Re: orange blossoms

So, you are saying that yes,  they have blossoms at the very same time that
they have a big beautiful orange ready for picking, right?  Just the way
they show them in the commercials - a nice big orange with blossoms there on
the stem with the orange, right?
Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 5:38 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] orange blossoms


> It's a difficult [not stupid] question to answer, Kitty. Take the
> Valencia orange, for example. The Valencia is the most "popular" orange
> in the world. It is the orange that produces about 90 percent of the
> world's orange juice. Like most oranges, it produces only one crop in
> 12 months, but at this time of year, the tree may have both this year's
> crop, which can be harvested any time between christmas and, say,
> easter, and next year's crop of marble-sized fruit.
>
> On the other hand, many lemons and limes, will flower and fruit year
> around. The Eureka lemon, which is one of the two or three major market
> lemons, flowers and fruits year around. It is also very finicky about
> temperature, tolerating neither heat nor cool. It won't grow here in
> Florida. Most production is on the Oxnard Plain, south of Santa
> Barbara, California, right along the Pacific.
>
> The only lemon that does well in Florida is the Improved Meyer, which
> [as most know] is a lemon-mandarin hybrid, and not a true lemon. It is
> reported to have its lemon parent's year-round flowering and fruiting
> habit, but mine is more like the once-a-year mandarin parent [a
> mandarin is that loose rind fruit usually called "tangerine" or
> "clementine"].
>
> I think my Key Lime has an interesting bloom-fruit cycle. It starts
> blooming in mid summer. The fruit mature quickly, and if you keep
> picking them, the bush [my pruning preference] keeps blooming and
> setting fruit--apparently until it overwhelms me and I quit picking.
>
> My "Honeybell" Mineola tangelo [tangelo is a hybrid of mandarin and
> grapefruit] sets one crop a year and does not seem to bloom until the
> current crop has been picked. I think this is the best of all citrus to
> be eaten out of hand. Easy to peel, with the fantastic sweetness of the
> mandarin, and the tartness of the grapefruit.
>
> There is another tangelo, the Orlando, which is juicier and seedier
> than the Mineola. It is used mainly for juice, which is quite good but
> probably not available north of Florida.
>
>
> On Thursday, January 8, 2004, at 02:54 PM, kmrsy@comcast.net wrote:
>
> > Noreen - you mention citrus.
> > I have a really stupid question to ask you and Jim and anyone else who
> > might know.
> > I think I read that some citrus trees crop more than once a year. Do
> > oranges set fruit more than once a year? If so, do they have blossoms
> > at
> > the very same time that they have a big beautiful orange ready for
> > picking?
> >
> >
> > Kitty
> >> Kitty, don't' have to dig anything here at all since the ground
> >> doesn't
> >> freeze. Do not have a problem here with pots freezing and breaking
> >> here at all
> >> either...not even the water garden containers.   The plants that I do
> >> bring in
> >> are
> >> all in pots.  Many are succulents (caudiforms, bonsai), Plumerias,
> >> and such
> >> that do not tolerate being wet or in some cases having moisture at
> >> all during
> >> winter  (dormancy).  They will rot very quickly.  These are usually
> >> plants that
> >> one would grow in heated green houses in northern states, with the
> >> same
> >> principles applying to refraining from watering during dormancy.
> >> Learned the
> >> hard
> >> way.   Other plants I either cover or bring in during an actual
> >> freeze are
> >> young tropicals in containers that have not really had a chance to
> >> become
> >> established.  When I first get a plant I tend to be a bit more
> >> protective, but
> >> once it
> >> becomes established I find that I no longer need to feel that way.
> >> Now, mind
> >> you, if we were ever to get a serious cold snap (down to the low 20's
> >> or
> >> below) then I would probably protect a lot more than I have in past
> >> years.
> >>
> >> We've had some dips in the past month down to the mid 30's, but yet
> >> Hibiscus,
> >> Bougainvillas, Aristolochia vine, Roses, Phillipine violets, all the
> >> Salvias,
> >>  a few orchids, some bromeliads, and a few others are continuing to
> >> bloom.
> >> For the most part, I've found the plants do better when they are left
> >> outside.
> >> For instance, by not taking in or protecting the citrus, I have a
> >> better crop.
> >>  Before I would take in the young citrus which bloomed all winter
> >> then, but
> >> ended up not setting much fruit.....probably due to not having the
> >> pollination
> >> inside the garage or house.    On the flip side, the Nectarine
> >> doesn't produce
> >> as well since it hasn't gotten the low chill hours it requires,
> >> although this
> >> variety was created by Texas A&M for this area.
> >>
> >> I've never noticed any of the containers having problems in the
> >> summer months
> >> with air circulation....plastic or otherwise.  I do have to leave the
> >> saucers
> >> off of some plants so they do not sit in water during our soaking
> >> rains, but
> >> otherwise have not had a problem.  Many of the plants that I've kept
> >> in
> >> containers is largely due to the fact that I'd like to keep them to a
> >> certain
> >> size,
> >> and so that I can move things around.....as in the citrus, shrub
> >> bougainvillas, etc.  Otherwise they could easily be put in the
> >> ground.  When my
> >> dream of
> >> acreage comes true, maybe then.....HA! I wish.
> >>
> >> Noreen
> >> zone 9
> >> Texas Gulf Coast
> >>
> >>  In a message dated 1/8/2004 11:03:09 AM Central Standard Time,
> >> gardenchat-owner@hort.net writes:
> >> Noreen,
> >> When you refer to plants you take in, are these already in pots or are
> >> they in the ground and you've previously dug up & potted to take in?
> >>
> >> If you're concerned about cold and they are in pots, you could wrap
> >> the
> >> pots with a bit of insulation. If in the ground, you could add a
> >> winter
> >> mulch.
> >>
> >> I bet you're right about not wanting to be soggy. But would plastic
> >> heat
> >> up too much under summer sunshine, not allow air circulation? Perhaps
> >> a
> >> few perforations wouldn't hurt. I know nothing about Plumerias, just
> >> guessing. Here, when I want to avoid sogginess, I use a rose cone
> >> which
> >> insulates but does allow for air circulation. Burlap works too, or
> >> netting that encloses leaves stuffed around the plant.
> >>
> >> I'm not suggesting that zone 5 tactics would necessarily work in Zone
> >> 9,
> >> but possibly some of the reasons behind these tactics would have
> >> something in common with your situation. I agree, there comes a time
> >> when hauling things in and out just gets to be too much.
> >>
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> Island Jim
> Southwest Florida
> Zone 10
>
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