Citrus and Peach trees

[PeakOiler]

{This set of posts has so much helpful info on citrus and peach trees, it rightly deserves its own thread. Thanks Peakoiler and FrankTheTank!- skyemoor}

Well, the peach season is winding down. Whew! I harvested roughly 232 peaches. Earlier in the year I had counted roughly 300 peaches, but Nature took it's share. Some were lost to high winds, and the tree's natural thinning methods, and many were lost to birds and bugs since I did not use netting over all the trees, and I did not spray them with anything. Because I have a full time job, my "spare" time limits the amount of peaches I could process, so many were distributed to family, friends, and work acquaintances. I took a peach pie to work today and became everyone's best friend for a little while. Some co-workers received fresh peaches. Harvesting the peaches is the easier part. Processing them is a different story.
Assuming each peach had a nominal diameter of about 2.5 inches, (some actually got to 3.25 in length by 3 in dia., some were smaller,) and assuming each peach had roughly 33 calories, then the peach trees produced approximately 7,756 food calories. Next year I want to try and sell some, especially as the younger trees start producing even more... If I was overwhelmed with just 232 peaches, and if all 13 peach trees start producing 50+ each, wow!

Pecans are so much easier. Put them in a brown paper bag...crack as needed...

[frankthetank]

Peakoiler-

I'd be interested in knowing if you are growing different varieties that ripen @ different times? Down there you should be able to do that. Mine won't ripen up until last July/early Aug. My 2nd year in the ground tree only has about 8 peaches left on it (naturally dropped some, winds took some). Its put on a tremendous amt of growth the last few weeks, so there should be plenty of wood next year that fruits. My just in the ground trees this spring (3) are growing nicely and hopefully have a few fruits next year. I'd love to be able to try another type of peach, but am scared due to are extremely cold winter temps (-20F usually once a winter). I might throw in an Elberta just for a kicks.

[PeakOiler]

Thanks for those tips, Ludi.

I have so many projects going on and so little time, keeping chickens will have to wait for now.

Here is an update on the trees:
I made a count of the immature fruits on the potted citrus trees July 2nd.
34 lemons on 3 trees. (I think I may have left last year's lemons on the trees a little too long, which kept the number of new blooms less this year. Live and learn...)
13 limes on 2 trees.
5 grapefruit on 2 trees. (And blooming again as I type.)
27 satsuma on 3 trees.
Total baby citrus approx. 79.
The lime, grapefruit, and satsuma trees are still pretty young. I really don't expect them to produce a lot for a few more years. The apple, plum, and pear trees are also still small and haven't produced anything yet. I think one pear might produce something next year. It's really shooting up.

I'll post the final yields later this year if possible.

The pecans are doing great, too. Must be from all this rain recently.

The potted citrus:

[frankthetank]

We ate the whole 10 fruits my peach tree supplied us with. Delicious is the word that comes to mind. I saved the pits from all of them and hope to use for future trees. Also found a nectarine tree near my house. Never knew they grew this far north. The tree is just loaded and the fruit are the same size you'd find in the store. Excellent tasting too .

I'd like to try growing kumquats.

[PeakOiler]

Update on the citrus:

Approx 79 fruits total.

Picked the first lime today. I just may have to have a shot of tequila to celebrate.

12 limes left. 34 lemons, 6 grapefruit, 27 satsuma. The lemons and grapefruit are flowering again. Citrus are cool in that way...flowering multiple times over a year. I hope the bee-keeper a mile or so away is happy the bees have some nectar and spread the pollen.

[PeakOiler]

I bought another small citrus tree today, a "blood" orange from the Rio Grande Nursery, via Home Depot. Got another 58-quart plastic pot and pan, and a couple bags of good soil. $45.
Rainwater's paid for.

One of the 5 grapefruits, (shown in a pic on the "Post Your Garden Pics" thread) is still green and is now 4" in diameter. Those poor baby citrus--they each look like the arch in St. Louis hanging down from the fruit! I'm using twine and the adjacent pots to support the branches of the satsuma, lemons, and limes.

