University of Georgia (UGA) County Extension Coordinator Jake Price recently provided an update on a row of Sugar Belles planted at a Georgia research plot in 2018. The Sugar Belle planting originally had 20 trees on four different rootstocks. Each rootstock was replicated five times. The rootstocks used were US-852, US-942, US-897 and Rubidoux.
“After the December 2022 freeze, the trees on Rubidoux withstood the freeze much better than trees on the other rootstocks,” Price reported. “Two trees on US-852 have been lost, while there has been breakage of large limbs on the others due to cold damage and Hurricane Helene.
“Despite all of that, this was the most productive year for the Sugar Belles. The fruit is a beautiful deep orange to red color. The fruit colors very well in early December, and in most years is ready to pick by mid-December. The Brix will continue to rise in the fruit. In January, the Brix is in the 14 to 15 range.
“The fruit size can vary greatly on the tree, with larger crops resulting in smaller fruit. I have heard small fruit has been a problem in Sugar Belles grown in Florida. The fruit also has seeds. A couple of years ago, I counted seeds per fruit. The average was four seeds per fruit, which was less than I thought.
“The acid content is about twice that of a satsuma. This combined with high Brix makes a delicious tangy fruit.”
Table 1 shows the Sugar Belle yields for 2024.
“We did leave about 40 fruit per tree to sample throughout January, so the actual yields will be 10 to 20 pounds higher,” Price reported.
He also recently reported on the Nov. 19 harvest of fruit from six Owari satsuma trees on X-639 rootstock; learn more here.
Source: Georgia Citrus Association
Share this Post
Sponsored Content