Orange Trees

[NickfromWI]

Hi errybody (that's how they say everybody on the current rap songs). I just moved to CA and we got a new house. In the back yard, there is a small grove of about 12-15 orange and mandarine trees. Most of them produce very good fruit and let's just say I am not lacking in the Vitamin C department.

So any tips on how to take care of them? I don't know exactly what species any of them is. I went through and deadwooded them this weekend. They look better now. My goal for these trees is

A) They continue to look like trees (no harsh pruning that I see in some fruit trees like in apple orchards)
B) They continue to produce fruit.

Some of them are very, very thick. These sames ones only have many, small green oranges that seem to not ripen, they just stay in a perpetual state of greenness. Maybe they will ripen at a different time of the year?

So, let's talk OJ. Any tips?


The things I've seen so far is to dead wood them, then get some mulch on the ground. It's hard red clay. It could use a little something to retain some of the moisture. That is on it's way. It was real thick in the grove, so I did some trimming so you could walk around and access all sides of each tree.

love
nick

 

[rumination]

My knowledge of citrus culture isn't really extensive, but I have worked in a citrus orchard and of course I live in Hawaii where citrus trees are abundant!

It sounds to me like you've done the important stuff already. When I worked as a pruner in a pomelo orchard I was taught to only take out deadwood and correct structural defects. Other than that no pruning was done. That seems to be the same approach most folks take to their citrus trees here in Hawaii (except for the ones that get topped ).

As for the small green fruit, that may be a tangerine, not an orange. There are some varieties of tangerine that never fully turn orange when they are ripe. You just gotta crack em open every week or so and see if they are making any progress in the sweetness department. It is easily probable that they would ripen at a slightly different time from the oranges. That said, I have also seen tangerine trees that would bear a large crop that never seemed to ripen at all. I don't know why that is. I'll ask around and see if I can find out for you.

It's never a bad idea to call the county ag extension agent. They usually have the lowdown on local problems with different crops.

Congrats on your house purchase and your new (to you) trees!

 

[Stumper]

Leon gave you one possible explanation for your green fruit. The other (which might never be a factor for Leon in Hawaii's consistent climate) is that Citrus sometimes have a second bloom and set fruit that matures months apart from the main crop.

 

[treebender]

nick,
ruminatation beat me to it, the ag extension office. wealth of info there. take them a soil sample, and they will come back with a good nutrition program, if needed. here in tennessee they are willing to come out and do a walk thru with you! call a local certified arborist in the yellow pages(they will have a logo to that effect in their ad). an hour with a good local guy is worth a consulting fee. here in tn we get about $50/hr.


deadwooding pruning is good, mulch is good, (keep it back off the main stem.) a little extra water when it's dry is good.

mainly, keep an eye out for weirdness. know how your trees should look. learn a bit about major pest and disease issues.
when your picking your fresh backyard citrus and mailing some to tennessee, look around and catch problems early.

most fruit production requires some kind of pruning at interval, if nothing else to reduce the weight of all that good fruit so the tree does not hurt itself.

no clue to the specifics of citrus. good luck!

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Orange Pest

This came by today re orange trees.
Something to look out for?:

The latest addition to the Featured Creatures Web site is

citrus flatid planthopper, Metcalfa pruinosa

found on citrus and a number of ornamental woody plants.

It is common in eastern North America, ranging from Ontario and Quebec
to Florida, west to the Great Plains states, south to Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, California, and Mexico.

The author is Frank Mead, DOACS-DPI.

A link is available on the UF/IFAS Pest Alert site.

The UF/IFAS Pest Alert WWW site is available at
http://extlab7.entnem.ufl.edu/PestAlert/

Instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing to
the UF/IFAS Pest Alert listserv are available on site

 

[leweee]

lime tree

that green fruited citrus tree wouldn't be a lime ? maybe

 

[crosscut tree]

fertilze often ignore the urge to mulch and just ignore the so called experts. trust me you will be more than happy unless you are growing for commercial use

 

[rumination]

Originally posted by crosscut tree
fertilze often ignore the urge to mulch and just ignore the so called experts. trust me you will be more than happy unless you are growing for commercial use

what's wrong with mulch?

