Nice Video, good information. I live in germany and i have to put my citrus plants indoors from end of october until end of march- start of april. Luckily my house has a stairwell with glass bricks as outer wall so i put them there and it works well. I want to get a moro blood orange soon, i hope the tree will make it in my climate zone, It would be my first orange besides a bergamotte tree, which is a cross of bitterorange and sweet lime. So far my other trees are thriving and fruiting pretty well, especially my lemons (2x unknown citrus limon, buddhas hand) my limequat, kumquat and calamondin. My key lime and persian lime are a bit more sensible to the cold, The kaffir lime seems to be a bit hardier when it comes to cold weather which is a bit surprising since its the only tree that's not graftet on poncirus rootstalk. I had some problems with my mandarin and my chinotto but i found out the humidity was a bit to low during their flowering, now i dust them with water during flowering and they are fruiting now too. I'm using an organic citrus fertilizer and it works pretty good. Anyway, keep it up man!
started mine from seeds , they are 3 -4 feet now but dont see any blossoms , plenty of thorns . also in your area at beach . the cold so far hasn'thurt them but your right fairly mild temps past couple years
I mulched my tree after buying it. No fruit after the initial planting. 5 years later I removed the mulch. Next year it grew 2 feet and had 50 blossoms. Each year it gets bigger and has more fruit. I thought mulch helped but not on mine. The Moro I have always has one darker side, no matter how long its left on the tree. Wow you're getting a raspberry taste like me. I love to make a navel orange, tangerine and blood orange juice blend
I do use citrus food 5 x a year on all my 10 citrus trees and time Captain Jack's dead bug organic spray when new leaves form but stop when blossoms open, as I want the bees unharmed. My avacado trees bloom the same time. Bees prefer the citrus, so i spray honey water on the avacado blossoms
That could be from a few reasons. 1. It could just be a coincidence, and it just took a few years for the tree to hit its stride and want to fruit. 2. The type of mulch you're using could be disrupting the pH of your soil. Some mulches break down into acidic pH (like pine bark), while others break down into an alkaline pH (like hardwood mulch). It could have been throwing your soil pH off in the wrong direction. 3. The mulch could have been holding in too much moisture. Citrus hate wet feet and need to dry out periodically. 4. The mulch could have been colonizing a type of fungus or bacteria that was harmful to the tree. 5. If your climate is particularly cool, or you planted your citrus tree in a shady spot, the mulch could have been keeping the roots too cool. Citrus trees like warmth. I use mulch for trees planted in full sun because it keeps the roots moist and cool, but if your tree is planted in a spot that's already shady and cool and moist, it could be a bad thing. Just some things to think about. In my experience, mulch is a great thing for citrus, but they're exposed to full southern exposure and 12+ hours of direct sunlight in the summer.
Growing With Nick I just stopped to get a Meyer lemon and the place said none this year due to the virus. All orders canceled. D’oh! I’m hoping the big box stores get in non-grafted ones. I need a bush type to grow against the ground for any chance of survival here. Meyers do GREAT in containers. They do well indoors in the winter, so you’ll be successful if you stay on top of it.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yeah virus is causing all sorts of problems. Hopefully, you find one. I ordered mine from Hirts last year of average quality. I've also seen small Meyer lemon trees at Lowes and Home Depot around May for $12. Crappy quality and small, but with some care, they probably would do ok. All the best to you this growing season. Excited to see how your figs do!
Jacob Simpson thank you! Home Depot and Lowe’s got some in last April for me. They’re not too hard to find if you look early when the first load of non-hardy fruit trees come in. You could always call McKenzie Farms and he will ship you one. I would rather support him over the big box stores.
good day sir...i just want to know where did you buy budwood of blood orange....i prefer budwood than saplings because i will be the one to graft it or propagate it thru budding...
