- Author: Therese Kapaun
Dr. Mikeal Roose (Dept. of Botany and Plant Sciences, UC Riverside) attends the first harvest of a new rootstock trial located south of LREC in a private orchard. The research trial consists of 300 trees of Tango mandarin on many different rootstocks. The fruit was picked into the small totes shown here, which prevents delicate mandarin varieties from being crushed, as compared to oranges which are normally picked into 24-carton fruit bins weighing 900 lbs. After harvest, the trees were measured for size and an overall tree health rating was given. Additional data generated from the LREC packline includes individual fruit size, weight, °Brix, color, and texture. These measurements help the researcher gauge the performance of specific rootstocks for Tango mandarin.