane peeled off easy as well..

The 8 segments separated from each other rather easily.The segments were lightly crunchy, dry, and had a light, sprighty tangy citrus flavor. Very mild flavor.

So, the inner peel stored the most juice which was not very much. So, what are your thoughts? Picked to early or left on tree too long? If I would have left it on the tree for a few more weeks or longer would it have developed more juice, would the sections be more tender and flavorful..? ? Does the fruit develop more juice at the end of ripening?

Why would the fruit weigh and feel heavier while still darker green and quickly lighten up in color and weight in a matter of a week?? I thought if the fruit had a lot of juice it would weigh more.. and feel heavier..

I think that is a very young tree. I suspect that when the tree is older, you will have better fruit (juicier). The xie Shan I have on my tree, do not look bumpy like that at all. I will take a pic tomorrow. The skin is smooth and tight. Did you like it? That fruit reminds me of the miho wase I tried last winter, and it looked a lot like it also.

Laura, the fruit should get a lot better as the tree ages. Since it is a young tree the fruit lacked the sweetness and flavor, and perhaps it would have been better if I left the fruit on a bit longer.... Watering and fertilizer techniques also make a difference in fruit quality. This is all still a learning curve for me. I hope to have a few more fruit set on the tree next season so I can pick them at different stages of ripeness like Dave is able too. I am so looking forward to it and I am writing down notes and keeping records of each varieties progress. .

Laura, how far along is your fruit? If you go to Just-Fruits-and-Exotics website and also the UCR Citrus Variety Collection website you will see pictures of the Xie Shan fruit and it looks exactly like mine in size and shape. Bumps and all.. :D I look forward to seeing the pictures of your Xie Shan. .

That is interesting Jinny. I got mine from Harris. Here are the pics....

Could I have mislabeled it somewhere along the way? It looks more like Dave's fruits than yours....

Laura, all the Xie Shan photos I have seen have a little top knot (don't know what it is called). Here is a photo from Just Fruits:

http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product/xie-shan-satsuma-tree/

Does your fruit have a zipper skin? The peel should be bumpy and not smooth. My fruit look exactly like Jinny's.

I am not a citrus expert, but you may have been sent a mislabeled tree. I ordered two nectarines from a very reputable Florida nursery. When they finally had fruit two years later, they were peaches and very late bearing for my area. I have no idea what variety they are. I expect to remove them next summer. With fruit, it is difficult to contact the nursery and complain because there's no proof the plant is mislabeled after two or three years.

That is interesting. I do wonder about that. I guess I may have to try to figure out from the fruit characteristics. My fruit do seem more like a satsuma. I have a dekopon that has fruit with a bump like the ones Jinny showed. I am sure it will taste good whatever it is. I will take lots of pics when I harvest them!

On my Armstrong, when the plant produces fewer fruit, they are much larger and develop that top knot. But when many fruit are produced, they are smaller and do not form that top knot.

The photo below was during a year when it had only a few (but large) fruit. Note the fruit size, bumpy, puffy-skinned fruit with fairly prominent top knot.

Compare with this season when there were many more fruit, smaller fruit size, tighter skin, no top knot. This may not ALWAYS happen, but it shows you the variability in fruit shape from season to season on the same plant. I wonder if the presence of the top knot has something to do with fruit size -- more weight on the stem and top peel.

Reading Jennylea description of the fruit's taste and texture fits exactly what a young satsuma tree just starting its life as a fruit producer would taste like. Most all citrus trees just start producing good fruit at about 5+ years of age. I remember Dr. Manners writing that the very best citrus he ever ate came off a 25 year old tree.

Very interesting information, Dave and Silica. Thank you.

Laura, your lovely Xie Shan fruit do look more like Dave"s and he gave a great explanation on why the fruit are smooth and shaped differently. I learn so much from this forum.. How old is your tree by the way?

Jinny, I've had that tree maybe 18 months and I got it from Harris...not sure how old it is...3-4? It is still a bit lanky, but getting thicker.

That is interesting that fruit shape change with quantity and size. I remember reading one time about somebody bought a gold nugget and when the tree finally had fruits, did not look like bumpy gold nugget. Wondering now if that was the same reason?

According to UCR, fruit bumpiness on the Gold Nugget is related to the amount of pruning the tree has received. Maybe this is similar for the xie Shan as well? Here is UCR's description of Gold Nugget.

