Orange Blossoms

They may be a little later than usual, but that's OK---my navel orange tree is starting to bloom! My tangerine and Valencia orange trees are still holding back. Normally, all of my citrus is blooming by April 1st. As long as they are healthy and producing, I guess I can wait a couple of extra weeks to pick fruit!

Last week I went on a 6-hour clean-up spree in my back yard. I ended up under my navel orange tree and saw that there was a great need to remove several large branches, which I did. I didn't know if it would set the tree back or not, I guess time will tell. There were a couple of water sprouts, branches that shoot straight up and don't produce fruit, that were about 2 1/2-3 inches thick, that I removed; plus, another two branches that were too low or pushing against our fence. I needed to do this before the sun gets too hot this summer, so the tree can produce enough leaves to cover the more exposed parts of the tree. Citrus trunks and interior areas can get sun-scald, like a bad sun-burn, which can kill the tree.

Oranges

My Valencia Orange tree is really loaded with fruit this year, and ripens in May. I have thinned them somewhat, but not nearly enough, and now it is too late. Citrus tend to produce a large crop one year and then nothing the next. If I can thin the oranges early enough, then I can have a decent crop each year. Usually, my citrus is blooming around the first of April, but this year they still aren't blooming; although, they are getting ready to!

My Favorite Time of Year!

I love when my Valencia orange tree blooms! The scent is heavenly, and if I am lucky, it is warm enough outside to open the windows, and have nature's perfume fill the house! My navel orange, tangerine, and lemon trees are blooming, too. Now is the time for the first citrus feeding. The second one will be in 4 weeks; and, then last feeding 4 weeks from that. This will help you to have sweet fruit NEXT year.

Citrus Damage Shows Up After Freezes

From The Fresno Bee, January 4, 2010, by Elinor Teague:

Before the hard frosts in December, our six mature grapefruit and orange trees were loaded with ripe fruit. About one-fifth of that fruit has fallen from the trees during the last few weeks. The fallen fruit looks good, but the interior pulp is slightly discolored and seems to be dried out.

This is the result of freeze damage to citrus. Most of the fallen fruit was carried on outer branches where it was completely exposed to the cold.

The fruit on inner branches that was sheltered from the below-freezing temperatures does not seem to be adversely affected (very tasty, as a matter of fact). Our trees show no other signs of freeze damage, but the damage from the freezes may not show for several weeks or months, and the extent of severe damage may not become apparent for another year.

Light cold injury to citrus will show in two to four weeks as leaves and new shoots that look burned or dead. Limb die-back, a sign of moderate damage, will continue for several months through the spring.

Severe cold damage in which the scion [shoots or twigs] and the top limbs are killed may not be obvious until mid-summer.

Pruning out damaged branches and limbs must be postponed until the extent of injury is obvious. The goal of pruning citrus after freeze damage is to preserve as much of the trees' framework and foliage as possible and to prevent or control the growth of new suckers.

Citrus trees begin to regain their full vigor in late winter and early spring after the crop is harvested. The reinvigorated trees' first response to freeze damage is to produce new sucker growth.

Damaged leaves and twigs on the exterior canopy of lightly freeze-damaged citrus can be sheared, retaining as much foliage as possible to support the root system and the new crop.

Lightly damaged trees should produce few suckers. On trees that have suffered moderate damage, prune dead limbs back to a strong shoot or branch and remove excess suckers throughout the year (they're easy to snap off at the base when small).

Severely damaged trees may need professional help to be properly restructured.

Remove damaged fruit and fertilize lightly damaged trees as usual. To prevent excess sucker growth, feed moderately and severely damaged trees lightly or not at all this year.

Once again, PAR (Plant A Row for the Hungary) is collecting extra citrus to be distributed through the Salvation Army's or Community Food Bank's network of food pantries. You can deliver your extra citrus to PAR on Saturday and March 13th at the Garden of the Sun from 9 a.m. until noon.

Citrus Splitting

Do you have citrus trees with fruit that looks like this picture? There are several possible reasons for citrus splitting.

Fluctuations in the weather, temperature and watering cause fruit split in citrus, especially in navel oranges. A period of high humidity followed by a dry period can trigger the splitting effect. Usually only a few fruit on any given tree are affected. Monitor for extreme or sudden climate changes and keep the soil under citrus trees evenly and consistently moist, not soggy, to alleviate the problem as much as possible. Irrigate when the top 3-4 inches of soil have dried out.

From the October Master Gardener newsletter]

Citrus Trees

Do you have an orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine or kumquat tree? These are citrus trees. This picture is of my Valencia orange tree, which has ripe fruit from May through the first part of August.

Citrus trees need pruning and fertilizing, but their needs are different than other fruit trees, such as peaches or apples. Pruning citrus is more for shaping, and removing dead branches and twigs. Be careful when pruning so as not to expose the bark to direct sunlight, because it will easily sunburn. Not long after we moved into our present home (1985), before I knew how to properly care for citrus, I limbed-up this tree, to make it look more like a tree instead of a huge bush. I saw first-hand how bad sunburned bark can be, I thought I killed the tree. It took a couple of years for the bark to scar over, and as you can see, it is still very productive. Be careful and don't do what I did! I have two other citrus trees (see April 29th post) that I will be shaping this week.

Fertilizing citrus is done in late February and then repeated twice at six-week intervals. This is important to the health of the tree and its production of fruit.

Something that I learned this year about tangerines---if they are covered during blooming, so that the bees can't get to the blossoms, the fruit will not have any seeds. Commercially, the farmers are diligent in keeping beehives far away from their orchards, so that the tangerines that go to market are nearly seed-free. My tangerines have always been really seedy, so I will be covering my tree next spring!