Bob, Isn’t variety the spice of life?

Why do you have so many Bob? Curious

I have doubles of some because I can't get enough of certain trees.

Well, I am in the same boat than Bob! I have collected quite a few varieties of mandarin over the year. Why? Well, because my friends here gave such a great description of those varieties that I can’t resist to try. Also, I know that if I don’t grow them it will be impossible for me to try them! Like Bob, I will have to sort which ones are favorites. Not sn easy task because mandarins improve with age and taste different from year to year.

Yes, variety ” is the spice of live, I got it in spades. I am deep to my eyeballs in it. You name it, I have it. My yard is loaded. Citrus is just a fraction.

It.s fun to read stuff what others are doing, for me, it’s just like reading your favorite newspaper every morning with your favorite cup of coffee. Like mine strong.

Well, five smaller 75-lb citrus are a lot easier to move than one huge 800-lb citrus. So there's that.

Dave. Exactly

Dave, your comment makes me think of another point when I will sort my variety. It good to keep varieties with different ripening season to have something to eat for all year loll

Amy, another reason why I have so many..lol Plus, there is always something in bloom, which to be is so pleasant any time of the year!! One tree, you would have to wait a long time to enjoy fruit and buds.

Therefore, the reason why I have so many copied orchids. lol

Also, some of my mandarins bear best every other year, so the more I have, the more I can be assured of plenty fruit.

I have picked up most of the recommended varieties of mandarins . From there I can weed them out if I'm not personally satisficed with their taste and or seed count.

So far I got rid of my navel orange and kept my cara cara and moro.

I have a meyer and lisbon that I'm keeping and parting with my pink eureka

So far mandarins that I have given away to my daughters are Page and Pixie.

These are what I have remaining in my collection.

Miyagawa

Xie Shan

Okitsu

Owari

Lee x Nova

Shiranui

Kishu

Honey

Shasta, Yosemite and Tahoe Golds

Gold Nugget

Tango

Gees Nick, you got me beat bad, but I am going to be happy with my final selection. You go guy! Nice stuff you are growing.

Thanks Bob I doubt that I will be adding any more citrus to my collection, if anything as time goes by it may be thinned out if any of them I find not to my personal liking. I know many are not fond of the Tahoe's but I really like them. I'm not sure how much environment, soil, sun, cool nights etc..... all play in the taste of a variety.

So knowing that is the consensus with the gold series that Tahoe in the least liked of the 3, I'm really looking forward to the Shasta and Yosemite this season.

Out of my collection I have yet to taste Xie Shan, Lee x Nova, Dekopon, Shasta and Yosemite. Dekopon and Shasta have fruit this year and the rest should be fruiting the following season.

Why grow more, I give away 80% of what I harvest. With figs, my wive makes the best preserves to be used for a year.

Nick's choice(s) are going to get tougher because he does not know that I've got more grafted babies growing for him heh heh heh...

This is a great topic. For me it comes down to planning the location / micro-climate plantings to yield a constant flow of fruit and at good / better than store-bought quality.

One could argue (as in most in my family will) - that i do not need 3 types of early navel orange varieties... and that makes sense... but i find several variables with growing citrus in the ground in my region that makes the argument for MORE, ....but not all categories. I have found:

1) citrus fruit quality improves with age and is better when in the ground.

2) citrus maturity and flavor varies year to year - (assuming this is due to weather variation and possibly irrigation success/failures)

3) Oranges seem to taste the same variety to variety while mandarins taste different. And the tastes vary year to year too! There is an exception to the orange tasting same - blood oranges. I don't think I can part with any of the 4 I grow... (Moro, Smith, Tarocco, Sanguinelli) and may add more.

4) Duplicates become unnecessary (e.g. it was overkill to have 8 lemon trees between multiple properties - 3 Cocktails - 3 OkitsuW's - but the quantity of fruit keeps the neighbors happy - ECHO Bob - i give away 80% or more of what i harvest).

For the navel oranges in my case, this boils down to keeping the Fukumoto, Newhall and Beck Earli. They all mature differently for some reason. However, the opposite has become true in the Valencia category. The Cutter is so close in maturity to the Delta Seedless that the DSV becomes unnecessary. And, the Dom João late Valencia I recently grafted is now unnecessary because the Cutter (and Delta) have proven that they can hold onto the fruit until November and later. They all taste great.

