Public varieties
(listed in alphabetical order)
Afourer (syn. W. Murcott and Nadocott)
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
Afourer is well established worldwide and the volume on the local market has been increasing as a result of plantings in Moora, West Gingin and Harvey. Harvest peaks in late August, well after full colour development, so harvest timing should be based on maturity testing.
Fruit develops a highly attractive, deep orange-red colour, is easy to peel and has good flavour. It is medium size but can crop heavily in some years, requiring thinning to enhance size. Colour bleach or patchiness has also been seen in some seasons and may be weather dependent.
Although seedless if grown in isolation, it can be quite seedy in mixed plantings. New seedless strains have become available and are protected by PBR (see Tango).
Caffin Clementine
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
This Clementine matures slightly earlier than Nules and colours better, but fruit quality cannot be maintained on the tree for as long. Biennial bearing has been observed at all sites. Trees are more compact and less vigorous than other Clementines, but can be very dense so require pruning. Some plantings have been made to capitalise on its early maturity.
Daisy
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
Developed by the US Department of Agriculture in California, this early to mid-season variety matures at a similar time to Imperial. Fruit is a glossy red-orange, has good eating qualities and keeps well on the tree. The fruit can be quite seedy — 15 to 20 seeds per fruit — when grown with other seeded varieties.
Daisy has consistently cropped well in trial plantings in WA and fruit size has been good, even when trees carry a heavy crop. Limb damage can occur if trees are allowed to overcrop. In some areas, fruit splitting during mid to late cell expansion has been a problem.
Some local plantings of Daisy were made but problems with trees grown on Swingle Citrumelo (tree decline) and susceptibility to fruit spotting caused by the fungal disease Alternaria alternata, has resulted in a decline in popularity and few trees now remain.
New PBR-protected seedless strains are expected in the future.
Hickson
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
This productive, mid to late season variety originated from Queensland. Fruits have seeds but are easy to peel and have good flavour and colour.
Detailed pruning is required in early years to separate the branches because the variety is prone to bad crotch angles. It is also susceptible to limb splitting under crop load if the main branches are not staggered.
Trees often suffer from ‘winter yellows’ and can look very yellow at the end of winter and early spring. Biennial bearing is also often observed. In recent years, some resistance to purchasing this variety has developed, and market preference has shifted to the variety Afourer resulting in only small numbers of Hickson trees remaining in Western Australia.
Imperial
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
This widely planted and popular variety is harvested from mid-May to August, depending on location. Fruits have some seeds but excellent colour and flavour, and thin, smooth, glossy and easy-to-peel rind.
Quality can sometimes disappoint as fruits are susceptible to watermark and prone to internal drying (granulation), especially on sandy soils. Irrigation and nutrition requirements must be met and fruit must be harvested at the optimal time.
The variety is incompatible with some rootstocks and may develop a biennial bearing habit that can be partially mitigated by chemical thinning in the heavy crop year.
Murcott
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
This is an attractive, juicy thin-skinned variety popular in the marketplace. It is renowned for its eating qualities, with particularly high sugar levels. High seed numbers can be a major drawback.
Overcropping is another recognised problem and fruit can be small if not thinned adequately. Fruit reaches optimum maturity in September/October but, if held on the tree too long, skins become leathery and difficult to peel.
Instances of sudden tree death on some rootstocks are common. New PBR-protected low-seeded strains are now available (see Mor, IRM1 and IRM2).
In Western Australia few Murcotts are still grown and the majority of production is in Queensland.
Mystique
Available through local nurseries.
This seedling selection of Ortanique originated in WA and has very similar characteristics and appearance to Ortanique and another Ortanique selection, Topaz.
Fruits have excellent internal and external colour, excellent flavour and are very juicy but they can be difficult to peel.
Like Ortanique, fruits will hang on the tree for a long time. The harvest period starts in September and goes through to November. Fruit are seedless when trees are grown in isolation but seedy in mixed plantings.
Trees can be thorny if vigour is not controlled and very thorny shoots need to be pruned out. Good volumes of fruit were sold on the local market following large plantings around West Gingin, Chittering and Harvey however some resistance developed in the market because of excessive fruit size and some fruit being difficult to peel. As a consequence the planted area of Mystique declined for a period but this has stabilised in recent years.
Nules Clementine
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
Nules is the best of the established Clementine selections in WA and is currently the major Clementine grown here. It is one of the most important varieties in Spain.
The fruits have good eating qualities and keep better on the tree than most other Clementine selections. Fruits are a reasonable size and ripen in late April, about three weeks after Marisol. Fruit ripen internally before colour has fully developed and de-greening will be required if harvested early.
Three new selections of Clementine have recently been trialled in WA — Nour, Orogrande and Sidi Aissa. These vary from Nules in their maturity time and ability to hang on the tree. Although some may have niche potential, they are unlikely to replace Nules as the main Clementine variety.
Satsumas (Japanese mandarins)
Available through Auscitrus and local nurseries.
Two varieties of satsuma mandarin are currently grown in small numbers in WA, Miho Wase and Okitsu Wase. Both varieties ripen early, in early to mid April in the West Gingin area. Like other Japanese mandarins they have no seeds and require de-greening as internal maturity occurs before full colour development.
Fruit will not keep well on the tree and must be picked at optimum maturity or they become puffy, soft and develop off flavours. Sugar levels are often low in satsuma mandarins and they require a high degree of tree and water management to produce marketable quality fruit. Both these varieties have good cold tolerance.