GB 104 Fabulous Fruit Friday: the Shiranui Mandarin. Cicadas vs. Your Garden
29:45
SPEAKERS
Debbie Flower, Ed Laivo, Farmer Fred
Farmer Fred 00:00
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Farmer Fred 00:20
Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.
Farmer Fred 00:32
Who doesn't love a tasty mandarin? And one of the most popular right now among grocery store mandarins is the Sumo. It's a large, lumpy, but incredibly sweet seedless mandarin. There's a close relative of the Sumo. It's called the Shiranui mandarin. And many Mandarin aficionados claim it's the best tasting mandarin ever that you can grow at home. That's according to fruit tree expert Ed Laivo from tomorrowsharvest.com. It's Fabulous Fruit Friday, and Ed is here to talk about this tasty treat from Japan. What's all that buzzing going on in many parts of the country right now? It's the emergence of what is being called Brood X, an unusually large occurrence of cicadas. Are they a threat to your garden? College horticulture teacher Debbie Flower has some thoughts on that. It's all on episode 104 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Tomorrow's Harvest dot com. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.
Farmer Fred 01:39
If you're familiar with those big, lumpy mandarins that you see in the grocery stores, did you know there are home varieties just like it that you may want to grow? And I know somebody who is growing it and you just might want to get one from him. Ed Laivo is with us from tomorrowsharvest.com, a division of Burchell Nursery. It's Fabulous Fruit Friday! And today, it's a big lumpy Mandarin, a seedless big, lumpy Mandarin. Who doesn't want a big, seedless, lumpy mandarin, Ed?
Ed Laivo 02:08
I'm telling you what, they're running for these things in the grocery store. I get it because once you eat one of these Shiranui, I'll tell you what, you will absolutely want to run back for more. They're great.
Farmer Fred 02:23
All right, it's the Shiranui nandarin is certainly become a giant of the mandarin world.
Ed Laivo 02:29
Yeah, sure has. Um, you know, it was introduced in Japan called Dekapon and introduced in the United States as Shiranui. And these are these big, ugly mandarins that sell for, you know, upwards of $4 a pound.
Farmer Fred 02:45
Yeah, if you're lucky, a buck each. Yes. All right, but let's face it: it's seedless. It's a prolific producer. And it's sweet, it's juicy and a lot of great meaty flesh.
Ed Laivo 02:57
Yeah, you bet and it's got a long hang time on the tree as well. Interesting enough in Japan, when it's harvested, it's actually harvested and then held off the tree for almost a month, so that the acids will settle and the sugars actually even get more powerful. And so a lot of times when you do buy them in the grocery store, they've that acid has settled out because of course they've been off the tree for quite a while. But when you've got them at home you can eat them as a slightly acidic fruit or you can take and let that acid kind of settle out and they become that really sweet, almost sub-acid mandarin that is so popular.
Farmer Fred 03:39
What zones is it most appropriate for?
Ed Laivo 03:42
It's going to be typical citrus zone so it's going to be probably in that Zone eight marginal zone, as well as nine, nine A B
Farmer Fred 03:50
And when is harvest time for it usually
Ed Laivo 03:53
January
Farmer Fred 03:54
okay, but it'll hang on the tree till what April?
Ed Laivo 03:58
Oh man, it'll hang on till May or June. You know, there's a couple of mandarins that actually fall into this category. Like for instance the Pixie or the Gold Nugget, which are both outstanding mandarins. This is the era of the Mandarin. these varieties like for instance, Gold Nugget, comes ripe in January. I'm still picking Gold Nuggets off of my tree right now. I've got more Gold Nuggets on there than I know what to do with. Love them. The Shiranui actually has that same quality. It'll hang on the tree for quite a long time. I've picked Gold Nuggets right up until October.
Farmer Fred 04:33
Whoa. By then the Satsumas are starting to come in.
Ed Laivo 04:37
As a matter of fact, by then, it acts like a Satsuma because the Gold Nugget will be loose inside of that skin. And it's rather dry but it still has intense sugar. I had my cousin here from Connecticut, in September a couple of years ago, and I was telling him about my wonderful Gold Nugget mandarin in the backyard and he said, "I'd love to try it." I went up and just happened to see one in the back, way up in the top of the tree. I got it. I brought it down I gave it to him. I said it's probably not gonna be very good. You know it's late September, he ate it. He's from Connecticut, mind you. And he said, "this is the best piece of fruit I've ever had!"
Farmer Fred 05:21
Gold Nugget mandarin and there are a lot of mandarin aficionados now who think, well, the Gold Nugget is good but you ought to try this or that or this because there's just so many good ones. Like you mentioned the Pixie and we can't forget about the Page either.