I force rank every year but the varieties do not move far up / down... that can be relieving. Having the multiple varieties is an insurance that something will be decent if one or more disappoint. For example, in years past, the Okitsu Wase was the best and earliest. But as my trees gained traction over time, this year it was the Seedless Kishu that won the early and flavor category hands down. The next to mature surprised me - the Dobashi Beni, then the Miyagawa, Caffin, OkitsuW, then LeexNova, and the Nules. In a couple of months the Tango will be ready, then the Gold Nugget. The great thing about the GN in my yard is that it will hang and retain great quality through the summer and into fall. The ChinaS9, Xie Shan, DaisySL, and others are on deck for future evaluations.

So I vote to keep collecting and growing... : - ) And just FYI there are many more varieties of figs to keep that "passion" going -

- good growing - George..............

Oh my god George you speak from passion and it shows! Speaking of figs, I am quite ashamed to say that mine don’t produce well. I mean my Violet de Bordeaux is the only one that produce a lot. Never get my desert king or my hardy chicago to the same level as some other members here like Bob or Steve! And I though that digs are pretty easygoing!

"Passion" - or problem? : - )

Amy, few can match the Steve - Bob level. !!!

Incidentally, VdB is my favorite fig. I've rooted dozens of this variety for friends and clients. It is a bit cranky as mine took ~ 3 years to really get traction. But once it did - wow.

My next favorite is the Peter's Honey, followed closely by the Desert King. I am growing (too) many more and will be ranking them:

Letizia (excellent - if i can get them before the critters)

Italian Honey

Tiger Panache

Tashkent

Osborne Prolific

Heritage Black Mission

Black Mission "Creek" - [I think its a brown turkey]

Black Jack

Olympian

Italian-258

Orphan

Improved Celeste

Beer's Black

- and dozens more if the rootings take...

You guys should try the SMITH FIG, I grow this one for years, growing 10 of them in large containers. Last year I was given MOSCATEL PRETO, RED LIBIA,B V. and B/grid. violette de Soleis and many more, more than citrus. Have LSU GOLD, as large as a small mandarin, must be dead ripe to be decent. SMITH PRESERVE goes well with my Grilled Porkchop, bourbon sauce.

Smith, is the no 1 on many wishlist.

Bob, I will try to find a smith fig here. I have a desert fing for 3 years and it’s done nothing! Not even 1 fruit!

Oh and this year, I saw a few varieties of pomegranate. I am thinking of trying to grow a few like Azadi, Pafianka and Sirenevyi. Do you guys ever try to grow pomegranate?

Amy, I do have a few D/k growing, Breba,s that’s all they are good for, Definitely not my choice. I would yank them.

Amy, I grow pomegranates, I have 2 wonderfuls, a Desertnyi and a parfianka. The two latter are still not bearing but the wonderfuls have produced a lot of fruit. They're easy to grow, just keep them on the dry side and give them as much heat and direct sunlight in the summer as you can and they should fruit for you.

Tgis is my desertnyi right after planting

Desertnyi pomegranate planted 3/12/2019 · More Info

And this is the same plant a few weeks later when it started to get warm in May/ June.

Desertnyi pomegranate planted 3/12/2019 · More Info

Evan

I'm also growing the following:

1-eversweet pomegranate

1-plum

2 varieties of white peaches and 1 yellow peach

1 yellow and 1 white nectarine

Pluots- flavor grenade, geo pride, emerald drop, splash

Plueerry- flavor punch

2 varieties of mulberry trees. I keep them under 8 feet.

11 varieties of avocado's for a total of 45 varieties of fruit trees. :)

Dang Nick, that’s a lot of varieties. Are the pluerries and pluots Dave Wilson hybrids? I’ve always found them fascinating but didn’t think they would do well here in the desert because we don’t have enough chill hours.

Yes from Dave Wilson !

I use the backyard orchard culture recommended by Dave Wilson.

Californians are fortunate to have Dave Wilson Nursery as a fruit tree source. They propagate some terrific varieties. I don't know how you do it Nick, that is a lot of goodies!

