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Murcott (Honey Tangerine)
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Type and parentage: Probably a hybrid of a tangerine and sweet orange
Average diameter (inches): 2 3/4
Seeds per fruit: 10-20
Commercial harvest season: January - March
Although the Murcott does not have an attractive exterior color, it is an excellent eating quality fruit with thin skin and good internal flesh color and high sugar content. Trees tend to alternate bear. Heavy cropping can result in extensive limb breakage and tree collapse. The condition may be partially alleviated by extra fertilizer applications and early fruit thinning by pruning during heavy fruiting years. Trees on trifoliate and trifoliate hybrid rootstocks such as Carrizo citrange and Swingle citrumelo also appear to develop a scion-budunion incompatibility at about 10 years or older, a problem which can further contribute to tree collapse. Such incompatibility combined with the overcropping enhances tree collapse and death. Trees are normally
cold hardy, but are highly susceptible to cold damage when heavily laden. Fruit are also highly susceptible to cold injury. During on years, fruit drop can be heavy, often associated with fruit splitting. The fruit is susceptible to scab and highly susceptible to windscar and sunburn because of the exposed nature of the fruit borne on the outside of the tree canopy.
Selections available at the Immokalee Foundation:
MU-S-130-1-1-S-X-E: A sister tree to the 130-1-1-N. Open pollinated seedlings near Bradenton in Manatee County.
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 1999
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration
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