Ed Laivo 05:36
And the Page is not even a real mandarin.
Farmer Fred 05:40
What is it?
Ed Laivo 05:40
It's a mandarin crossed with a tangelo. So really, it's a tangelo is what it is, man I'll tell you what Page is another one that's just to die for. This is the era of the mandarin and there are so many cool mandarins, you know, that are out there that are wonderful. I mean, we've come a long way from the Owari Satsuma. The Owari Satsuma probably has the claim to fame for adaptability of mandarins. It's the most adaptable. But, who's to say? Theese other varieties are so new, we haven't tested them and in all the areas that the Owari has grown and we don't know really which ones are going to do well yet. But the Clementine, of course, which is associated with all the bagged mandarins and Clementines are still wonderful, great home garden varieties. But we've got powerhouses. There is one that's kind of lurking, that's coming on now called Lee Nova. Lee Nova is oh man is it is so good.
Farmer Fred 06:43
I's like to put in a plug for one of my favorites that happens to be carried by Tomorrow's Harvest. I really like it because it has, like you say, a long hang time. And it's the Miho Wase.
Ed Laivo 06:54
Miho Wase. Yeah, absolutely. And that kind of falls into the Satsuma category as well. The Miho Wase. Great variety. Great variety.
Farmer Fred 07:04
I agree, There are many more mandarin varieties you can check out when you visit tomorrows harvest dot com but let's let's give what we're talking about it's due here on Fabulous Fruit Friday, the Shiranui mandarin.
Ed Laivo 07:17
Which some would believe, some would argue, is the best of all the ones we just said, ooh, all they would they would say the Shiranui is by far, one of the best and and I think our sales on Shiranui actually would confirm that if these people have tried this, and are as satisfied, they're buying two and three at a time so I'm not sure you're going to make a hedgerow of Shiranui mandarins could be be amazing.
Farmer Fred 07:48
Check it out at tomorrowsharvest.com, the Shiranui Mandarin. You got time to answer a mandarin question?
Ed Laivo 07:54
Sure enough.
Farmer Fred 07:55
Alright. Kevin in Oakley writes in, Oakley is in the East (SF) Bay: "I relocated my two year old Gold Nugget Mandarin on October 30 last year to another location in my yard. It had fruit on it and seemed healthy at the time. I covered it with incandescent Christmas lights during cold spells. In the winter, everything seemed fine. When the fruit started to turn orange and ripen, I noticed that the leaves were turning a lighter green color. After a few weeks of noticing this. I pulled all the fruit off the tree. It was a little bit early, but they were still tasty, because I thought that maybe if the tree didn't need to use energy on ripening fruit, then maybe it would help with the color. Well here we are weeks later I pulled the fruit off in the tree. It is officially losing its leaves. I'm trying to figure out if it's because of the transplanting in the previous six months or if it's because of something else. Do you have any ideas? I planted the tree in a raised box with lots of mulch, because I have clay soil here in Oakley, I use a moisture meter. So I'm not over watering it. I fertilized it twice this year with an organic fertilizer. So I don't think that's the issue either. What could be the issue?" I would like to go back to that transplanting and see if it may have all started there.
Ed Laivo 09:12
I mean, without a doubt. And, you know, let's just compliment him by saying this. He did everything right. Okay. The timing. Let's see. he relocated. Oh, he moved in October. Yes.
Farmer Fred 09:29
And with fruit on the tree.
Ed Laivo 09:30
Yeah. That's probably not optimal. So, yeah, basically what the plant's doing is it's going through, you know, a shock. It's transplant shock. And, and I'm looking at the picture now that you sent me for that. And so I'm not sure how old that tree was. I mean, how long it's been in the ground. There's a couple of questions I have it but when I look at this tree, this tree is definitely going through some shock. That's what it is. So more than likely it's going to defoliate all the way. Really, what you want to be careful about is over watering it. Because right now the roots are going to be real sensitive to over watering, you want to stick your finger down on that ground. Moisture meter is okay, but put your finger down there down into the knuckle, make sure that your surface moisture is on the dry side, not dry, dead dry. But just on the dry side before you water. Because you really don't have a raised bed, you're not raised up that much at all, as a matter of fact, looks like you're only raised up about six inches. And I think from my experience, I would rather in clay soils, I want to be 12 to 18 inches above the soil line for a raised bed. So again, you have the right idea, but I just don't think that it was quite high enough.
Farmer Fred 10:55
But he did whitewash it.
