Poncan tangerines - 2019

The Poncan tangerines aren't ripe yet, and probably won't be for a few more weeks. Hopefully we won't have a cold snap come through and wipe them out like we had one year. These are, by far, the best tasting tangerines we have ever had.

I don't think I've eaten those. They are like a tangerine/orange hybrid?

They are a tangerine, but I'm not sure about the hybrid part.

https://justfruitsandexotics.com/pro...angerine-tree/

https://www.specialtyproduce.com/pro...ines_15936.php

Most plants that I have seen are grafted onto trifoliata rootstock, which tends to dwarf the plant quite a bit. We bought one from a local Lowes or Home Depot years ago, and it has gotten quite large. Matter of fact, it is the tree in the photos above. We had it for several years and although certainly big enough to produce fruit, it was just not even producing flowers. So one year after yet another disappointing year of production from it, Connie and I were standing near it and discussed cutting it down to replace it with something that would actually give us some fruits. It must have heard us, because the following year it flowered like crazy and gave us a heck of a lot of fruits. Seems to be sort of an alternate bearer, but even on the off year will still produce some fruit.

If you can grow citrus in your area, this is the one to get if you like tangerines. Seems to be moderately cold hardy, but if the temps drop below 22 or so, there will be some leaf damage.

Yeah below 22 would be Dec,Jan,Feb and most of March here, lol. Yeah that tree really took off this year. When I lived in Orlando I had several kumquat shrubs. Not the tree ones and 2 grapefruit trees.

The citrus trees on trifoliata rootstock stay small enough that they would likely do well in a fairly small greenhouse, if one were so inclined. And I believe that judicious pruning is actually good for them. But that sort of thing is a time and energy commitment that most people wouldn't be willing to put into just getting some tangerines and other citrus.

Heck, I would love to have a tall greenhouse that I could grow my own coconuts in, but it is cheaper, by far, to just get them in the grocery store and put up with maybe a third of them being bad when you open them up. We have had better luck getting really good coconuts by simply going to Sanibel Island and picking them up off the ground when we find them. Haven't had a bad one yet that way. Of course, when you factor in the cost of gasoline, and spending a night or two on the road, it's not really even close to being cost effective. But we like going to Sanibel now and again, so it provides an excellent excuse to get off the farm now and again.

Still, there is something special about growing your own fruits and just being able to walk outside, grab a tangerine or three to eat while you walk around the path. We actually have smaller citrus trees growing here and there that sprouted from the seeds we have been spitting out over the years. Even have a few second generation trees that are now producing their own fruit.