Navel Orange Tree

I was looking a little closer at my Navel orange tree and realized that there are two oranges at the end of each branch. So, I will be removing one from each branch, and then the tree won't be overloaded this year. Besides that, the oranges will be bigger, and they taste oh-so-good!

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!

What's Been Eating My Oranges?

For the last three years I have had something eating a few of my Valencia oranges. I find little bits of peel on the ground and a few days later an orange that looks like the one in the picture falls. I always thought it was migrating birds that were pecking the oranges open and eating the fruit. I finally put the puzzle together. The cat that was living here (the one that bit and scratched me) brought a couple of dead rats, over the space of a few days, to the door and left them for us. I went online and found that the rats are roof rats. They do live in trees and shrubs, plus attics and crawl spaces under houses, and will eat oranges. I also read where people asked if they could feed oranges to their pet rats. The answer for them was that if male rats eat oranges, the d-limonene builds up in their kidneys and causes cancer. Too bad it doesn't work that way on the female rats. I have never seen any rats running in our yard or trees as they are nocturnal, but I suppose that's what I have. The house on the other side of the fence that's next to the orange tree has been empty for the last couple of years and maybe that's where they came from.

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!