Ed Laivo 10:57
Yeah, whitewash. It's cool. Yeah. I mean, like I said, most of everything here. I would have transplanted more in like, say, February, right. Okay, this year, February would have been a breeze, it would have been perfect. And as a matter of fact, I just refreshed the soil in a 42 year old, Oro Blanco grapefruit that I have in a container. I just pulled it out like last week and added new soil to it and freshened it all up. And I waited, you know, until the late spring to do that. Because it's going to have a recovery that's going to take a while, too. it'll it'll look like this.
Farmer Fred 11:36
I mean, that's chancy to if we get a spate of 100 degree days.
Ed Laivo 11:39
Yeah, I mean, he's done everything he can. The biggest problem you have now is, I'm going to assume that when he dug this up, he dug it up. So literally, he damaged the roots. Yeah, remember what I was just talking to you about, root pruning, and how I don't like root pruning on citrus. This is what happens to citrus when you root prune it, he didn't root prune it intentionally, he dug it up. And so when he dug it up, of course, that root was damaged. And this is the result of that damage.
Farmer Fred 12:07
So I guess it would be better if you're going to transplant citrus to do it with rising soil temperatures, not declining soil temperatures, like you would find in October, November.
Ed Laivo 12:17
Absolutely. Right. I think that it can take a little while, you know, for that shock to set in. And this is, um, this was a mild, very mild winter. I think that probably as the heat came on, that's what happened. It just didn't have the root system to support the respiration that it needed. And the leaves started to collapse. You know, ironically, I would have expected more leaf drop than what I'm seeing on this tree. I see hardly any leaf drop. But I do see a lot of leaves that aren't being supported by, you know, a good vascular system in the plant.
Farmer Fred 12:51
Is there hope for it?
Ed Laivo 12:52
Yeah, yeah, I think so. You know, as a matter of fact, if he's careful with the water, that's the most critical thing about citrus is that they are so temperamental about water, and especially in heavy clay soils, because you know, the surface on heavy clay soils, and he's got good mulch down, you see that? Yeah, that's cool. And heavy clay soils, the big problem isn't so much the surface as it is down deeper, that's where the moisture doesn't move, the water collects. And in that area, there's no oxygen and the root system has to try to grow into that area with no oxygen, and it can't do it. Citrus does not want to do it. It'll avoid going into those oxygen-less, zones completely.
Farmer Fred 13:37
Citrus is very interesting for those of us here in zone nine. But the one thing they do definitely do not like they don't want to be planted in the lowest part of your yard. They need some sort of height one way or another, just to help drainage.
Ed Laivo 13:54
Yeah, yeah, they do drainage with a citrus, you know, what's a citrus gets established in a landscape. I mean, it's almost hard to get kill it. And I mean, they, they're, they're pretty tough. But let's just say, oranges and lemons, and you know, your typical citrus is sometimes getting established, can be a little trickier. And sometimes they can struggle, you know, just barely staying alive, looking ugly, not giving you any decent fruit. Always in flower. That's indication that they need help. Well, I got to reproduce because I don't think I'm going to make it. So Kevin, there is hope. Yeah, there is I think so. Don't do things like fertilize. Fertilizer doesn't help plants that are in this kind of condition. So just monitor your water. I always tell people, don't ever use water as a medicine.
Farmer Fred 14:48
Good point.
Ed Laivo 14:49
You know, if a tree is wilting, your first inclination is to go run over and give it water. But the problem with that is is that it might be wilting because it has too much water on it already, so you want to identify the problem before you use water on it.
Farmer Fred 15:02
Keep using that moisture meter, Kevin.
Ed Laivo 15:05
Yeah, or the I like the finger extended directly, pushed into the ground to the knuckle and feel it you're trying to determine whether the surface is dry and your lower the ground below that is actually wet. And I never want to water just because you know the surface is really dry. I always want to know what it's doing underneath that.
Farmer Fred 15:34
Good advice from Ed Laivo, from tomorrowsharvest.com and it's a division of Burchell nursery. Go to the website tomorrowsharvest.com and find out more about the great mandarin we were talking about on Fabulous Fruit Friday, Shiranui, the Shiranui mandarin, and a heck of a lot more. And Ed, come on back next Friday. Let's do another Fabulous Fruit Friday.
Ed Laivo 15:54
You know what Fred? I think that sounds like a fabulous idea.
Farmer Fred 15:59
Ed Laivo, thanks so much.
Ed Laivo 16:01
You're very welcome.