[Ludi]

Does anyone know if I could grow a nectarine from a pit?

Fruit trees are currently so relatively inexpensive it's probably better to just go ahead and buy a nice nectarine tree while you can!

[frankthetank]

Not sure how "true" nectarines come from seed. I know from some others that peaches tend to come pretty true to seed, and even if they don't, you've got free rootstock to graft onto! I currently have seeds i saved from Redhaven (Michigan), Reliance (my own), and what i think were Elberta (Michigan), but i'm not positive. There all in my refrigerator (the seed) until early next spring.

[WisJim]

I posted a response yesterday to the nectarine pit question, but I don't see it.

If it is a locallly grown nectarine, plant them, snd see what you get. Nectarines are just peaches without the fuzz, and peaches grown from seed end up closer to the parent tree than many other fruits do, so I think it is worth a try. Around here, or from most mail order places, a tree is $10 to $25, so I think that investing some time in seedlings is worth while, if you have the time and space to experiment. If it is a grocery store fruit, you can still try it, but it may be from a tree not adaptable to your local conditions. I and some friends are trying lots of seedling peaches and apricots trying to develop good varieties that we can grow in our local.

[PeakOiler]

Just thought I'd post an update on the trees' production.

42.7 lbs, (19.4 kg) of pecans

This is the same baby grapefruit that was shown a few pages back:


It's starting to blush. I can hardly wait! There are five other grapefruit too. The ca. 28 satsuma are going yellow/orange. The ca. 30 meyers lemons are just starting to show some hint of yellow and are swelling. The limes are done for the year. Grew 13. Not a bad start for those little trees.

I sent Aaron a hg lime, but don't know if he got it.

Edit:
Here are a few of the turning satsuma. Some of the green grapefruit are also seen in the top part of the pic. Those poor satsuma! Look how the boughs are bowed over from the fruit!

[PeakOiler]

PO-

Do you know how to graft? Have you done any on your citrus? I have 3 decent sized (6ft) citrus (not sure what they are) grown from seed. They are roughly 4 years old and in 5 gallon pots. I've been tempted to get rid of them, but might try to graft something onto them and see how that works.

I haven't tried grafting yet. I've started about 6-7 meyer's lemons from seed, but they're only inches tall. When they get older, I will try to graft onto them. Got to have rootstock first.

Edit: Corrected spelling.

[PeakOiler]

So the first freeze of the season occured last night, but I had brought in the citrus that still have fruit on them, like this grapefruit:



How's that for fresh fruit? (Note the grapefruit is already on a plate upon the dining room table. )

No transportation costs with that fruit other than dragging the potted tree inside!

[PeakOiler]

Yum!

[PeakOiler]

I'm building a "mini hoop house" using some of the 3/4" PVC pipe that was previously used for irrigating the 13 peach trees last spring to protect the citrus trees from the few nights and perhaps few days when the temps dip below freezing.
The pipe is just dry fitted since it will return to the yard for the trees again next spring. The next step is to put down some 6mm clear plastic sheet right next to the house, off the deck, on the cement porch and then move all the citrus on top of the plastic sheet and under the frame. Then I'll overlap the frame with the rest of the plastic sheet. I can always place a few lights for heat inside the "mini hoop house" when temps get down to 25F a few times later this winter. When it's above freezing it'll be easy to just untape the plastic sheet from the frame and repeat as needed.



Some of the potted citrus are in the house. Those lemons are almost ready. There are about 25 more lemons on the two trees in the house. (Not being seen...) Some of the lime and satsuma have dropped some of their leaves, but that seems to be normal for citrus after they've produced a crop.. Many new leaves are already forming.

[frankthetank]

Very impressive. I like the way you do things! I have those very same pots. I just pruned back 3 seed grown citrus and i've got a bunch of Kumquat seed on a heat pad. I plan on getting them started off under lights and then transfer them outside this spring.

[Loki]

Very nice dwarf orchard there PeakOiler. How do you plan on using the lemons? Juice them? Have you quantified what your yield is and what kind of inputs you've used (soil, fertilizer, water, etc.)?