Evalynn TN do it! It is always better to have too much than not enough. Just think about this food shortage we are dealing with now. It never hurts to have something to eat 😊
My understanding of a Smith Blood Orange is that it's just a mutation of a Valencia orange. I think you'll have two problems: 1. If that is the case, the tree won't be hardier than Valencia, which is a Zone 9 tree. 2. The fruit ripens in late winter/early spring. Even if the tree is hardy, your fruit won't survive. When you live in Zone 8, you need fruits that ripen in November before the hard freezes move in in December because even if the tree itself is hardy, the fruit can't survive much past 27-28F. For those reasons, I don't see it working for you without very strong protection that can keep the area above 26F all winter, and if you're willing to do that, you may as well just grow Moro. There are crosses between Satsumas and Blood Oranges, and I think that would be a better fit because the Satsuma parentage yields early fruit that ripens in fall instead of winter. When it comes to growing citrus in Zone 8, ripening time is everything and you need very early ripening citrus.
I live out in Ocracoke Island (zone 8b) where I run a little guest lodge and teach kitesurfing and am slowly growing my permaculture ranch. Can you recommend a nursery to order Morros, Satsumas and or any cold hardy navels with proper root stalk? Oranges are my favorite food.
Fast Growing Trees Nursery in Fort Mill SC maybe . Bought an elderberry from them & did have some tiny berries going pretty fast . Actually was trying to get mulberry remember as a kid but didn't know the name . Sure made some nice pies😁
Have you looked into the Maltaise Blood Orange or the Bouzabouka blood orange? I'm planning on doing some grafting for them as they are a bit on the rarer side... was wondering if you've grown them and can offer some tips.
I have not. I have been researching cold-hardy citrus, because I don't want to grow any additional varieties in containers. They are all too tender for my climate, so this will be enough for me. If I were in a warmer place, I'd probably look into one of the new "blood mandarin" hybrids, but they're very hard to find.
Mine ripen in March. Where you are located will depend on where you live. Here in North Carolina, March is about the time. If you live in Florida or California where it's warm and they flourish, they usually ripen in January or February. If you're north of me, it could take longer. Some people in the PNW have to keep their citrus on until the following summer.
I only have one variety, so I cannot compare any directly. Mine is a Moro. Other common varieties are Sanguinelli and Tarocco, but I've never had a direct comparison.
@@TheMillennialGardener my local garden stores are running low on citrus but after watching your video I actually managed to pick up a Moro variety :) my 5 year old is so happy and cannot wait for it to produce its first orange!
This was my tree's first full season. I bought my blood orange in June 2018 as a freshly grafted tree, so 2019 was its first full season and it fruited those 2 oranges for me. This year, it held 4 oranges, so I should be able to harvest 4 around January or February. If your tree is in-ground, it's either preferring to put its energy into roots first, or you need to feed it more. Citrus like a nice application of a granulated, organic fertilizer 3 times a year, plus applications of compost and a thick layer of natural mulch.
Mine began flowering last year in March. But it flowered again in the summer, too. It did it in two batches with the bulk in the springtime. If you look at the beginning of this video, it was beginning to flower and it was shot on March 10.
I do not. Citrus are virtually pest-free in my area because I'm so far away from a zone that can actually grow citrus. I've only ever had a couple problems with pests, in which case I've simply sprayed the trees with pyrethrin and that knocks back almost everything.
Tony Renaldi I’m sure I do, but I leave all my plants outside all year. People get spider mites when they bring their plants indoors because there are no natural predators indoors and they flourish. Spider mite infestations are rare outdoors because they are at the bottom of the food chain and get picked off easily. My trees are literally crawling with Carolina anoles right now. The anoles practically live on my brick house this time of year for warmth, and my trees are all against my south house wall, so the lizards go ballistic on my trees, devouring everything they can.
Is it a graft or is it grown from seed? Usually a grafted tree will flower and fruit within 2 years provided it is given a minimum 6 hours of sun and enough water and fertilizer. If it is a rooted cutting or seed-grown, it could take several years.
