this is my navel orange tree squeeze an gallon and a half out of 24 oranges yesterday
Oranges any one
SHOW OFF !!! LOL
Wow - that's some tree!
Wow, Pete. That is a good looking bunch of oranges. I love a good eating navel orange. Didn't know that you used them for juice. Bet it is really refreshing. To be able to drink fresh juice and look at all the flowers blooming would be a real treat for those of us who don't have the luxury right now. Keep the pictures coming. They will help us get through our winters.
Pete ,how do you know they're ripe?I have 2 on the tree in my GH and I really don't know when to pick them
They are getting new buds on the branches now......
CC... down here navel get ripe around thankgiving and go to early january.. I just tast them usely after we have a cold spell .
navel are not used commercialy for juice but when you have a tree this size you can't eat all them and everybody has trees you can't give them away
wow, wish I lived next door to you. I'd buy me a ladder:)
Jesh,and I'm so proud of the 2 I have on my tree........
Hey,I know how you can get rid of some..........hint
any one want to send a sase for oranges????...LOL
you got mail
Wow what a great looking tree.
Irish:What variety is your orange tree? Valencia? I'm looking to add an orange tree to my yard. It's a giant swallowtail larval food AND I can get some fresh fruit/juice out of it to boot :) I know that the eatin' kind are different varieties than the juicin' kind but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Hope you don't get hit by that citrus canker going around FL. It would be a shame to lose such a big, beautiful tree.
ButterflyGardnr.... This is a navel. I don't belive that I have to worry about the canker for I am just west of st pete and east of st pete beach and there isn't any orange groves with in miles of me. If you get a orange tree make sure it is grafted root stock if you start it from seed your lavera my love it but the odds of getting eatitable fruit would be slim to none
If you start one from seed,can it be chopped off and a good peice grafted to it????
Yuuummm! Delicious!! Lip smackin' good!!! Liquid Vitamin C in a glass - ENJOY :~)
grand tree you have! and lot of fruits too! I`D love to taste one!
This message was edited Saturday, Jan 4th 8:09 AM
CC couldn't realy tell you I read that in the St Pete's times Just talk about planting from seed and said that your better off buying a tree at a nursey
Pete, you lucky dog you!!! I sure do miss the taste of a fresh orange right off the tree....the oranges we get here have absolutely no flavor!
In the area that I lived growing up, there were many citrus orchards, oranges, tangerines, lemons galore. I used to eat at least a lemon every day with salt...love it!
Well the sad thing is they are almost gone going to pick the rest of the tree this weekend and get it ready for a full bloom next month should get a week of orange blossom sent flowing through the house
Pebble, my lips are puckering up just thinking about eating a lemon with salt. WHOoooo-eeee. Puckery, puckery!
Oh Pebble...I use to do that too, peel them like an orange.
Pete,your oranges are magnificent!!!!
Thanks!
Crestedchik,
There was an article just today in our local paper about the navel orange. It was a mutation found 124 years ago, and does not form any seeds. All navel orange trees originate from just 2 trees, originally. Both are actually kept behind locked fences! Also, they are very unstable genetically. You are much better off buying one from a local nursery. The original 'Washington' variety is considered the best tasting, along with the new 'Cara Cara' red-fleshed variety. Note that professional growers consider the fruit of young trees to be inferior in taste. Quoted from the article: "Up to about age seven, navel orange trees yield fruit with coarse rind and mediocre flavor. Healthy navel trees can live a century or more, and growers with older groves prefer their fruit, much as connoisseurs prize wines from aged vines."
The article also notes that the grafting stock affects quality. The best tasting oranges are considered to be Washingtons grafted onto sour orange stock; however, sour orange stock is not virus-resistant so is almost impossible to find any longer in the home market. Navels have the best sugar ratios in late December - February. Despite commercial growers' use of different navel varieties, right now is the peak season and once past March, they're not ever going to taste as good.
My neighbors trees should start blooming anytime. Last February the scent was incredible.
Another wonderful orange is the 'Honeybell'. Sweet and super juicy! My sister has just one of these trees and the family lines up when they're ripe!
Kinda leaves me out....
NY Nurserys don't carry alot of oranges.......
Crestedchik, You can start seeds and then graft a good scion to it. Thats what the nurseries do. Only thing is where are you going to get a good scion in NY? how about if a DGer in FL sent you some (like Irish perhaps).
I have a grapefruit tree I grew from seed (here in FL) which is 4 years old and obviously not "good" except for root stock as evidenced by the spikes it has but I will attempt to graft scions from the parent tree which has fabulous grapefruit. If that fails I'll just keep getting the grapefruit from the parent tree owner thus a failsafe plan LOL.
I started some lemons from seed,one of them is about a foot tall now.
I also have a grapefruit tree that I've had for 10 years or so that died(or I thought) last spring,I threw it on the compost heap and it started growing,but from below the graft.Its in the GH,I'm going to try to graft a peice of the grapefruit tree that Dee brought up for me to it.
I have a orange tree,and a limequat,and 2 varigated lemon trees.......
So when it gets warm I can trade a cutting of one of mine for a cutting of one from down there to try to graft...if anyone is interested.......