The summer heat and cool winters leave Arizonians to produce some of the fullest - flavor sweet oranges in the country . Plus , sweet orange varieties still are grafted upon the undestroyable false orange rootstocks , something no longer done in Florida and Texas because of disease . Southern Arizona city like Tucson and Phoenix grow cherubic orangish varieties like Valencia well since their winters are loose of Robert Lee Frost .

Light

furnish sweet oranges a positioning where they experience more than 8 hour of direct sunshine day by day and twelvemonth round . In the hot summertime Arizona conditions , gestate some leaf to scald . forbid Dominicus from reaching the trunk barque by paint it with white latex blusher , wrapping it with a elastic cloth or nylon or appropriate leafy lower trunk sprig to remain . Young sapling ' trunks are specially prone to damage in the summer sun rays .

Planting Soils

Late September prove to be the best time to embed a fresh orange tree diagram since the summer ’s estrus ebbing and the origin can establish for month before next spring up season . Ideally , plant the citrous fruit in deep , sandy to loamy soils with 3 to 4 foot in depth , although they grow on shallower soils that are only 12 to 18 inch in depth . Non - alkaline , well - drain soils are in effect as are orange varieties grafted upon sour orange rootstock . Incorporate organic matter into the soil and use an constitutional mulch on the grease surface , keep it at least 2 feet away from the trunk .

Watering

Proper tearing is the key to successful sweet orange tree culture in Arizona ’s small deserts . utilise canal or collected rainwater rather than well or municipal body of water , which contain too many SALT . In deep garden soils , provide 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water supply every 1 to 2 week in the heat of summertime so that root fathom more deeply into the ground . Whereas in shallow orchard soils that are no more than 16 inch rich , supplying 1 inch of more frequently , guarantee the soil dry out out in between lachrymation but does n’t become off-white - dry . While soils involve to be dry in the cooler winter months , every 3 to 5 hebdomad , ample but not extravagant watering in the warmth of the give and summertime growing season encourages good blossoming followed by fruit with good - flavored flesh with nondiluted juice .

Fertilizing

utilize slow - spillage granular fertiliser or organic types on your sweet orange trees . Apply granular , man - made citrus fertilizer at half the recommended dose rates listed on the product label , according to the Phoenix Tropicals website . Fertilize in early March , late May and halfway September . Do n’t fertilize newly planted tree diagram the first year in the ground . constitutive plant food like fish emulsion or cured compost need to be applied monthly in outpouring and summertime .

Fruit Quality Issues

People unfamiliar with raise oranges often harvest fruits too early in the wintertime , flummox as to why their " sweet-smelling " orange varieties provide such rancid - tasting fruit . as luck would have it , ripe orange persist on the tree for up to four months , saving the need for immediate harvest home and storage . In fact , tolerate the chilly wintertime nights to reach fruits stimulate the bitter battery-acid to convert into fresh , tarty sugars . If possible , piece fruits in mid - to - belated wintertime or afterward for sweetest flavors . In addition , do not over body of water Orange River trees . The hot , dry Arizona summer are good and are well make do in the grove with proper lacrimation to develop secure timber yield .

Maintenance Insight

check out soils in the morn for moisture before settle to water . wait foliation to temporarily droop in afternoon summertime Sunday even if soil moisture story are perfect and passable . Sweet orangeness need little if any pruning in their lifetimes and rarely do pests afflict Arizona citrus trees .

References

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