In my opinion, Poms are easy until it rains just before harvest... the fruit will swell and burst open. In my "Mediterranean" climate i would say poms are easy, because it rarely rains until after the harvest. But, if in a humid rainy climate, I predict difficulty. Having said that, i have on my list to acquire the earliest possible maturing poms and would suggest those types of varieties for anyone in a shorter growing season. (see "Sverkhranniy)".

From the varieties i grow: good flavor and early: Angel Red - love them. For flavor, Parfianka (these mature 2 weeks or more after the Angel Red). I grow Eversweet but this variety has not impressed me. Eversweet took 3 years to get traction and produced decent fruit after 4 or 5 years. Its sweeter than the others, but that is not what a really want in my poms.

BTW: Critters love all of this stuff and the pest control department should be well funded and in overdrive. The enemy is relentless and pest control even more so. So as your varieties list grows, the density of plantings grow. I caution anyone to not wait to fund that department - - - as i sadly did when i started my "collection".

@uncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)

George have you seen my backyard tour on YouTube, it is in 4 parts ?

I'm kind of the eclectic gardener lol.

1-link to part 1 with Japanese maples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eh5NNetz7I

2-this one shows my citrus- I added 4-5 varieties since that video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfLouerfL0

3-and this one the rest of my fruit trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELfLouerfL0

Here I thought I was the only one with a plant addiction!!

Here is my lists, lol!

Pom's:

Eversweet

Parfianka

Sirenevyi

Desertnyi

Kashmir Blend

Wonderful

Salavatski

and an unknown variety

All bloomed last year, but didn't carry their fruit

Plus I have several plums:

Black Ice (espalier)

Methley

Native plum

Sloe

Golden Globe

Figs;

Alma, Panache, Ge Neri, Black Mission, and a unknown

And Raspberries; Fall Gold, Latham, and Kiwi Gold

Blackberries, Boysenberries, and loganberries

Blueberries; pink lemonaide, climax, and two others that I can never remember their name,

Plus, Pawpaws, elderberries, Hazelnuts, Chestnuts, Apricot, Apples (Fuji and Granny Smith), Bacon Avocado, Pears (Unknown), plus numerous gingers, and citrus.

And I plan to try my hand at grafting my jujube and quince this spring.

It's nice to hear other addicts talk about plants!! LOL!!!

Meiwa kumquat

Fukushu kumquat

New Zealand lemonade

valentine pomelo

Hardy Chicago fig

Oh what I wonderful conversation! I see that we have more in commun than our passion for citrus loll! You all have such an amazing collections of fruit trees.

Bonnie, here are some flowers on my Gwen and Bacon avocados. It’s the first time that they will flowers so I am not confident that they will produce any fruits.

Uncle Molewacker, yep critters are the ban of my life. Specially to stupid squirrel in my neighborhood. He ate the first fruits of my massandra jujube and my matsumoto persimmon grrr...

And since we all love pictures and videos, a bonus pictures of my mango tree

Amy, love the photos! my avocado will be blooming any day now, but the buds aren't as far along as yours. This is its third year to bloom, but I have had no fruit yet. Of course, I don't have a pollinator for it. When I get better at grafting, I want to graft a pollinator onto the Bacon, so I only have one tree. I'm trying to grow it as an espalier, to save a little room.

My list wasn't complete, I forgot about about the muscadine's and the Harko nectarine (also a espalier), and the bush cherries and......

My poor lil' brain always hits a blank when I try to remember everything I grow! Lol!

You are doing remarkable well.

Bob Thank you! I appreciate you compliment.

Steve

Bob asked = Does too many varieties makes sense?.........The answer of course is, = That totally depends on each grower.

Evidently it makes sense to the people at the citrus variety collection at UCR.,

Amy...Wow..Let me know how that Mango does for you, please. If it grows fruit I'm on board.lol Always wanted to grow one. Nice with the avocado...

Nice work everyone)))

Mike, actually, this mango tried to carry a few fruits this summer and I have to remove them because I prefer to let the tree grows a lityle bit more. I should gave buy a bigger tree so I don’t gave to wait. a huge mistake!