Frankthetank, how does citrus do in Wisconsin? I used to have a dwarf lemon tree, but it didn't do well. This was some years ago, but my recollection is that it died its first winter---never bore any fruit. But I'm pretty sure I never brought it inside. It gets below freezing regularly during late fall and winter here in western Oregon.

[PeakOiler]

Very nice dwarf orchard there PeakOiler. How do you plan on using the lemons? Juice them? Have you quantified what your yield is and what kind of inputs you've used (soil, fertilizer, water, etc.)?

Frankthetank, how does citrus do in Wisconsin? I used to have a dwarf lemon tree, but it didn't do well. This was some years ago, but my recollection is that it died its first winter---never bore any fruit. But I'm pretty sure I never brought it inside. It gets below freezing regularly during late fall and winter here in western Oregon.

Thanks Loki.
I have 11 young citrus trees right now: 3 lemon, 3 satsuma, 2 grapefruit, 2 limes, and 1 "blood" orange. I'll juice most of the lemons. Some will get distributed to friends and family. I will even eat some of the lemons by themselves. (Where's the emoticon with puckered lips? )
I've harvested 13 limes, 29 satsuma, and 3 of the six grapefruit this year. Last year I harvested over 70 lemons. The imputs have been rainwater, the peels from eaten fruit, and a little bit of fresh bagged potting soil to make up for the soil that gets washed out of the pots over the season. Eventually all these potted citrus will get transplanted into the ground.

[frankthetank]

Citrus do great outdoors in the spring/summer/fall but once winter rolls around you need to keep them in as much sunlight as possible and keep the roots ABOVE 55F. That is the temp that root "action/growth/whatever" stops. Then you'll start getting leaf drop. I've never had fruit yet, so i'm unsure how that works. I would assume if you could get your plant to flower in mid or late winter, you could easily get a crop out of it. My SIL has a lemon and she gets fruit. When i was in Madison a few years back, they had a big citrus thing going on at Olbrich Gardens (it a big tropical greenhouse) and the plants were gorgeous with huge grapefruit and other citrus growing on them. All container grown. It can be done. I just try to use sunlight instead of grow lights (energy) and since they are in the house, they stay pretty warm...especially on sunny days.

Kumquats do come pretty true from seed, but i guess they are weak on their own rootstock, so i'm not sure what will happen there. Citrus also seem like they can be grafted very easily. Some guy on another forum has like 50 different citrus on one tree!

[PeakOiler]

To finish answering Loki's questions, I plan on using some of the lemons for cooking: pies, fish, shrimp, pork, etc. Some of the lemon juice will be frozen for making lemonade throughout the year. And of course, some of the lemons will be for tea and water.

btw, these are not "dwarf" trees, but youngtrees. I expect them to get up to 8-10 ft tall, (or more???) We''ll just see...

So the yields aren't that great now of course, but hopefully will improve year after year. That's what planning for the future is about, right?



These Meyers lemons can get really big.

[nocar]

In the 18th century, very wealthy people in Scandinavia built 'orangeries' - greenhouses for growing citrus fruit. They were often large greenhouses, with a solid foundation and sometimes a northern wall attached to a heated house. The greenhouses could be heated too, as citrus can not take frost.

So it is possible to grow citrus in northern climates - but it is energy intensive and I do not think the quality was good. For my own part, I have two tiny citrus trees as houseplants. They get artificial light in the winter - at my house at the 59 parallell there is no sun for several months, so they will die without it. In summer they stay on hte balcony. I get a tiny crop of sour but flavorful oranges.

SunCreekfarm, I believe you have a lot more sun, so you certainly can try growing citrus in contariners, indoor in winter, outdoor in summer. Watering with rain water is best.

As Peakoiler says - citrus fruit can be transported by sailboats if necessary. They store quite well and the orangeries became unfashionable even before modern steamships were invented.
Of course, like all imported things, citrus fruit remained an expensive luxury until the 20th century in Scandinavia.

nocar