Re: Ripe oranges

When I was a student at Cal-Poly Pomona in the 60's, I took a class in
subtropical fruit production. The class was a mixture of international students
and american kids. When the Prof. gave a detailed lecture on the  process of
ripening citrus using "gas", the South American students and the Africian
students were involved in a fight over who would get to use the pay telephone at
the end of the hall to report home on this "new" technology. Tropical citrus -
navels and valencias do not color when they are ripe. In California the
relatively cooler night temperatures help develop the nice color we see on our
California fruit. In So. Calif  most navels are sweet in the fall and get sweeter
as the winter progresses. I lived in a "grove house" with the owners of a
Washington navel orchard. A few trees around their house were not picked when the
rest rest of the orchard was harvested. These trees were  for household use and
gifts. The fruits when more than 1 year old develop fantastic flavor and extra
large size.
Phil Soderman
sgrower1@rain.org

K1MIZE@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/16/99 8:34:17 AM EST, janetble@otenet.gr writes:
>
> << the longer they hang on the tree
>  the sweeter they are. >>
>
> Some varieties of citrus do not hold well on the tree at all, becoming dry,
> puffy, and insipid.  In particular, Satsuma mandarin, Bearss lime (also known
> as Tahiti or Persian lime), Tarocco blood orange, Oroblanco grapefruit,
> Orlando tangelo, Murcott (or Honey) orange (technically a "tangor"), etc.  If
> you desire a variety whose fruits hold well on the tree, my advice would be
> to do a little research first.
>
> Kurt Mize
> Stockton, California
> USDA Zone 9
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