Citrus in shock!

Hi, I have a new dwarf Valencia Orange that went through a horrendous shock last week (CA winds and smoke from fires). I had unfortunately just repotted it the day before all this happened in a new, 24-inch container.

It dropped almost all of its leaves toward the end of the week. It has 32 tennis ball-sized oranges on it, and they are starting to turn yellow in splotches since the shock. I've been told I should strip all the fruit off to save the tree. This is my first orange tree. It's in a container. Should I listen, or will it be okay to leave the oranges on? Thank you!!

BTW, Here's a photo.

Even if the plant weren't stressed that looks like an awful lot of fruits for such a small tree, I would definitely thin out a bunch of them. I don't know if you need to take all of them off, you could leave some on there and see what happens I guess, I don't think a few oranges is going to make the difference in whether the tree comes back or not.

I've had some of my trees go through a stressful period and drop most of their leaves (all were still in pots). All but one put new leaves on. I just kept them sheltered from too much sun and wind and kept them watered (not too much water though, just enough to keep the soil moist until it recovers). Personally, I would remove all the fruit so the tree can channel it's energy into developing new leaves. If it survives, it will probably put on more fruit next year. This is just what I do with my trees.

Thank you all for your input! I love these communities...they are so helpful.

Since I had some indication that I had to act fast, I also called Four Winds, the original grower, to see what they would advise. I told Mike there about the advice I had been given, and he said there's also another school of thought...that the oranges provide moisture to the tree while it is healing.

He felt I should leave them on. He said they might not be great to eat when they're ready...they might be dry. He also agreed about shading it and suggested I get a 40% shade cloth to protect it from the sun...and not to fertilize while it's healing. He said these trees are very resilient, and I should see new growth in 2-3 weeks. I'll be watching like a hawk!

Naturelover, I'm glad to hear most of your trees came back! And ecrane3, your suggestion is a great compromise!

Thanks for sharing your info jtuck2--I learned something new. Needless to say, I can't grow citrus trees down here so I didn't know about the fruit supplying moisture to the tree. Glad you called about it and I hope it makes it for you.

I would definitely trust the guy who grows them for a living!

But for next year, when you're getting a new crop of fruit that you're hoping to be able to eat, you probably will want to thin them out a bit just like you would with any fruit tree--if there are too many fruits around, they'll all end up smaller and not as tasty. Not to mention weighing the branches down and making them break easier!

There's a caveat here.....the first guy who told me to pull all the fruit off also appears to grow a lot of citrus (possibly for a living). It's been a little while since this happened, and I really don't see new leaves coming out. (hoping and wishing!!)

I'd give it more than a couple weeks--it's been through a lot and may take a little time to put out new leaves. If this were its active growing season then it would probably put out new leaves more quickly, but most plants slow down for the winter so it may take a bit of time. I'd give it until the spring before you give up on it.