US119 flavor

[martweb]

I read that US119 should have a hint of banana and Mango flavor. Is that true?

[tmcclendon]

US 119 is very sweet even when first ripe. It has very little acid. However, when first ripe, there is a noticeable trifoliate aftertaste. It's not objectively objectionable, as in the Trifoliate parent. It's just there. Some people don't mind it, and others hate it. For many years I didn't think much of the fruit because of this characteristic. A few years ago, however, I tried fruit that had overwintered on the tree, very late in the season in March, and it was delicious. The trifoliate taste was gone, and the fruit (still very sweet) had what I would call "tropical overtones." I'm not sure I would describe it as banana or mango, just something...different. It's now one of my favorite cold-hardy citrus.

[Florian]

Its fruit will always split open shortly before maturity if not grown in ideal conditions (which I don't have). I gave mine away after never being able to taste a completely ripe fruit.

[jibro]

Maybe US119 can benefit from calcium fertilizers too to reduce fruit splitting...

Foliar Ca sprays, reduce splitting, creasing (=albedo breakdown) and pitting diseases of oranges and mandarins. For example, Spanish works showed that two calcium nitrate sprays during the summer, reduced splitting of oranges and mandarins.

www.yara.us/crop-nutrition/citrus/role-of-calcium/