Thread: How is your orange crop this year ?

Originally Posted by cadiar

Another year goes by, last year when you were all having a problem with your oranges, my trees were loaded, I had a bumper crop, but this year is a very different picture they are few and far between. It looks like I will be buying marmalade this year!

I've no idea why, the trees are watered, I can only assume the trees are 'resting'.

Is that a bit like an oot o' work actor ! ( said with accent on the tor )

oor oranges were braw

Originally Posted by anis

I think it may have something to do with the extremely hot summer we have had in Malaga - said to be hottest for many years. I have watered the trees daily but obviously not sufficiently.

It could be that you are watering them too much. I work in a commercial plantation and we only water once or twice a week, depending on the weather. Orange trees like to be flooded and then allowed to dry out before flooding again.

When we prune, we always have trouble with suckers - does anyone know how to stop them or should we let them grow ? They are very prickly green shoots like rose suckers.

Where are they growing from? You should remove anything that grows out of the main trunk and keep the centres of the tree reasonably clear to allow the light in.

We don't grow any oranges but we have a quite good crop from the village trees. The locals just let them fall and rot because they are the Seville (bitter) oranges and they don't know what to do with them. WE have had kilos of them (for free) and SWMBO and suegra have been making marmalade by the jarful. Personally, I don't like marmalade.

I only like shredless marmalade, I was toying with trying orange curd and see how that works.

I don't grow oranges, but have many friends that do. Their trees are loaded at the moment. One friend from our church who has 32 trees lets us have as many as we want in exchange for a small donation towards to his church ministry. I in turn supply my neighbours in return for a glass of wine or two.
CD