I'm in Maryland. About two years ago I bought a couple of dwarf orange trees as seedlings, and this summer one tree has borne a couple of fruit. They (the fruit) have developed very slowly, and now I've had to bring the trees into the garage to avoid freezing.

My question is when to pick the fruit? One has finally turned virtually all orange and the other is slower to turn orange, but getting there. Do I let the orange ripen further on the tree or pick it or ?

I have zero experience at this, any advice appreciated.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 277K

Zues here is the tree man. He's given me reans of good information about my cherry trees.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I have several selections of orange trees in the satsuma group. Commercially they are often harvested quite green but sold when they only have small patches of green to completely orange. My backyard oranges I wait until they are completely orange. Mine are firm, sweet and delicious right now.

B

5 Acres and Independence ... you're living the life Bot.

__________________
Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Wait, I thought it was Mistress talking there for a sec...

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Jus' wait 'til I retire! I'll get a subscription to "Mother Earth News", buy some goats and chickens and grow my own boo on their poop.

B

omg.

The longer you wait, the sweeter they'll be -- within the harvest period. Harvest is generally Dec - Apr in this part of the world, although it's not uncommon to see folks still picking fresh fruit through May.

With many oranges, color doesn't necessarily indicate ripeness, or readyness to eat.
If you had quite a few oranges, I would say, cut one open and see how it is.
I used to have 13 Citrus trees on my property - most have died after contracting some sort of mung a few years ago (storm spread diseases). Every day, I would pick up a 5 gallon bucket full of fallen fruit.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

So.... does that mean the fruit will fall off when ripe, or when it gets "mungy"?

Seriously, will the fruit drop at some point ? GStar seems to indicate no harm in leaving them on the tree for a while. I guess I can do that, but with only 2 fruit there's a bit of a risk :-)

I want to have a big ceremony at home and do the big orange slicing some morning, you know, to split that little orange up amongst hundreds of my best friends and all that. It would be a bummer if it wasn't ripe!

Rgds,
Chris W.

If you leave them on the tree they will keep for a couple of weeks but they'll lose their juiciness and sweetness finally become dry and mealy. If it's fully orange, I'd eat it.

After you harvest, you might consider giving it a good fertilizer -- if it's indoors. If outside (where you live) you'll stimulate new growth when there's a good chance of cold weather. That will damage the tree. In that case wait until the pecans leaf-out and then fertilize (I've never heard of a pecan getting damaged by cold weather due to late frost/early leaf-out within it's normal range).

The fruit will drop off at some point, but you don't want to wait that long, as they'll go soft (or dry up and get hard as a rock) before then. Around this part of the word, it's best to leave them for a couple of months, as they will continue to sweeten. February is ideal. I don't know if that pertains to other areas that get less sun or indoor fruit trees.

OTOH, if the fruit are orange, they are definitely ripe and ready to eat.

Zeus or Swamp Yankee will know.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

^ Because Canada is the citrus capital of the world.

So are the G/F's