Satsuma Mandarin question

I planted a new satsuma mandarin tree (15 gal, maybe?) last fall - thinking I wouldn't see any fruit until the following fall/winter. It's spring and my tree is blossoming, but I notice that when the blossoms drop - it looks like a tiny fruit is growing in its place... I thought these were winter-harvest fruits? Do satsumas have a spring fruiting window as well?

Satsuma mature between October and November. Here are three links that may help. Don't be surprised if most of the fruit falls off. About 90% - 95% of the tiny fruit will drop as the tree couldn't possible support that many fruit.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/patiocitrus/harvestingtext.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/mandarins.htm
http://www.plantanswers.com/researchmiho_seto.htm

I'm pretty new to this as well - but went to the fruit tree seminar in Houston at the Urban Harvest fruit tree sale in central Houston in Feb. Citrus set their fruit after blooming in the spring. Fruit grows all spring/summer and ripens in the fall/winter. Heidi Sheesly gave the talk - she's the grower that supplies most of the sales in Houston. She said if planting in the ground - which mine are- to pull off the blossoms for the first year so they will develop strong roots to withstand the first winter. They should be protected for the first winter freezes, and after that year can be allowed to bloom and set fruit. It killed me to pull off those blossoms - they were so beautiful and smelled so good! I cheated and left a few on to set fruit - I hope I'm not sorry next winter. The lemons and satsumas are very small, but are growing in our recent warm weather. I hate waiting!
Go to www.urbanharvest.org and search for fruit trees - the info is specific to Houston. They even have a class in the fall or winter about citrus growing!

betttydee - those Aggies sure have great info on just about everything. I think you helped me a while back in choosing my native trees - that site and your knowledge was invaluable!

Thanks, bookworm! That Urban Harvest sure is a great organization - I've been wanting to take some of their classes (but being a grad student has left me time for little else!). My satsuma is actually in a 20 gal "pot," should I still need to pull off the flowers/tiny fruit? The tree made it through this past winter (we had a couple of crazy freezes!) very well!

Kelly

Sounds like you could leave the fruit if it already made it through the first winter. It will take them all summer and fall to mature. It would make it fine in the ground here in Houston. We did have some really weird cold snaps this year! I'm going to try to fit in some of Urban Harvest's classes in the fall. Their citrus class sounded really worthwhile. I'm going to risk it and leave a few lemons on my first year tree - I just can't help myself!

I am just South of Houston and my 6 year old Satsumas (3 trees) have produced fruit every year, lots of it. There are probably over a thousand small fruits on mine now. I can hardly wait for November to start eating. They are the best flavored citrus I have ever eaten. We no longer buy oranges in a store, as these have spoiled us with their taste.

Hi Trois! I got some great seeds from you at the fall RU! Good to hear from you. I'm hoping my little citrus trees will produce like yours in a year or so. I bought a few satsumas at the farmer's market this spring just to see what's coming - they were REALLY delicious. It killed me to pick off the blossoms - but I know they will need deep roots to survive future winters here in SW Houston. How tall are your trees after six years? We put two in the front yard and one in the back. (a Page mandarin, a satsuma, and an improved Meyer lemon.)

The largest is about 8 feet tall and wide. Just wait until you pick ripe ones off the tree and eat it in the yard. We went down to 25 degrees for several hours this winter and had a very small amount of leaf damage. On year it froze off the flowers and in a couple of weeks, they bloomed again and made a good crop.
Last year none of the fruit dropped and I had to pull quite a few. They were in clusters of 6 or so, and I removed half of them. Still, many were the size of grapefruit, and still delicious. We finished them off in mid January.

Oh I can't wait! They grew pretty quickly, then - that's good news. Also good news that they are so hardy. I had read that satsumas particularly are tough enough to withstand our occasional frigid winters. Thanks for the great info., Trois.
Nancy

You are welcome.