Farmer Fred 16:06
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Farmer Fred 17:30
We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Debbie Flower is here, our favorite retired college horticultural professor. And Debbie, we have a note from Paige in Kentucky Western Kentucky USDA zone six B, she says. Thank you for that info, Paige. She says, "I planted two apple trees and two peach trees last year. And now I've just heard about these 17 year cicadas. I bought four blueberry bushes and two more fruit trees this year that I haven't planted yet. What can I do to protect the trees already in the ground? And should I try to keep the new trees and bushes in my garage somehow until the cicadas are gone? Or should I go ahead and plant them? I love your podcast." Thank You, Paige. Cicadas. I'm glad it's your problem Paige, not ours. Debbie, that's one of those pests that enthralls us Californians when we go back east in the summertime.
Debbie Flower 18:27
Yes, it is because, although we have species of them. And some people call them cicadas. That's how I grew up.
Farmer Fred 18:36
We'll do it that way then . Cicadas.
Debbie Flower 18:38
Okay. We have members of that Genus, but we do not have the periodic emergences. The periodic emergence, which is occurring now is a 17 Year one, I understand. And they're calling it brood x. And that means a whole lot of them, like millions. You had a number per acre are coming out all at the same time. That's pretty interesting.
Farmer Fred 19:03
It was the University of Maryland that talked about the 17 year periodic cicadas, is it cicadas? Okay. cicadas, that basically crawl out of the earth and then immediately start climbing trees and shrubs and the males start singing and the next thing you know, it's noisy.
Debbie Flower 19:22
Yes, it's noisy, and those males are trying to attract a female with which they can mate and then the female lays her eggs and that's where the damage comes in. The female goes to young branches on trees, that's their primary laying site. And with her mouth she puts a hole or a slit into the young branch of the tree and lays her eggs in there. And so that slit interrupts the flow of sap in the plant and can cause the young twigs to die.
Farmer Fred 19:54
Interesting. Cicadas usually damage oaks, maples, cherry and other fruit trees, as well as red buds. Evergreens, according to the University of Maryland, are rarely used for egg laying, nor do they damage herbaceous plants and that includes vegetables. So it's really just young trees that are affected by this.
Debbie Flower 20:18
Yes, young deciduous trees, young trees that are well it said conifers, right. It didn't say all evergreen, so it could be evergreens.
Farmer Fred 20:28
It does say here about evergreens are, are so affected. So,
Debbie Flower 20:33
So there's that, okay. So they're laying their eggs and in deciduous trees, and at this time of year in May, we're going to have new growth, especially in a zone six B, I would expect there to be new growth on those trees. And that must be just the perfect type of wood type of stem that protects the eggs but also allows the female to put a hole in it where she lays those eggs.
Farmer Fred 21:00
Interesting that you might try to mulch them to death. But that doesn't work. We think of adding like three or four inches of mulch to suppress weeds, but it will not suppress the cicadas. Organic mulches spread around garden up to a three inch depth will not interfere with the cicada life cycle. Prop up or remove any items in your yard that cicadas might fall on.
Debbie Flower 21:21
Might fall on. Might fall on.
Farmer Fred 21:24
Yeah, well they do they drop. My one big interaction with cicadas was on a bike trip across the United States. And one night we camped out in Wheeling, West Virginia in a park. And it was very, it was very noisy. And I'm glad I was in my tent because I could hear things dropping on the tent all night long. So I think that's what they're referring to there.
Debbie Flower 21:49
Right. So the, the female lays the eggs in those stems, and I assume she dies after that. That's typical in the insect world. And the male's already died, he usually dies after mating. And so that's just left with the eggs and then the eggs hatch. And then first nymph, or first young lifecycle of the cicada comes out of that egg. And they dropped to the soil where they feed on sap from the roots. But apparently, it is not enough damage underground to worry about that portion of the lifecycle The only portion that is harmful to the garden, or to humans or pets, they do not harm humans or pets. So the only harm that these cicadas are causing is they're putting those slits in the young wood of deciduous trees. And that causes, the term is flagging. And that just means a branch that's hanging in the tree but not doing well. So you're seeing discoloration, probably yellowing, it might die turn brown, the leafs might shrivel up, that's a symptom, that whole collection of symptoms is called flagging. So you see flagging in the tree, and that's an indication that the cicadas have used that tree as a place to have their family, it's not recommended to treat for them.
Farmer Fred 23:03
Another portion of your landscape that could be affected by the cicadas are ornamental ponds, and they should be covered with screening or plastic mesh to prevent them from accumulating in the water. Because large numbers of decomposing cicadas could cause problems with oxygen depletion in the water.
Debbie Flower 23:21
Yeah. That would be yucky.
Farmer Fred 23:23
Yes, it would be. But that screening, I mean that's the answer right there that Paige is looking for, that's how you would protect any of those young plants. And you'd want to use something with a with a pretty fine mesh, probably what, maybe three eighths of an inch or less?