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/goldnugget.html

Evan

My xie shan is a few years old, bought from Harris is doing well, no complain except one it fruits every other year. Last year it got 41 this year 4. This year the tree grew a lot, so new year should do great again, hopefully!!!!!

Bob, thin the crop on the heavy years, and your tree will produce more fruit on the lean years. Doing so will balance your tree's production.

It looks like the Xie Shan needs to join here. Silica thinning the crop what really does that mean? How to do that? Is there a rule of number for this? And timing?

Many varieties of citrus have problems with alternate bearing. During a heavy fruit years ( the on year) the excessive crop load severely depletes the carbohydrate reserves (starch) in all parts of the tree, leaves trunk and roots. This depletion reduces the vegetative growth and thus the flowering for the next year's crop (causing the off year). Thinning the crop can be done by removing fruit, or reducing the flowering during an on year. Alternate bearing is especially a problem in mandarins and satsumas. Dancy mandarin is severely affected by alternate bearing.

Silica how much to remove? Half?

Bob, that red label looks like it might be strangling the trunk. Either loosen it, or remove it. Really nice tree. My Armstrong is having an 'on' year this season.

Bob, that looks exactly like my tree. It is only smaller and only with 2 fruits. Silica, that is good advice for future years.

30 to 50 percent

Thank you Silica. Is this true for all satsumas?

Bob and Dan, your trees are amazing! Bob, how was the taste/flavor of your first Xie Shan? We're they sweet and juicy? Thank you both for sharing.

Thanks for the link, Evan.. Interesting. . :)

Silica, thank you for the great advice and sharing your expertise. I do know that some fruit trees, like apples can also be alternate bearing if they are heavy bearing with no thinning early in the season..

Laura, I have a young Xie Shan tree that I purchased last spring from Harris that is probaby close to the same age as yours. It had a thin trunk and was a bit lanky also but is is growing more sturdy and produced a fruit which I picked off early this summer. I purchased a larger 5 gallon Xie Shan from Harris just over a month ago and it is a beautiful tree. That is the tree that had the single fruit that I picked off. That tree is planted in the ground in our underground gh and I hope it survives through the winter into spring.. I look forward to hearing how your first fruits do for you. Hopefully they will have more flavor for you..

Xie shan is tops according to me and friends that i have given to, Sheranui is also at the top with Page way-up there. If you grow multiples of them you really don't need anything else. It is a matter of when to pick in your season, i am a zone-pusher with no greenhouse. I had one lady that could not believe that a manderin taste this good picking the fruit of the tree. I have done my research and this is what i grow, i would rather graft more tree's from my stock and find good rootstock, sofar very little money spend.

Thanks, Bob. Great list..I have both the Xie Shan x2 and a Shiranui . I have been wanting a Page for a while now and could kick myself for not adding it my recent citrus liner order. I hemmed and hawed back and forth before placing my order. I got a Seedless Kishu and Okitsu Wase which are supposed to be excellent varieties also. Of course after placing the final order I called later to see if I could add a Page, but it was a bit too late since the trees had just been inspected before shipment. Maybe next year.. I read that the fruit has a well balanced sweetness to acid ratio which is what I like..

Laura, I am checking back in on this thread to hopefully hear some good, updated news about how your Xie Shan harvest fared. If you posted an update elsewhere then I must of missed it.. lol . Bob, Dave and Jade, any updated news you want to share about your harvests?

My Xie Shan survived it's first winter planted down in the underground gh. It is planted close to the east/south wall and receives mostly natural light coming from the windows on both sides/end and from above. Early in the winter I used extra supplemental light for all of my trees but when the first light bill arrived we decided to only leave them on for a few hours a day. Lol. . The tree dropped a few leaves but still looks good. We heat the gh with a wood furnace and it keeps the temperature above freezing all winter. The Xie Shan recently set many buds and flowers which in turn has produced a fair number of fruitlets. I am hoping at least three fruit remain on the tree to full maturity so I can taste the fruit at different stages this fall. The Brown Select Satsuma fared the winter really well also. It too is in bud, flower and has even more fruitlets than the Xie Shan. Both trees have been fertilized well.... I am really excited. . Xie Shan :

Brown Select below: It has set close to 40 fruitlets on the branches.