Satsuma mandarin 'Owari' – Citrus unshiu

The satsuma proves that real mandarins can be harvested at altitude. The French blog Le Potager permacole even cites Arche du Livradois as an example. Its medium-sized, seedless mandarins peel in a single movement.

• Botanical name: Citrus unshiu (satsuma, unshu mikan)
• Hardiness: down to −13 °C, grafted on Poncirus and well hardened off
• Fruit: medium-sized, very juicy, seedless, with a peel that comes away easily
• Ripening: November
• Habit: weeping, very productive

History

Born from a mutation in southern Japan, the satsuma was long shunned: during the Edo period, a superstition claimed that seedless fruit caused infertility. It only became popular in the Meiji era. Today it is the most widely grown citrus in Japan, and 'Owari' is its historic selection.

In the garden

Give it the warmest spot, in front of a south-facing wall. Protect it below −8 °C during its first years. Excellent in a large pot; a feed of organic matter in spring supports fruiting.

The plant you receive

You receive a young grafted tree about 40 cm tall above the pot, low-grafted onto a Poncirus trifoliata rootstock from our own production. Planted young, it roots straight into your garden soil and establishes better than a tree kept in a pot for years.

Because it is grafted low, the variety itself forms the trunk: the tree stands on its own without a stake and can regrow from above the graft after a severe frost. All our citrus trees are grown at 1,000 m altitude in the Livradois, never in a heated greenhouse, with organic fertiliser only.

Grafted trees are shipped from June; the rest of the year, you can pre-order them.