I was at the Orange Festival in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, today (http://orangefestival.com/index.html) and decided I wanted a citrus tree of my own. I wanted a satsuma but found an Orlando tangelo that looked like it was in better condition. I bought it and it is now planted in my backyard.
The thing is it looks like it needs another orange-related tree as a pollinator to grow better fruit. In the absence of that, something called gibberelic acid can be used.
Is there anyone on the Dope that can help me out with the use of gibberelic acid?
I don’t know anything about gibberelic acid (other than what I just Googled), but I do grow 20+ varieties of Citrus. What is the minimum temperature it reaches in your area? Orlando tangelo seems reasonably hardy, but no citrus can withstand extended periods below freezing. I suspect Louisiana is safe, but it’s good to be sure.
If you’re referring to cold hardiness temperature, it’s 30 degrees F here in SE Louisiana. It does get cold like that south of Lake Pontchartrain a couple times or so every winter but not a whole lot. I was just concerned about the pollenation thing.
The tag that came with the tree says “Better fruit production if pollenized with Dancy, Clementine or Kinnow mandarin”. In the absence of these, does this mean I’ll still get fruit though not as good?
I think so.
I would try calling the grower and see what they recommend, especially in an area with few other citrus trees. They should be able to give you instructions for applying the acid, and maybe a source.
I’ve e-mailed a local gardening expert who has a column in the Saturday paper as well as a radio show on a local station. He seems pretty well informed. I’ll post his response when I get it for your information since you grow citrus.
I have another option in asking a local nursery too. Maybe I can do that next weekend.
I think it’s the fact that my next door neighbor has three citrus trees in his backyard – lemon, lime and persimmon – and a neighbor three doors down that has an orange tree that led me to get this tangelo tree. Well that and the fact that the Orange Fest in Belle Chasse this weekend had all sorts of free samples of satsumas, oranges, kumquats, etc.
This will be a new experience for me but I like it. Planting and replanting after Hurricane Katrina has been fun. Three queen palms that have tripled in height over two seasons plus a couple of red maples (front and back) are doing very well. Then there’s ten of the Japanese hollies (sky pencils as they are called) in the back too. My suburban backyard is becoming a bird magnet as well as an oasis.
I really had no idea it wasn’t but lumping everything together does get one thinking that all those trees were indeed citrus.
Anyway, I got feedback from the guy in the paper and this is what he said:
I’m not familiar with this at all. The citrus trees we commonly grow are all self fruitful and do not need to be cross pollinated. Sometimes that is the problem with purchasing from a national chain store. Perhaps you might consider returning it and purchasing a satsuma (which would be similar) from a local nursery. To me, planting a different tree that would produce fruit well on its own with out having to do some sort of special treatment year after year after year would be a better choice.
So, I did return the tangelo and found a decent satsuma and put that in the ground before it got dark with minutes to spare.
Now I just have to wait til next year to see if my satsuma-growing skills have paid off.
