How cold of a temperature can your citrus take? I'm surprised you can grow it in your zone.

10 degrees F in the ground but I have them in containers Which are bought back indoors for the winter

How many fruits do you have? You can try one and see how you like it. If you have a lot, wait a while and try another. Make notes for next year. I like mine totally orange and harvest after some low temps as the cold weather sweetens up the fruit.

Just 5. For some reason it’s not letting me post with pics on. I’ll try again tomorrow. But the mandarins are almost completely orange but very pale , almost yellow.

Here they are

Id start eating them

Why are your trees caged?

They were put in my vegetable garden yesterday where it is part shade there so they can adjust to light levels before I bring them indoors. It was fenced so deer won't get in. If you mean the cage on its pot, thats so that rodents won't dig in it.

I don't think that deer would like eating the leaves. Aren't they bitter tasting? There is a butterfly that lays its eggs in citrus trees. The giant swallowtail. Where indoors do you keep them during the winter?

I didn’t necessarily put it there to protect it from the deer, it was just a partially shaded spot and was fenced so I put it there. But deer in our area will eat anything so always good to be safe than sorry. I keep them in my bedroom upstairs.

On the when to pick subject, I think Satsumas can be a bit mild on flavor when they are dead ripe so I like picking and eating off the tree before they are dead ripe. It also helps me take some weight off the tree a bit earlier and maybe even spare some fruit from spoilage loss they might encounter later. This is a really humid and wet time of year in my area and sometimes the fruit get rotten on the low side where water drops stay longer.