Sun Chu Sha Kat Mandarin Budwood

Citrus reticulata.

The Sun-Chu-Sha-Kat mandarin is a rootstock cultivar introduced to the United States in 1921 from Szwai, Kwangtung Province, China. 

The Sun-Chu-Sha-Kat is an ancient Chinese cultivar. A small fruit with a very delicious. quite tart taste and tender flesh. The colour of the rind is a deep red and that the tree grows well on sandy soils. This cultivar, the Kobeni-mikan or Citrus erythrosa, is not only common in China, but also in Japan and Assam. One of the key identification characters of the Sun-Chu-Sha-Kat is the very bright reddish-orange color of the rind.

Sun Chu Sha has a high survival rate to citrus blight (young tree decline or Y.T.D.), and was also tolerant to Tristeza and to Phytophthora parasitica (gummosis).  Citrus trees on this rootstock tended to accumulate magnesium when grown on magnesium deficient soils in Florida.

The Sun-Chu-Sha-Kat resistance to Tristeza as a rootstock was tested at the Irvine South Coast Field Station. The inoculated trees showed no reaction to Tristeza.

In other tests conducted by the U.S.D.A. agricultural research department, similar rootstock trials on calcareous soils in Texas established that the Sun Chu Sha was a satisfactory rootstock for grapefruit, mandarins hybrids, and sweet orange. However, lower yields were reported for the mandarin hybrids on the Sun Chu Sha Kat than on similar trees on sour orange rootstock.

The Sun-Chu-Sha-Kat resistance to Tristeza as a rootstock was tested at the Irvine South Coast Field Station. The inoculated trees showed no reaction to Tristeza.

Rootstocks of accession:  Carrizo citrange, C-35 citrange.

Season of ripeness at Riverside, California:  February to April.

Prepared by the Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at The University of California Riverside.