Protected Varieties Managed by the NVDMC
Sugar Belle™
The long awaited UF-IFAS Sugar Belle™ Mandarin hybrid is now available. Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc. has issued an exclusive USA license to New Varieties Development & Management Corp. (NVDMC). Interested growers, nurseries and packers should contact NVDMC for more information. Florida Budwood is now available for nurseries. The Sugar Belle™ resembles a Minneola/Honeybell , but matures 4-6 weeks earlier, has superior interior and exterior color and flavor that equals or exceeds the Honeybell. This is not a mild mannered fruit. The flavor is very robust and distinctive. The Sugar Belle™ has performed very well in consumer evaluations, with a strong “likeliness to buy” factor. The trees are very vigorous and require horticultural manipulation to control size and cropping. Fruit can be seedy when grown in mixed blocks or when cross pollinated – but can be greatly reduced through specific horticultural practices. UF-IFAS reports success reducing seed counts to less than 3 per fruit. Florida growers will be glad to know that Sugar Belle™ foliage and fruit show greater tolerance of Alternaria than Minneola, minimizing fungicide applications.
NVDMC is pleased to announce that it has the contract to commercialize the Tango in Florida. The Tango was developed at the University of California Riverside and has been planted extensively in California over the past several years. The Tango is a seedless mandarin that has excellent internal and external color. Flavor is very nice. An early non-seedless version of the Tango has been grown for approx 8 years in Florida – and these mature in early December. It is expected that the Tango will also mature in early December and will hold on the tree for several months. The production area for the Tango is estimated to be approx Haines City – north. The variety is not expected to perform well in the Indian River or flatwoods areas. However, there are growers in Lake Wales and areas in the Indian River and down south who want to give it a try. What makes the Tango unique is that it produces a crop very early, and young trees bear high quality marketable fruit – as opposed to the lower quality fruit that is typically associated with young trees.
More information is available about the Tango (including pictures) at the University of California Riverside’s site: http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/documents/TangoInformationSheet-Version2.pdf. Interested growers should contact NVDMC. Budwood is presently being increased. Trees are not yet available.
