my orange tress are blooming

[elijahboy]

last year i went to lowes and they had orange trees clearanced to 12.00 for parent washington oranges

i had 3 ready to buy

well the cashier had to do an adjustment that required management

i waited and waited and waited for managment to come and do an adjustment to get them to the clearance price of 12.00

after waiting for about 8 minutes.........i had the annoyed look ya know.

the clerk told the manager i had been waiting for like 15 min...hahaha

so the manager said well i will let you have them for 6.00 a piece on clearance since you had to wait so long........

TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!! elijah go get 3 more...

so got 6 parent washington orange trees for 36.00 and hafl of them were already in bloom but i made sure i got the ones that were not in bloom..


NOW THEY ARE IN BLOOM........IN FEB.....IS THAT NORMAL?

this weather is crazy.all the plants are confused.i brought the orange trees inside 2 days ago becuase it was getting below freezing this weekend and noticed all my orange tress have little knobs on them...

 

[moolie]

The citrus crop is ready for harvest in the late fall and into the winter months (November thru January), depending on variety. Yours may be a late one, or may just be getting itself sorted out after having been planted. Are you in a typical citrus-growing plant hardiness zone?

 

[elijahboy]

no i bought these on a whim.........well i dont know snatching them up at such a cheap price is considered on a whim.......i was just being cheap

but im lazy and they still sit in the same little pots that i bought them in.



it maybe that we have 70s here for a week

 

[ORChick]

Citrus, IME, generally blooms in the late winter/early spring. The orange tree where we lived in California would have blossoms, ripe fruit, and green fruit on it at the same time. My lemon trees in pots also bloom around this time.

 

[beerman]

That's the best way to get them. A few years ago I bought a peach tree for $30 then I bought 2 peach trees for $5 on clearance at Sams the $30 tree died and the $5 trees rock! Always full of peaches and my bees love them.
Brian

 

[Dawn419]

Citrus 101

Citrus flower buds begin to form in early winter and develop through late winter and spring. Most flowers don't result in the formation of fruit because more than 99% of them usually fall off. Because the number that do become fruit depends largely on temperature and moisture, adequate water is very important during and immediately after flowering.

Most pollination is done by insects, but due to a rather interesting process natural to some citrus called parthenocarpy, fruit can develop without pollination. Some varieties, such as the Clementine Mandarin, require cross pollination with another citrus variety.

Why do some citrus, like Valencia oranges, have seeds, and others, like Washington navels, generally have none? Parthenocarpy is the main reason. If parthenocarpic flowers are not pollinated, they generally don't produce seeds. Some, like the Washington navel, don't produce viable pollen.

After bloom, fruit develops from five to 18 months, depending on the variety and growing area. Unlike many other types of fruit, most citrus can be left on the tree without becoming overripe.

 

[kathy]

My daughter bought me 4 citrus trees maybe 6 years ago. They were just little sticks. I think she got them from an add in the back of a magazine. They're huge now. We leave them out in the summer and bring them in well before the first frost. We have gotten good harvests of both limes and lemons (good being a relative term-we're in Massachusetts). This year we also have something small and orange and really tart. I don't know what happened to the little labels the plants came with. Our bees love the blossoms but I find them to be unpredictable. The trees tend to have fruit and blossoms in all stages of maturity at the same time. The big problem is that the trees have got big and they should be repotted again. It takes both of us to move them now and they take up all the space in front of the sliders to the deck. They're like a gorgeos dress that you paid a lot of money for but it doesn't quite fit. What do I do with it.

 

[Denim Deb]

Send them to me, and I'll take care of the problem for you.

 

[odd_duck99]

Since, ya'll know so much about citrus crops... I bought a miniature lemon tree last year from a company that sent me a catalog. It's cute, and the flowers are devine, but I never get more than a couple, and never any lemons! It's supposed to set normal sized fruit! Any ideas on how to pollinate the thing? I tried setting it outside last summer, but the bees didn't know the plan apparently. I also tried a soft paintbrush, but that didn't work either. Not sure if I did it right.

 

[Dawn419]

Here's a couple video "how-to's" that might help, odd_duck99.


How to Hand Pollinate an Indoor Lemon Tree

Hand Pollinating Citrus