Peaches are Georgia’s signature crop, and the state is one of the nation’s leading producers of peanuts, pecans and blueberries. However, the 100 acres of citrus at Franklin’s Citrus Farm in Statesboro show that satsumas, tangerines, oranges and grapefruit can give the state’s flagship produce a run for the money.
Joe Franklin didn’t set out to be a citrus farmer. He was raising cattle in Bulloch County, supplying his family’s restaurant in Statesboro and leasing some of his hundreds of acres of land for cotton farming.
It was on a 2009 fishing trip to Louisiana that he and some friends first encountered satsuma mandarins. The fruit was being sold from pickup trucks parked along the side of the road. “We had never heard of them,” Franklin said, “but once I tried one, I was hooked. Sweet, juicy, no seeds and easy to peel. What more could you ask for?”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
In 2010, he bought 200 satsuma trees and had them shipped to Georgia. Fifteen years later, the farm has 16,000 citrus trees in more than a dozen varieties and Franklin plants hundreds more trees each year. He estimated the farm harvests between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds of fruit annually.
Franklin drives through the rows of trees each day in his Honda Ridgeline, to determine what’s ready for harvest. Recently, he pointed out the first trees he planted near the white-columned home he built in 1994, the most recently planted trees, the ones that aren’t doing well because they were hit by frost and those that fared a bit better because they’re growing along the tree line and are protected from the most extreme temperatures.
Winter weather makes growing citrus in Georgia a bit of a gamble. Kumquat and satsuma trees tolerate temperatures as low as 15 degrees, but orange and lemon trees are only cold-hardy to the mid-20s. When a freeze is predicted, Franklin, partner Bill Renz and their crew set up sprinklers that water the lower level of the trees. With care, the trees might survive, but the fruit on them can freeze if temperatures are in the upper 20s.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
On his drives through the grove, Franklin samples the fruit, using a Brix refractometer to measure the sugar level by putting a few drops of juice on the clear glass of the meter. For example, when a shiranui mandarin has a Brix reading of at least 16, it’s time to start picking.
Harvesting isn’t as simple as pulling fruit off the trees. Satsumas are easy to peel, but that means that if they’re pulled off, a piece of the peel will stay on the tree. Each fruit must be painstakingly clipped by hand, a job done by Franklin’s crew, which numbers just over 20 people.
In January, the variety of citrus available at Franklin’s Citrus Farm is at its peak. Satsumas are on their way out then, but Meyer lemons, tangelos, navel oranges, gold nugget mandarine oranges, ruby grapefruit, tangerines and shiranui mandarins have reached peak sweetness.
Franklin also grows several varieties of kumquats and some unusual citrus, such as yuzu lemons.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
In season, the farm’s citrus is available by mail order, as well as at 14 farmers markets in the Atlanta area. There also is a farm stand on U.S. 301, southwest of Statesboro. It’s open daily, selling citrus in season — generally October through February — and local fruit and vegetables (some grown on the farm) throughout the year.
Near the farm stand, customers can pick their own satsumas, bingo mandarins and kumquats when they’re in season, and during the year the farm also offers you-pick for strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and sunflowers. Franklin is experimenting with peaches and Asian pears as well.
His only regret is that he didn’t start growing citrus sooner. “I promise you, it’s going to be a big thing for Georgia farmers,” he said.
Franklin’s Citrus Farm. 10610 Highway 301 S., Statesboro. 912-259-9887, georgiacitrus.com
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