@@biglou4452 I would recommend giving it a healthy dose of organic slow release fertilizer about 2 weeks before your last frost date in spring, then covering that fertilizer in 2 inches of cow manure mulch, then covering that in 3 inches of hardwood bark mulch or pine bark mulch (use a natural mulch, not dyed mulch). When choosing a fertilizer, citrus trees actually like higher nitrogen, which is unusual for fruit trees. Something like a 6-2-4, 6-3-3 or roughly those ratios are ideal. If you can’t find it, a standard 5-5-5 or 4-4-4 will work. Another trick I like to do is with all my fruit trees, right after my last frost date, I give them a whole gallon of water mixed with MiracleGro All Purpose 24-8-16. The sudden boost of soluble, refined nitrogen, I believe, wakes them up quickly.
I just picked up a moro, preparing the planting site and then popping it in the ground I'm zone 10a so no worries
Zone 8 here just ordered a Moro for the greenhouse!
@@MandatorySuicide6669 mine just went into flower for the first time looking forward to seeing if I get fruit this year
Nice Video, good information. I live in germany and i have to put my citrus plants indoors from end of october until end of march- start of april. Luckily my house has a stairwell with glass bricks as outer wall so i put them there and it works well. I want to get a moro blood orange soon, i hope the tree will make it in my climate zone, It would be my first orange besides a bergamotte tree, which is a cross of bitterorange and sweet lime. So far my other trees are thriving and fruiting pretty well, especially my lemons (2x unknown citrus limon, buddhas hand) my limequat, kumquat and calamondin. My key lime and persian lime are a bit more sensible to the cold, The kaffir lime seems to be a bit hardier when it comes to cold weather which is a bit surprising since its the only tree that's not graftet on poncirus rootstalk.
I had some problems with my mandarin and my chinotto but i found out the humidity was a bit to low during their flowering, now i dust them with water during flowering and they are fruiting now too. I'm using an organic citrus fertilizer and it works pretty good. Anyway, keep it up man!
started mine from seeds , they are 3 -4 feet now but dont see any blossoms , plenty of thorns . also in your area at beach . the cold so far hasn'thurt them but your right fairly mild temps past couple years
I mulched my tree after buying it. No fruit after the initial planting. 5 years later I removed the mulch. Next year it grew 2 feet and had 50 blossoms. Each year it gets bigger and has more fruit. I thought mulch helped but not on mine. The Moro I have always has one darker side, no matter how long its left on the tree. Wow you're getting a raspberry taste like me. I love to make a navel orange, tangerine and blood orange juice blend
I do use citrus food 5 x a year on all my 10 citrus trees and time Captain Jack's dead bug organic spray when new leaves form but stop when blossoms open, as I want the bees unharmed. My avacado trees bloom the same time. Bees prefer the citrus, so i spray honey water on the avacado blossoms
That could be from a few reasons.
1. It could just be a coincidence, and it just took a few years for the tree to hit its stride and want to fruit.
2. The type of mulch you're using could be disrupting the pH of your soil. Some mulches break down into acidic pH (like pine bark), while others break down into an alkaline pH (like hardwood mulch). It could have been throwing your soil pH off in the wrong direction.
3. The mulch could have been holding in too much moisture. Citrus hate wet feet and need to dry out periodically.
4. The mulch could have been colonizing a type of fungus or bacteria that was harmful to the tree.
5. If your climate is particularly cool, or you planted your citrus tree in a shady spot, the mulch could have been keeping the roots too cool. Citrus trees like warmth. I use mulch for trees planted in full sun because it keeps the roots moist and cool, but if your tree is planted in a spot that's already shady and cool and moist, it could be a bad thing.
Just some things to think about. In my experience, mulch is a great thing for citrus, but they're exposed to full southern exposure and 12+ hours of direct sunlight in the summer.
