When all danger of frost is past, begin feeding citrus trees. (If your garden gets frost in February, wait until March.) Citrus are heavy feeders. A mature citrus tree in clay soil needs one pound of actual nitrogen a year. For example, if you choose a commercial fertilizer containing 16% nitrogen, such as 16-16-16, your tree would need 6 pounds of this product per year. Divide the fertilizer into equal batches and broadcast one batch all over the root zone once a month from now through June. Use less on younger trees.
Check out Pat Welsh’s Southern California Gardening:A Month-by-Month Guide for more tips.
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- Choosing Citrus Trees for home garden
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- Invasive roots
- Lime, Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot Trees for Mild Climates
I moved last July & my new home has a very large established naval orange tree.
It produced tons & tons of large, juicy beautiful oranges, but with little flavor. We started picking organges in Dec/Jan and still have some fruit on the tree. What do I need to do to make these pretty oranges have more flavor?
I live in Lakewood, Calif. and enjoy you site very much.
Thanks
Marilyn
Unfortunately, there is not much I can do to help you with the flavor of your oranges.
The flavor of citrus fruit is mainly determined by the climate, the variety and the root stock. However, Lakeside has enough winter chill and enough heat in summer that your navel oranges should have very good flavor and I am surprised they do not.
Above are the scientific facts, but some gardeners claim that organically grown fruit tastes better.
Based on this claim, below are some ideas that just might give you tastier fruit, though none of what I am about to write below is scientific. What follows is based only on hearsay, and I do not know for sure that it will work.
If your tree is growing in a lawn the frequent intervals of watering might be detracting from the flavor of the fruit and make fruit watery. You might get better fruit if you spread out the intervals between irrigations to once every two or three weeks and then watering deeply for several hours instead of watering all the time and often.
Additionally, fertilizing with Sul-Po-Mag ( to provide potassium) is said to increase sweetness. Feeding with with manure and blood meal (to provide nitrogen) is said by some to increase flavor, and seaweed extracts (to provide trace minerals) are also said to increase flavor and health of citrus trees. Also apply John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer according to package directions. This product unlocks the natural nutrition in soil.
These steps might help your fruit taste better but I cannot guarantee it, since as I stated above, flavorful citrus usually results from fruit grown in a climate with some interior chill—though not too much—along with a good rootstock and variety.
If you have been fertilizing with commercial synthetic fertilizers some gardeners feel that this way of fertilizing subtracts from flavor while the organic fertilizers I have named here may improve flavor. Also, make sure the tree has adequate trace minerals. If the tree has yellow leaves with green veins, even after you apply seaweed extract, then also apply chelated minerals according to package directions to correct chlorosis. Chlorosis (lack of trace minerals causing yellow leaves with dark green veins) often comes from overwatering of citrus growing in clay soils.