Gold Nugget Mandarin

Gold Nugget Mandarin

In Season from December until February.
‘Gold Nugget’ Mandarin is consistently seedless in mixed plantings with a wide variety of other citrus cultivars, including mandarins, pummelos, and oranges. The fruit has a rich, sweet taste and bright orange rind at maturity. The fruit are slightly flat, about 2 inches high and 2.5 inches in diameter, and weigh 2.5 to 5.3 ounces. Younger trees tend to have larger fruit than older trees, but it is likely that the size of fruit on older trees can be increased by pruning or thinning. In Riverside and the San Joaquin Valley of California, fruit reach maturity in January or February and hold well on the tree with little granulation into April or even June in some years. Early in the season, fruit may develop rind color, acceptable solids and acid ratio but still have a juice percentage too low for acceptable eating quality. Rind color changes from green to bright orange between December 15 and January 10 in most years. Rinds tend to be coarse, particularly on young trees. The rind is of medium thickness, about 4 to 5 millimeters. The fruit peels fairly easy. The tree is a medium size and moderately vigorous (4 to 5 year old trees are about 8 feet tall) with a fairly upright shape. Like most mandarins, it is prone to alternate bearing. Crop ratings suggest that trees are productive in most locations, except in the Coachella Valley, where yields and fruit quality have varied greatly over the years. In some years, blossom end splitting is a problem and can lead to moderate crop loss, particularly if fruit are held into March or later. The major advantage of ‘Gold Nugget’ over other cultivars is that it combines seed-lessness and excellent flavor with late maturity and the ability to hold well on the tree. No other commercial mandarin cultivar combines these attributes.