Awesome video. Have a Meyer lemon growing in a pot as well. Hopefully my south jersey climate will participate with me haha.
Growing With Nick I just stopped to get a Meyer lemon and the place said none this year due to the virus. All orders canceled. D’oh! I’m hoping the big box stores get in non-grafted ones. I need a bush type to grow against the ground for any chance of survival here. Meyers do GREAT in containers. They do well indoors in the winter, so you’ll be successful if you stay on top of it.
The Millennial Gardener try Four Winds Growing online. They have phenomenal reviews for citrus trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yeah virus is causing all sorts of problems. Hopefully, you find one. I ordered mine from Hirts last year of average quality. I've also seen small Meyer lemon trees at Lowes and Home Depot around May for $12. Crappy quality and small, but with some care, they probably would do ok. All the best to you this growing season. Excited to see how your figs do!
@@winrockywin331 Solid nursery Tony
Great video! That orange is beautiful! I'm gonna have to find some blood orange trees.
Jacob Simpson thank you! Home Depot and Lowe’s got some in last April for me. They’re not too hard to find if you look early when the first load of non-hardy fruit trees come in. You could always call McKenzie Farms and he will ship you one. I would rather support him over the big box stores.
@@TheMillennialGardener ok thanks! I'll have to check!
good day sir...i just want to know where did you buy budwood of blood orange....i prefer budwood than saplings because i will be the one to graft it or propagate it thru budding...
You made me wanna try it too 🤣
Evalynn TN do it! It is always better to have too much than not enough. Just think about this food shortage we are dealing with now. It never hurts to have something to eat 😊
I have just white flowers in mine….do those flowers turn to oranges?
I’m in Beaufort , my kaffir lime is dying I need help ...I also Bought mine from Stan
There is a smith blood orange that you can grow in zone 8 I am trying it this year
My understanding of a Smith Blood Orange is that it's just a mutation of a Valencia orange. I think you'll have two problems:
1. If that is the case, the tree won't be hardier than Valencia, which is a Zone 9 tree.
2. The fruit ripens in late winter/early spring. Even if the tree is hardy, your fruit won't survive. When you live in Zone 8, you need fruits that ripen in November before the hard freezes move in in December because even if the tree itself is hardy, the fruit can't survive much past 27-28F.
For those reasons, I don't see it working for you without very strong protection that can keep the area above 26F all winter, and if you're willing to do that, you may as well just grow Moro.
There are crosses between Satsumas and Blood Oranges, and I think that would be a better fit because the Satsuma parentage yields early fruit that ripens in fall instead of winter. When it comes to growing citrus in Zone 8, ripening time is everything and you need very early ripening citrus.
Updated video of your blood Orange tree?
I live out in Ocracoke Island (zone 8b) where I run a little guest lodge and teach kitesurfing and am slowly growing my permaculture ranch. Can you recommend a nursery to order Morros, Satsumas and or any cold hardy navels with proper root stalk?
Oranges are my favorite food.
Fast Growing Trees Nursery in Fort Mill SC maybe . Bought an elderberry from them & did have some tiny berries going pretty fast . Actually was trying to get mulberry remember as a kid but didn't know the name . Sure made some nice pies😁
The tree is couple years older now. Does the fruit taste different than the fruit produced the first year?
I just got the info for McKenzie farm to get a blood and a brown select satsuma- which blood orange not suppossed to grow here also
Awesome! The Brown's Select will do well in warm Zone 8's. A Blood Orange needs a strong Zone 9, so it'll have to stay in containers.
Have you looked into the Maltaise Blood Orange or the Bouzabouka blood orange? I'm planning on doing some grafting for them as they are a bit on the rarer side... was wondering if you've grown them and can offer some tips.
I have not. I have been researching cold-hardy citrus, because I don't want to grow any additional varieties in containers. They are all too tender for my climate, so this will be enough for me. If I were in a warmer place, I'd probably look into one of the new "blood mandarin" hybrids, but they're very hard to find.
