Technically a tangerine, the Sugar Belle is a hybrid of a Minneola (Honeybell) and a Spanish Clementine. Developed at the University of Florida, it’s a vigorous grower purported to hold up well the against citrus greening disease that has ravaged large-scale Florida orange production.
Robust-flavored, sweet and juicy, the fruit resembles a Honeybell, bright orange with the “knob” characteristic of oranges that contain some grapefruit genes.
SW-K-4 was obtained as a 25-gallon tree from Fruitscapes Nursery on Pine Island in early 2019, joining our two smaller Sugar Belle’s that were planted in 2017.