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Citrus trees, beloved and bewildering


That little orange is doomed -- sustenance has been cut off by the tree and it
will fall off soon. It's "June drop" time. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Home garden favorites have a range of quirks


Question: How is an orange tree like a pet cat?

Answer: You love it, even though you don't understand it most of the time.

Really, every lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit and mandarin sold to backyard gardeners should come with an instruction booklet -- or, more realistically these days, a YouTube mini course.

Right now, orange tree owners are flummoxed by a regular occurrence: the "June drop" of excess tiny fruit.

"Aw, gee, look at all these oranges falling off! Must be something wrong. Or maybe it's the weather."

Nope. It's normal. The tree is self-selecting how many oranges it can grow this year. It'll drop as much as 95 percent of the blossoms and fruit it had in spring.

With thanks to UCCE master gardener Bill Krycia, whose citrus class I took in April, here are five more fascinating, flummoxing facts about citrus trees:

1) Commercially sold citrus trees in the U.S. are grafted onto rootstock for hardiness and better production. But the rootstock can and will take over the tree if you let it. Example of the reaction when this happens: "My lemon tree was great for years but now it's producing these bumpy thick-skinned lemons." A significant part of the tree probably died back for some reason -- frost, maybe -- and suckers from the rootstock have taken over. The weird fruit is from the rootstock.

(P.S. The rootstock used for dwarf citrus is called Flying Dragon. I love that name.)

Can't thank the bees for these beautiful navels-to-be,
on the same tree as the one above. Navel oranges
do not depend on pollinators to set fruit.
2) Bees do not pollinate navel oranges. Navel oranges are parthenocarpic (Satsumas, too), meaning they set fruit without pollination or fertilization. All those early blossoms are merely floral -- fun for bees! The later blossoms produced by the tree are the ones that turn into oranges. Seedless oranges, of course. Yes, weird.

3) Citrus trees are evergreen -- they don't drop all their leaves in fall, like apple or pear trees  -- and the leaves are multi-taskers. They make food for the tree via photosynthesis, of course, but their additional role is storage. Along with the twigs, branches and roots, the leaves also store excess food (aka photosynthate) through winter. These storage sites are most packed in late winter and early spring, just before spring bloom. This is why citrus shouldn't be pruned then: The fruit yield will be much lower.

4) Citrus varieties easily cross, and the origin of certain varieties is not certain. But this also means new hybrids are being created all the time, especially at UC Riverside, a hotbed of citrus research. The red-fleshed "Valentine" pummelo, for example, is the result of a UCR cross of a pummelo, a blood orange and a mandarin.

5) Some citrus trees, especially mandarins, produce in two-year cycles, with a heavy crop one year, followed by a lighter one. Pruning the tree during the summer before the heavy crop ripens actually can even out this cycle, but who's willing to sacrifice that crop? I know, I know, but do prune if the tree is overburdened and the limbs could break.



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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Sept. 1: Yarrow an easy-care, sturdy flowering plant

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Taste Summer! E-cookbook

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Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 30

Enjoy this mild late-summer weather – and get to work!

* September starts another season in the vegetable garden. Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies. Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.

Contact Us

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Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth