Monday, December 23, 2013

Juanita Tangerine

Arose from a seed taken out of a supermarket tangerine by Juanita Barrineau of Barrineau, South Carolina.[4]  The original tree came about when Juanita stuck the seed into a pot that already had a houseplant growing in it. The houseplant died, but the seedling flourished and was planted outdoors. The resulting tree amazingly survived 0F (-18C) in 1985 and continues to bear about five bushels of fruit each year to this day. The tree and the fruit resembles a Dancy Tangerine. The tree grows in an upright habit with few thorns. The fruit is typical for Dancy.  The pulp is a nice orange color, tender and very sweet and of excellent quality.[1]  Similar description [2]   

Original tree died in the severe winter of 2013-2014






Fruit is about 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameter, oblate with small radial furrows at the stem end.  It also ripens in the Southeast by Thanksgiving, well ahead of Dancy. [3] page 28

Spring 2017 had warm weather followed by very cold weather.  Juanita lost many leaves and was obviously less hardy than Changsha, 10 Degree Tangerine and Thomasville Citrangequat.  Data is listed towards bottom of Hardiness Tables.  

5 comments:

  1. I have a Juanita about 14' tall and it produced over 1130 this year. Need to trim it back or i will need a hook/ladder truck to pick it.
    Hilton Head, SC

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    Replies
    1. Fantastic! Any more information you would could share on any citrus is appreciated. How old is your tree, when is the fruit ripe, flavor, etc. Thank you

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  2. Replies
    1. I don't know who sells them. Try posting a request for seed on boards including http://citrus.forumup.org/. Eyeckr lost his tree after a hard winter with a low of -14.4 C. See the bottom hardiness table http://hardycitrus.blogspot.com/2014/01/cold-hardiness-table_13.html

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    2. Also try Mckenzie Farms http://mckenzie-farms.com/index.htm

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