How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

How many of you grow oranges?
Got my first orange tree today it's a Republic of Texas Orange tree today @ plantsale.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I grow Hamlin Oranges. :^)

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

Hi Cathy,
I have been the lucky owner of a 25+ year old Minneola Tangelo tree the previous owner planted. The fruit are so sweet my friends beg for them. I dont know much about young citrus but I will share a recent discovery. For the first 20 years I only used chemical fertilizer. For the last 16 months I have started using a bagged compost mix. This year I have my biggest crop ever after 2 decent crops the years before. I was definitlely not expecting much this year based on past experience. The mix has mushroom compost, chicken manure, blood meal, and feather meal. Summer Winds Nursery has this mix for $8/2cf. Its a very nice mix worth the money.
Hope your tree grows well
Larry

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

You appear to live in Texas City and when I looked it up I got an 8b for hardiness zone. This surprises me if I got it right. Cold weather is an important factor. You certainly can grow oranges in Zone 8B. If you do occasionally get winter nights below 26 F or lower for 5 hours or more I suggest looking into strategies for dealing with cold when the trees are younger. The nearer you are to the water the more moderate will be the extreme colder temperatures. I suggest looking at satsuma oranges since they have very good cold resistance and they are really sweet orange/tangerine like in taste/texture.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I grow oranges, grapefruit, tangelos.and lemons.Forget the 5 hours below 28 degrees it will kill a young tree. In Florida where I live it is not advised to let the trees go more than a couple of hours under 28 degrees. How we do it in Florida is spray the trees down with water on nights when temps will reach below 28 degrees.Or cover you trees and use Christmas light wrapped around the tree then cover then. But no LED light. They don't give off any heat. What zone do you live in.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

the one thing i can say is keep a sharp eye out for pests and other unwanted parasites,,real problem here in florida..have to keep on it..scale,leaf miners..invest in or go to local extention service for fruit fly trap..

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

Well I believe its more like 9a almost if its not 9b. Being that close to the water I think you could grow anything you want. I can tell you my hamlins have some burnt leaves after taking 28F but are in good shape.. :^)

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I grow mostly clemenule mandarin that I grafted to a pomelo which is very successful graft. But I am starting to graft clementine to my other pomelo tree because of its sweetness. But I have calamondin, navel and caracara.
You can see my citrus in my albums. I got lots of them.
Please visit my album.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

Some citrus is more resistant to cold than others. A short exposure at 28 F does not seem to bother my satsumas grafted on to trifolium rootstock. I have a frame work built around my trees that I staple plastic to for when we get a hard freeze and spray water inside the structure. My neighbor at the top of hill does nothing and his trees are all good, although now they are larger trees. Many plant their tree next to the house on its southern side. In the winter I always cover with mulch the above the base of the graft to make sure that part is not killed, but some say that is not a good idea. Sometimes a cold snap can hit before you have prepared for it. I can at times get nights that dip below 20F in my 8b locale.

2woodensticks: thanks for the information about fruit fly traps. I have a problem with them on the fruit of a chickasaw plum.

i wondered about the computer search saying texas city was 8b since south Houston which is north of texas city is a zone 9. I looked it up again and this time I got for my zone Bottom line is that occasionally there will be weather that can kill younger citrus.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

mulching around the bottom of citrus trees in the winter is not the best ideal. The reason is that water gives off its heat slowly.If mulch is at the bottom of the tree in winter then this will stop the damp soil from giving off its heat at night.Also the sweeter the fruit the more heat they require.Lemons can take colder temps then oranges.I studied ag at the university of Florida and also at the university of Kentucky.I use to farm and wanted the knowledge.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I am not following the reasoning given for not mulching. Most of us in the local gulf states mulch our banana plants to protect the p stem from frost. The mulch acts as an insulator to prevent the greater heat (calories) of the plant and ground from dissipating to equilibrium in and with the atmosphere. Mulching was recommended for satsuma tree growers in AL by the State of AL Agricultural people to encourage orange growing in the northern gulf coast of Mexico.
It was not my understanding that most lemon cultivars were more resistant than satsumas. But I have to qualify my statements in that I am not an "expert".

