Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

I can't find them anywhere, and they're by far the best citrus (IMO)

Anyone know why the Aussies aren't that into them? Or even better, where we can get them from?

Re: Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

I lived near the MIA (Griffith NSW ) and knew a few growers who had a few (as in very few ) trees. They do very poorly in Aust. and are very short season,
Afourer or seedless Imperial are more productive / lucrative .

Re: Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

They're known here as mandarin oranges. Just look for the seedless or very-few-seeds varieties at the farmer's market, fruit shops, and supermarkets.

If you live in the tropic or subtropic, you can grow your own, isolated from other citrus fruit trees, and you'll have them seedless.

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/plant/Mandarin.htm

Mrs JTL

Re: Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

Can be grown any where in Australia , MIA in NSW, Riverland in SA and Sunraysia in VIC are the main citrus areas because they have frosts and cold snaps ,which increases the sugar level in citrus

Re: Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

We get Clementines down here. They are sometimes confused with imperial mandarins but that is happening less often nowadays.

They are not available all year round. If they are more than $5/kg then they are from the US if they are less than $5/kg then there are local.

Imperial mandarins are a good substitute but some batches can be very pippy. A new one on me this year was the Nova mandarin which unfortunately only seemed to be available for a couple of weeks. Hopefully it'll become more common in future (like Nicola potatoes).

Re: Why no Clementines in Australia?
 

The cold snaps and frosts are great for stone fruit, but not for citrus.

The reason most citrus are grown in regions you mention is because of the soil quality near the rivers. Many citrus trees can tolerate cold weather to some degree but prolonged periods of frost can and do kill them unless they're protected.

Most mandarins in Australia (of which clementine is one variety) are grown in Queensland.

Mrs JTL