Sweet bounty of oranges
Homeowners lucky enough to have an orange tree know this is
true: Oranges this year are sweeter
– and juicier – than many of us have seen in a long time.
Some years my navel oranges are so sour I don’t even try to eat
them. Just pick them and give them to Community Pantry. But this
year I am slicing and eating an orange a day and this tree is so
laden that I won’t have to buy an orange at the supermarket for a
long time.
Sweet bounty of oranges
Homeowners lucky enough to have an orange tree know this is true: Oranges this year are sweeter – and juicier – than many of us have seen in a long time.
Some years my navel oranges are so sour I don’t even try to eat them. Just pick them and give them to Community Pantry. But this year I am slicing and eating an orange a day and this tree is so laden that I won’t have to buy an orange at the supermarket for a long time.
An orange tree is a funny thing. Some people see oranges and other citrus as ornamental additions to their gardens. Some people never actually eat them, they just admire them. A waste, but then again oranges aren’t always tasty enough to be edible.
One question that I’ve received numerous times from readers: What can I do to sweeten up my oranges?
One folk remedy, for instance, says to add Epsoms salts to the roots. Another says to use sugar dissolved in water. And what about fertilizers? Is there a fertilizer to help sweeten oranges.
The answer is no, no and no way.
According to Don Dillon, owner of Four Winds Growers in Fremont, a major grower of wholesale citrus widely sold in area garden centers, there is nothing a homeowner can do to sweeten up oranges. He says the sweetness of oranges is directly related to the warmth of the previous summer. If it is warm enough, we will have sweeter fruit the next winter and spring. No additions to the soil, such as sugar or fertilizer or other chemicals, will alter the sweetness.
So, what role does citrus fertilizer fill? Using a citrus fertilizer increases the health and fruit set on a citrus tree. A healthy tree has a good fruit set, and thus the homeowner has a tree filled with nice fruit. Citrus fertilizer should be applied monthly from April through October, during the growing season.
Always water first by deep soaking, sprinkle the fertilizer and then water again to wash the fertilizer into the soil to the roots. Apply fertilizer out to the drip line of the tree.
There is, of course, more to citrus than oranges, and they all grow beautifully in our region. Lemon, lime, tangelo, mandarin, and grapefruit are some of the choices. Among sweet oranges, the most commonly grown are Navel, Common and Blood Oranges. A Navel orange, such as Washington Navel, ranks high as a good, healthy edible orange.
A walk through the garden center will turn up oranges and other citrus in 5-gallon to 15-gallon size. Citrus do not become dormant, and retain their leaves year round. That means the tree needs to be planted in spring and summer. If you are going to have more than one, space them at least 10 feet apart.
As beautiful as they are, orange and othe citrus are not disease free. They are attacked by aphids, mealybugs and citrus red scale. To control this problem, spray with horticultural oil when needed.
One of the nice things about citrus is that no heavy pruning is needed. Prune only to shape or to remove dead wood. Cut out an entire branch, rather than nip and snip at the ends of branches.
The best way to store oranges and other citrus is to leave them on the tree and pick when you are ready to eat one. Use hand shears to cut the fruit from the tree rather than pulling it off.
How long will a citrus tree last? Both my orange tree and lemon tree were already well-established trees when we bought our house more than 40 years ago. They have survived killing frost, drought and a digging dog.
I suspect my orange tree is a Washington Navel, the most widely grown navel, and my old lemon is definitely the original Meyer lemon variety.
These are old varieties but they still can’t be beat in my opinion.
A Reader Wants to Know: Now that it’s hot and my tomatoes are finally ripening, how often should I water them? I notice that my lemon cucumber wilts very badly if not watered every day, but that seems like a lot of water. They are all in containers.
Joan Says: Plants in containers dry out faster, so they need to be watered more often than those in the ground. If the cucumber plants wilt , water them even if it means watering every day. Once you stop watering, the plant will stop setting flowers and that will be end the end of the cucumber production.
Tomato plants are a bit more hearty. Watering every three days for those in containers should do the job. Those in the ground can go five days, but, of course, it depends on how hot it gets. Water by the plant’s needs, not the calendar.