Debbie Flower 23:40
Well, the the Maryland site suggests a quarter of an inch, the smaller you go, the less chance that they're going to get through that. So yes, a small mesh three eighths to a quarter of an inch would work. Or a floating row cover would also work that isn't a mesh, it's a spun fabric. But it would also work. You want to totally surround the canopy and then tie it to the trunk. It's not like we're protecting them from frost where we want this to drape all the way to the ground. And we want to collect the heat that's coming out of the ground. That's for frost. But for protecting from pests like this, we want to wrap the entire canopy which is the whole leaf area of the tree in this mesh or floating row cover and tie it to the tree and you want to do this before they emerge. The goal here is that the cicadas don't get to those stems on your young plant and lay their eggs there.
Farmer Fred 24:36
And I guess you could use, in a pinch, you could use row covers or maybe a very lightweight frost cloth. Just remember you don't want to leave it on there for too long and frankly the netting too is temporary, too, because what, they're up and gone and what six weeks or so, to between two and six weeks?
Debbie Flower 24:55
Right. So mark your calendar and then mark the six weeks out. And then you can take the cover off, right, because you do want bees, these are fruit trees, she's talking about apples and peaches, you do want pollinators to get in there. And so when it's covered, the pollinators are not likely to get in there in order to get fruit. Although her trees are young, maybe she's not quite at that stage of fruit bearing yet it can take a fruit tree a while to do that.
Farmer Fred 25:19
But still, a row cover would work temporarily and remember that the first course of action would be that small mesh netting and you could leave that on easily for six weeks. My guess that would interfere with pollination, right?
Debbie Flower 25:34
Yeah. A lot of pollinator setters can get through a quarter inch. I can't think of any right off the bat that can get through a quarter inch mess and get to the flowers and pollinate so it could limit the ultimate production of fruit this year, but she said she just planted them last year, and that would be okay for the tree it would help it be fine for these young trees and the shrubs talking about blueberries to not bear fruit this year. It would help them to put most of the food into the roots growing a root system that that plant is going to need to bear bigger quantities of fruit in the future.
Farmer Fred 26:11
And Cornell University wisely points out that the cicadas can be attracted to the noise of a power tool so it's operator may become a temporary landing site for the insect. So keep that in mind as well. Debbie Flower I think we did a good job for not knowing much about cicadas, and answering Paige's questions. Thank you.
Debbie Flower 26:31
Always a pleasure, Fred.
Farmer Fred 26:42
The warmer weather means that fruit trees and berry bushes will soon spring to life with the promise of tasty, nutritious fresh fruit for you and your family. So what are you waiting for, a website with more information? Okay, you've got it. It's tomorrow's harvest.com. That's your go-to site for a complete line of backyard fruit trees and bushes. Tomorrow's Harvest fine line of fruit trees is the result of 75 years of developing, testing and growing. Three generations of the Burchell family have been at the forefront of research and development of plants of the highest quality and all of these beautiful, edible plants have been carefully cultivated for your home garden. Look for tomorrow's harvest fruit trees at better retail nurseries. And if your favorite nursery doesn't carry any of tomorrow's harvest fruit, nut and berry varieties, you can order them directly from tomorrow's harvest.com. And they'll come to you in Plantable Paper Pots, ready for you to stick directly in the ground, pot and all. Let the Burchell family's three generations of experience take root in your home orchard, Landscape and Garden. Tomorrow's harvest. It's goodness, you can grow. If you want to find out more about their nutritious and delicious fruit and nut varieties, visit tomorrow's harvest.com.
Farmer Fred 27:58
The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast has a lot of information posted at each episode: transcripts, links to any products or books mentioned during the show, and other helpful links for even more information. Plus, you can listen to just the portions of the show that interest you, it’s been divided into easily accessible chapters. Plus you’ll find more information about how to get in touch with us. Leave an audio question without making a phone call via Speakpipe, at speak pipe dot com slash gardenbasics. it’s easy, give it a try. And you just might hear your voice on the Garden Basics podcast! If you’re listening to us via Apple podcasts, put your question in the Ratings and Reviews section. Text us the question and pictures, or leave us your question at: 916-292-8964.916-292-8964. E-mail: fred@farmerfred.com . If you tell us where you’re from, that will help us greatly to accurately answer your garden questions. Because all gardening is local. In the show notes you’ll find links to all our social media outlets, including facebook, instagram, twitter, and youtube. Also, a link to the farmerfred.com website. And thanks for listening.
Farmer Fred 29:19
Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots. It’s available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, I Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, CastBox and Google podcasts. And for Northern California gardeners, check out this podcast: the Green Acres Garden Podcast with Farmer Fred, also available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.
