We bought a new house last year with a garden that was in very bad shape. The garden has among other things a variety of 11 citrus trees. Most of them had lost most of their foliage and what leaves were left where yellow, and infested by leave miners. Over time we were able to get rid of the pests and after some good fertilizing and pruning they all have come back to life this spring with new and beautifully green leaves.
However, only one of the 11 trees has developed blossoms. In fact it is full of them, probably a hundred or so. But not a single blossom on any of the other trees. Just lots and lots of new leaves. Curiously the one tree that did develop blossoms did it before actually starting to grow leaves. Only within the past 2 weeks or so I have seen new leaves forming.
I am starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong. Or could it be that those other trees were just too sick last year to grow fruits? Now that I think about it, the one tree that is full of blossoms is the only one that didn't have leave miner damage. It is standing by itself in the front yard left of the house. There are 2 more trees on the right side and the other 8 are in the back yard.
In northern California, spring isn't a great time for citrus trees to blossom. Although the American gardening tradition conditions us to believe that "everything" blossoms in the spring, 'tain't necessarily so. What I say here, then, will be based on northern, Central Valley, and commercial trees.
I was at MIL's house this afternoon (Palo Alto, Sunset Zone 15). Her orange tree is absolutely covered and drooping with RIPE FRUIT. Not one flower did I see. Her tangerine tree? Same story: all FRUIT, no flowers.
There may be nothing at all wrong with your trees--now that the leaf miners are gone and the extra/burdensome branches removed--that a season of healthy growth won't help.
Nice green leaves sound good to me! Start looking for blossoms and happy, busy bees around October or November--after summer heat. The fruits develop during the winter, which is why hard freezes during December and January can be so calamitous to the Fresno and other Central Valley citrus crops, when they occur.
The heavenly aroma when those flowers do come will leave you in no doubt that you've done the right thing by your trees. Aaaahhhh....
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
I was at MIL's house this afternoon (Palo Alto, Sunset Zone 15). Her orange tree is absolutely covered and drooping with RIPE FRUIT. Not one flower did I see. Her tangerine tree? Same story: all FRUIT, no flowers.
There may be nothing at all wrong with your trees--now that the leaf miners are gone and the extra/burdensome branches removed--that a season of healthy growth won't help.
Nice green leaves sound good to me! Start looking for blossoms and happy, busy bees around October or November--after summer heat. The fruits develop during the winter, which is why hard freezes during December and January can be so calamitous to the Fresno and other Central Valley citrus crops, when they occur.
The heavenly aroma when those flowers do come will leave you in no doubt that you've done the right thing by your trees. Aaaahhhh....
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
-
Rogue11
- Senior Member
- Posts: 202
- Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:22 pm
- Location: Orange County, California
Thank you Cynthia.
You are probably right, and I am just impatient. It's just when I go running in the morning I can see (and smell) all the citrus trees in the neighborhood that are in bloom.
To show what I mean here are a couple pictures I took this morning of some of the famous Valencia orange trees here in Irvine. The neighborhood I live in used to be all orange orchards, and they left a number of trees in the green areas and along a large open space trail.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/Bailey1048/IMG00056-20110328-0828.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/Bailey1048/IMG00055-20110328-0828.jpg[/img]
You are probably right, and I am just impatient. It's just when I go running in the morning I can see (and smell) all the citrus trees in the neighborhood that are in bloom.
To show what I mean here are a couple pictures I took this morning of some of the famous Valencia orange trees here in Irvine. The neighborhood I live in used to be all orange orchards, and they left a number of trees in the green areas and along a large open space trail.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/Bailey1048/IMG00056-20110328-0828.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/Bailey1048/IMG00055-20110328-0828.jpg[/img]