@@TheMillennialGardener what new blood mandarin varieties?! My curiosity is piqued….
I have a naval orange tree in the ground is that ok in Columbia, South Carolina
My blood orange hasn't ripen. When did yours?
Mine ripen in March. Where you are located will depend on where you live. Here in North Carolina, March is about the time. If you live in Florida or California where it's warm and they flourish, they usually ripen in January or February. If you're north of me, it could take longer. Some people in the PNW have to keep their citrus on until the following summer.
My daughter loves blood oranges so i want to get her one, which variety tastes the best in your opinion?
I only have one variety, so I cannot compare any directly. Mine is a Moro. Other common varieties are Sanguinelli and Tarocco, but I've never had a direct comparison.
@@TheMillennialGardener my local garden stores are running low on citrus but after watching your video I actually managed to pick up a Moro variety :) my 5 year old is so happy and cannot wait for it to produce its first orange!
How long have you grown it for? My moro blood orange tree has been in the ground for 2 years and no flowers yet.
This was my tree's first full season. I bought my blood orange in June 2018 as a freshly grafted tree, so 2019 was its first full season and it fruited those 2 oranges for me. This year, it held 4 oranges, so I should be able to harvest 4 around January or February. If your tree is in-ground, it's either preferring to put its energy into roots first, or you need to feed it more. Citrus like a nice application of a granulated, organic fertilizer 3 times a year, plus applications of compost and a thick layer of natural mulch.
Tarocco rosso?
This is a Moro.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks bro! . Greeting from Argentina
What month do they start flowering?
Mine began flowering last year in March. But it flowered again in the summer, too. It did it in two batches with the bulk in the springtime. If you look at the beginning of this video, it was beginning to flower and it was shot on March 10.
Cool😎
Do you spray the tree with any type of neem or horticultural oil?
I do not. Citrus are virtually pest-free in my area because I'm so far away from a zone that can actually grow citrus. I've only ever had a couple problems with pests, in which case I've simply sprayed the trees with pyrethrin and that knocks back almost everything.
@@TheMillennialGardener you don’t even have spider mites in your area? Lucky.
Tony Renaldi I’m sure I do, but I leave all my plants outside all year. People get spider mites when they bring their plants indoors because there are no natural predators indoors and they flourish. Spider mite infestations are rare outdoors because they are at the bottom of the food chain and get picked off easily. My trees are literally crawling with Carolina anoles right now. The anoles practically live on my brick house this time of year for warmth, and my trees are all against my south house wall, so the lizards go ballistic on my trees, devouring everything they can.
@@TheMillennialGardener ha that’s funny
Mine hasn't flowered ,in ground for 2 years dont know why 😥
Is it a graft or is it grown from seed? Usually a grafted tree will flower and fruit within 2 years provided it is given a minimum 6 hours of sun and enough water and fertilizer. If it is a rooted cutting or seed-grown, it could take several years.
2 yrs in ground grafted tree Hopefully this spring it flowers🙏 thanks for your help👍
@@biglou4452 I would recommend giving it a healthy dose of organic slow release fertilizer about 2 weeks before your last frost date in spring, then covering that fertilizer in 2 inches of cow manure mulch, then covering that in 3 inches of hardwood bark mulch or pine bark mulch (use a natural mulch, not dyed mulch). When choosing a fertilizer, citrus trees actually like higher nitrogen, which is unusual for fruit trees. Something like a 6-2-4, 6-3-3 or roughly those ratios are ideal. If you can’t find it, a standard 5-5-5 or 4-4-4 will work.
Another trick I like to do is with all my fruit trees, right after my last frost date, I give them a whole gallon of water mixed with MiracleGro All Purpose 24-8-16. The sudden boost of soluble, refined nitrogen, I believe, wakes them up quickly.
Try some wood chips on top , can really make a difference