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

i have a few types of citrus. kumquats on ponderosa lemon and or grapefruit root-stock. i get kumquat and i eat them when they get a touch of yellow or else they will seem dry when orange.

i have calamondin orange on a ponderosa lemon or grapefruit root-stock. i get small sour fruit every year.

i have clementine and tango grafted on t.o.r. i brought them both back from southern California last year. all i did was ask a guy about some oranges from his tree. a conversation started about oranges and tropicals / subtropicals..i told him i live in Georgia. he ended up practically giving me 6 trees in pots to take back with me. i got plenty flowers last year at planting.. maybe fruit will hold this year.

all of these things are in the ground. i have no luck with growing citrus or anything in pots long term.. i have no real issues but a few burned leaves on the calamondin orange. kumquat seems to be the most hardy of all of these citrus. no leaf drop and no yellowing.

i like citrus on the tart side so i don't grow sweet oranges. they probably wont take the cold here.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I would highly recommend the owari satsuma mandarin orange:

The owari satsuma also is one of the most if not the most cold hardy citrus orange you can get. I would say that most of the fruit of the owari satsuma is just as large if not larger than the Hamlin.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I want to thank everyone for their comments/ advice. It will be an experience for sure. Cant wait to get oranges. Hopefully we didnt plant it too close the peach tree.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

The reason for not mulching the bottom is simple. Water releases it heat slower than the soil. If mulch is planted at the bottom of the plant in winter the heat from moist soil can not be released into the air around the tree.It remains trapped under the mulch.The mulch may keep the soil around the tree roots warmer, but it will stop the heat of moist soil from rising up around the top of the tree. THE TREE SHOULD ALWAYS BE WELL WATERED BEFORE A COLD NIGHT. ALSO TURNING ON SPRINKLERS WILL CAUSE THE LEAVES AND FRUIT TO COVER WITH ICE KEEPING THE LEAVES AND FRUIT UNDER THE ICE AT 32 DEGREES. THIS PREVENTS FURTHER DAMAGE. By no means take my word for it. There are some excellent books out there on growing citrus. It is true that lemons will take colder temps than oranges. The sweeter the fruit the warm the temperature it requires.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

;; First you need to understand that if you are growing full size citrus trees in pots by no means will they live long. The average size of a mature orange tree is about 30 foot with a tree span of about 30 foot. This means the root span is about 30 foot.Can't be done in a pot. Your tree will become root bound. Kumquat will take colder temperatures than oranges. I do not know in what part of Georgia you live but Citrus tree are tropical evergreens. Northern Georgia is to cold for Citrus outside. You only need one cold night with prolong temps below 28 to kill your tree. Dwarf trees would do you better. But understand as a rule dwarf trees do not live as long as standard trees.Young trees do not hold their fruit well. Don't worry about this. The tree branches may be to small to retain the fruit

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

I have a RofT in NW Houston. (Magnolia) Very sweet and juicy fruit. Hard to peel though so the family continues to buy market oranges. Harumph. It didn't fruit for three years. RCW Nursery told me to fertilize organically three times a summer/fall. I did that and got a bumper crop this year. It may not survive this winter though since I decided not to wrap it. I have an excuse though -- I hurt my back pretty badly and can't walk. I just have to hope it is robust enough to survive. If the roots didn't freeze I have a chance I think.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

It got down to 17 here one night. The navel orange and meyer lemon is still alive.

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

If the freeze was brief the plants will be ok. You might see some leaf and fruit drop. If the fruit froze it will rot on the tree.

Where I grew up was once the heartland of Citrus in southern CA. I still remember the smell of smudge pots on winter mornings.
:08:

Re: How many of you grow oranges? Looking for tips/advise
 

Since my first post about my Tangelo tree I have harvested a handful of Tango mandarins (tangor?) and a handful of Clementine mandarins from 2 small trees that were allowed to fruit too soon. The fruit was great and since then I have been doing a lot of reading about mandarins and tangors. There are many delicious varieties with variable ripening times and I plan on growing many more of these in the future. I have Navel and Valencia oranges available from neighbors yards and nothing came close to the flavor of my little mandarins. My 2 tree's are still in containers and they need to be potted up soon. They are recovering nicely from my abuse and I could use advice on when to pot up. I don't plan on letting them fruit this year.
I may be selling my house this year and have not been putting anything in the ground for a while.