Question:
Hi, I have two container fruit trees, an orange and a lime. The orange tree blossomed in the summer and has four oranges on it the size of golf balls. However in the past few months I haven’t seen any signs of their getting much bigger nor any sign that they’re going to turn orange. As frost approaches I’ll be bringing them inside… I’m wondering how long it should take an orange to mature, and if there is some inordinate delay here, what I should do differently next year. Also, my lime tree is blooming… I wonder what I need to do to ensure that I get some limes that ripen. I live in Maryland, by the way. skip
I have a mandarin orange which bloomed in February (indoors). I kept it cold in March and started levaing it outregularly in late March. The fruits are now the size of plums and are starting to turn orange. An early one that cracked and had to be salvaged, was delicious. I expect mandarins for thanksgiving dinner. Anyway expect six to eight months of warm growing time to get fruits. In Florida oranges blossom in March and mature the following winter. . It sounds like your oranges will ripen in April if kept warm inside. However unless you have a large south south window with BRIGHT sunshine, oranges ripened indoors are likely to be sour. If you want sweetness, you should try to delay ripening by keeping the tree as cool as possible without freezing it. A cool sunny window would be ideal. I also live in Maryland. The lime tree is easier, just keep it sunny. Sweetness is obviously not as important with limes. Limes also have a tendancy to bloom and bear more or less continuously. Oranges are more likely to go on an annual cycle; blooming heavily after a period of dormancy during which they were exposed to sun (typical subtropical winter contiditons)
Response:
Hi, I have two container fruit trees, an orange and a lime. The orange tree blossomed in the summer and has four oranges on it the size of golf balls. However in the past few months I haven’t seen any signs of their getting much bigger nor any sign that they’re going to turn orange. As frost approaches I’ll be bringing them inside… I’m wondering how long it should take an orange to mature, and if there is some inordinate delay here, what I should do differently next year. Also, my lime tree is blooming… I wonder what I need to do to ensure that I get some limes that ripen. I live in Maryland, by the way. skip