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

I heard that firewood from orange trees delivers more heat than wood from any other type. Too bad orange trees ony grow where you don't really need much for heating your home.

Anyways, you know what my advive is going to be for what to do with the orange trees. :angel:

 

[NickfromWI]

Ignore mulching? sounds silly to me.

love
nick

 

[JeffE]

Hey Nick- now that you're in the right climate, get an avacado tree growing, if you've got the space in that orchard. That's something I found out when I worked in southern CA for a year: avacados from backyard trees are excellent!

 

[rumination]

Right on about the avocado Jeff. Just make sure it's a good grafted variety and not grown from seed.



mmmmm...guacamole!

 

[NickfromWI]

Avocado? We've got one! There is no fruit on it right now, but it's about 30' tall, only spreadying maybe 10-15 feet. Not huge. I'm just wondering when I get to start making my own guacamole!

love
nick

 

[techdave]

Citrus and Avocado

Hi Nick, what county are you in? We are inEastern San Diego county. Since you have already removed deadwood, the only other thing to do is keep up with the watering. It has been almost 40 years since I helped my grandfather with orange groves, but I do remember something besides how hard picking them is!!LOL.A basin wall of dirt about 4 inches high about halfway out to the dripline has always worked well for my family. Check with county aG is good idea. As for Avos, there are dwarfs avail that will give fuit in 2nd or 3rd year and produce massive quantities of fruit in a LT 10 foot tall tree. In both oranges and avos if you plant the right mix of treest you can get almost year round fruit. If you are in coastal So Cal you can put in passionfruit or cherimoya---yummy!! Good luck and good eating.

 

[Treeman14]

Mulching citrus trees is discouraged since it can cause mold and rotting problems. You'll never see mulch in a commercial citrus grove. In fact, the ground is usually kept bare (sand) within the drip line. Fertilize lightly and often (low N, high P,K).

 

[rumination]

Originally posted by Treeman14
Mulching citrus trees is discouraged since it can cause mold and rotting problems. You'll never see mulch in a commercial citrus grove. In fact, the ground is usually kept bare (sand) within the drip line. Fertilize lightly and often (low N, high P,K).

Well, I'll be danged. I didn't know that.

 

[NickfromWI]

We are in Vista, 2 or maybe 3 miles from the ocean. I'd call that coastal.

Regarding the mulching, I noticed that the ground is very dry...cracking open from the dryness, in fact. There is an irrigation system on it that was set up by the previous owner. It waters daily, but I don' t know for how long (never paid attention yet). My naive wisconsin mind said, "Hey, put a bit of mulch here and conserve some of this moisture!" I see what you mean about it being bad, but not sure if that's right yet. It's counter-intuitive to me. I will contact the local county extension office. Is that something I can find in the yellow pages. I would be so excited if they sent a local "expert" to my house to let me know how to take care of these trees. I noticed a lot of dead in these trees. It's amazing- some branches will be totally dead with brittle twigs and not a leaf on them, but out toward the end there would be one fat, juicy orange hanging off of it. I just ate the orange and cut the branch!

Is there any reason to not pull all the ripe oranges off? I am going through these yummy fruit like they're free! And.....ants. The trees are crawling with ants. Is this to be expected?

Thanks guys!

love
nick

 

[techdave]

Hi Nick, per last years' phone book the county Ag+home horticulture line is 858.694.2845 I dont think they send someone out, but they can answer ??? I think the University of California has an AGricultural extension too. FWIW I agree with treeman 14, we would pull all weeds close to the trunk and use a scuffle hoe farther out towards the dripline. If the tree is fullsize try to keep the interior free of excessive crossers and suckers. You will be scratched a lot by anything growing in there come picking time. Same for lemon only WORSE. Once established oranges or lemons are are almost unkillable. We have wife's granny old Orangetree and even with benign neglect it is still a strong producer after 30 years! And that is here in Jamul where it gets below freezing regularly in winter! A good rule of thumb in SoCal is to look for Sumac, Malosma laurina, as if it grows wild in an area the winters are probably wild enough for citrus and Avocados. HTH Dave.