Sale

ORANGE

TREE OPTIONS:

Victoria County Master Gardeners' citrus sale will have many plants available

February 22, 2019



PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CHARLA BORCHERS LEON/VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER

Citrus trees are wonderful ornamental plants for the garden and provide tasty fruit to eat.  This late winter Mandarin tree in an area garden illustrates the large volume of colorful fruit a relatively small size tree can bear.  Because the fruit have a loose peel that is very easy to remove, it is best to clip the fruit off the tree to prevent it from losing rind when pulled from the tree.  Consider this orange tree option for abundant fruit in your own orchard.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY AGGIE-HORTICULTURE.TAMU.EDU

Adding color and citrus fruit to your landscape as early as September, the sweet-tasting Maars Orange was discovered in Donna, Texas, and is a medium-sized fruit with moderate seeds as shown here.  It has well-colored flesh and low acidity, usually found in clusters on the tree.  It will likely be a popular orange tree option at the sale.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY PIXABAY.COM

(Algerian) Clementine tangerines are glossy, bright orange fruit like those shown here that are sweet and juicy, easy to peel and seedless.  The tree is small to medium-size with white blooms in the spring and small fruit in the fall to be picked November through January that stay well on the tree several months past maturity.  Look for this hybrid mandarin and sweet orange-cross at the citrus sale.

Established citrus trees are productive fruit trees for homeowners in our area. There are four main groups of citrus, of which grapefruit, lemons and limes were discussed in last week’s article.

Two groups of oranges

Oranges are divided into two groups – sweet oranges and then mandarins, satsumas and tangerines. Trees can be grown from seed, but it will take six to seven years for them to bear fruit, and depending on the cultivar, it may not grow true to type.

Most often, it is recommended that you buy grafted rootstock that will start bearing the year after planting.

• Sweet oranges

For sweet oranges, there will be Maars, Navel N-33, Taracco Blood and Valencia at Saturday’s sale.

The Maars was discovered in Donna and is a medium-sized, sweet- tasting fruit with low acidity. The flesh is well-colored and moderately seeded depending upon pollination. It has a tendency to bear fruit in clusters.

Navel N-33 is a medium-large round orange that is considered to be one of the sweetest oranges. It has a good orange color and is easily peeled and seedless having fragrant flowers in spring. Like most citrus, it needs full sun.

The Taracco Blood orange is considered to be the sweetest blood orange and is good to eat right off the tree, and it is good for cooking or for juicing with the highest vitamin C content of any orange. It needs a chilly period for the color of the flesh to develop properly.

The Valencia orange, the only orange in season during the summer, is very juicy with few to no seeds. It has been called “the orange juice of the world.”

• Mandarins, satsumas, tangerines

Mandarins, satsumas and tangerines are all called mandarins.

Mandarins

These fruits are a class of oranges that have a thin, loose peel that is very easy to remove, known as “zip skin.” A number of mandarins and satsumas plug or lose a bit of rind when pulled from the tree, so it is best to clip the fruit off the tree.

Honey mandarins, as the name implies, are very juicy and have a very rich, sweet smell and flavor. Their biggest drawback is that they have more seed than commercial standards like, but are well worth any inconvenience. These small fruits usually are not available in grocery stores for this reason. The Kinnow mandarin is a newer variety that can be grown outdoors or indoors by a bright, sunny window. These sweet juicy mandarins produce a great many fruit and can be used alternatively to orange juice.

What you do not eat or share with friends and family can easily be frozen. The trees are fairly drought-tolerant and are used to dry, hot climates.

Satsumas

Satsumas for sale include the Owari Frost, Seto and Xie Shan.

Owari Frost is a very cold-hardy tree that has a medium-sized, bright orange fruit that is really sweet and seedless. It peels and breaks into segments easily, which makes it great for kids. This tree does not do well in dry desert areas but likes cooler summer temperatures.

The Seto has exceptional cold resistance, and it is easy to grow in areas that usually do not grow citrus well. It needs well-drained soil in a sheltered, sunny space and can be grown outdoors or as a container plant. Extremely sweet and seedless, it peels easily and breaks into segments, making it easy for children. Often it is ready to be eaten when it ripens in September to early October even when the rind is still green.

Xie Shan is a variety that ripens early with a unique sweet flavor. The fruit is seedless and easy to peel. It’s more upright growth pattern lets it be planted in a smaller area in your yard.

Tangerines

The last two citrus cultivars expected at the sale are the Algerian (Clementine) and Dancy tangerines.

The Algerian Clementine is not self-pollinating, so it needs to be planted near other citrus for pollination to obtain best fruit production. The tree is small- to medium-sized; the fruit is easy to peel and seedless; the clementines have a sweet juicy fruit that stays well on the tree several months past maturity.

Dancy tangerine produces a large tree at maturity and is moderately cold hardy while the fruit needs cold protection. The flesh is a deep orange color and juicy with a rich flavor of moderately high acidity. It is alternate bearing – having much more fruit one year to the next.

Each of these different citrus varieties has its own best qualities to grace your landscape or yard.

Come early to the Victoria County Master Gardener’s first citrus sale for orange tree options.

The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.

PHOTO BELOW CONTRIBUTED BY TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE EXTENSION

The Satsuma was the first citrus ever recommended virtually statewide by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.  Satsuma trees are green year-round and produce fragrant white blossoms in March and April.  Whether shrub or tree form, the glossy leaves fill gently weeping branches on which fruit is abundant like shown here.  Satsuma varieties should be planted in spring after the last frost.  If planting the satsuma tree in your landscape, choose a south-facing sunny location to absorb as much heat and sun in winter as possible.