There are miniature fruited (1.5 to 2" across), very sweet, seedless, Mandarin oranges available in the local markets right now. I was told that they are a cultivar called 'Honey'. Does anyone have information on this cultivar and availability of plants, please ?
Have a look at this thread in an external forum. (First hidden link points to here.) The ones you saw may be the same or similar variety. 'Honey' is one of the many names used for these mandarins at retail - a poor choice because of the similarity to 'Murcott Honey'. The marketing of citrus from China could use some improvement. Good luck with finding a tree. Please report back if you do find one. I think your best bet may be to buy some fruit with live stem still attached and using that as budwood for grafting.
Thanks Junglekeeper - I think finding a tree will be a real test of patience. I can only guess at the contents of the link. Maybe they'll send me a tree in trade for help with editing the content. There are also some larger than normal Mandarins, also called Honey Mandarin 'Lu Kan' also currently available. These and the mini's are the best I've ever tasted. Every one I've had is sweet and juicy. I'm on our 3rd bag. Easy to peel too. I did get some seed out of the 'seedless' minis and I'll grow them for fun in any case but as long as we get them at the markets, I'd be happy. Other local readers should try them. I get them at Kin's Farm Market but they're probably available at other Asian markets like T&T as well.
Are you referring to the same ones I had (and pointed to by the link)? They came in a small, orange, plastic mesh bag. I tried to look for more a few weeks ago but was told they are now out of season. I'll have to check out Kin's if you're saying they're the same ones. I tried the larger ones last season (see the thread Botanical Name Required for Fruit | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.) Those too are marketed under various names. How confusing. There must be at least two different varieties of the mini oranges at the stores. The bagged ones which are also sold in bulk are light orange, tight skinned, and quite consistent in size. The other ones I've only seen sold in bulk are of a darker orange, puffy skinned, relatively larger, variable in size, and sometimes have stems attached. I thought the former was much better tasting. The latter I found to be somewhat dry in comparison; maybe it was a bad batch. You may yet have success with the seeds if this is indeed Citrus kinokuni. According to The Citrus Industry they're polyembryonic and so will grow true to type. Maybe you could confirm the emergence of multiple seedlings from one seed when they sprout. Juvenility period for mandarins is around 5 years under ideal conditions.
They do look to be the same but I really don't have the eye for seeing the details for comparison. The bags I bought are just clear plastic tie bags but I don't think the bags are an indication of anything because they were being bagged at the store out of wooden crates I believe. They are very consistent in size, juiciness and taste. They probably are the same - the first bag I bought was about 2 to 3 weeks ago, the last bag I bought yesterday. The larger ones also look to be the same as on your other thread. I'll let you know how the seed turn out. Before I tried these, I had almost stopped buying Mandarins altogether because they were consistently erratic in quality. Here's a picture of them:
I stopped by Kin's this morning and bought a bag as they were being transferred from the plastic crates to the clear plastic bags. They are indeed sweet. However these are different again from the two varieties I've encountered so far. The website of the exporter, J.F.Li-Fruit Co., revealed some clues in the form of area of origin (Fujian) and harvest months (Oct-Feb). I'm starting to wonder if Honey is in fact the cultivar. The description for Honey, with the exception of it being seedy, seem to fit this mandarin.
