If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Introduction To Mistakes Growing Fruit Trees 0:26 Two Problems Growing Fruit Trees From Seed 1:42 Why Grafted Fruit Trees Fruit Sooner 3:39 Why Alternate Bearing Can Occur In A Grafted Fruit Tree 5:15 What Alternate Bearing / Biennial Bearing Looks Like 6:44 How To Prevent Alternate Bearing Fruit Trees 8:34 Why And When You Should Thin Your Fruit Harvest 9:58 Final Fruit Tree Growing Tips 10:45 Adventures With Dale
Where do you get the plants? Many of your videos don't have the place of where you get trees, but you are selling everything else and the kitchen sink lol.
when I bought my peach tree it was already flowering and I was so excited to to see it bearing fruits! there were 10 of them and it was just too small for such (50 cm tall), but as a beginner I just wanted to get fruits and was impressed. This is its second year in my garden ground and i dug it out to prepare the soil afresh and i have stopped it from flowering after learning a thing or two from youtube. It was not doing well at all.Thank you guys for sharing your skills
Good content. I have to thin a number of fruit trees especially citrus. Typical thinning process is to thin clusters to one or two fruit and anything on the tips of branches go before those more toward the insides. I always thin to a number we can reasonably harvest and consume in one season as well as smaller or misshapen individuals. I neglected to thin a mature Gold Nugget Mandarin last season and we ended up with probably 600 mature fruit and I’m paying for it this season with probably a total of only 30 immature fruit. Thanks for the informative video-always something I can use.
WOW! From 600 to 30? That's a heart breaker. It's just so tempting to leave the fruits. Is there anything more beautiful than a citrus tree laden with fruit? I find citrus to be the most beautiful trees. Citrus must do incredibly well in your climate.
@@TheMillennialGardener I agree and here's a story. Since I remember we had lemon trees in the garden along with some others. One especially was right next to the house about 3 meters away. The house had a small veranda. Under the veranda was always a table. The tree was big and was laying same of it's branches on the veranda roof. Every Sunday lunch time we pulled the table from the veranda to, under the shade of the tree. All family sitting and eating under the shade of the lemon tree and when we wanted a lemon we just raise our hands and take from the tree. The years went passed and the tree got sick on it's trunk. Gum was coming out of it. My Father brought 2 Αgronomists to save the tree. Both told him the same. "Tree will die, cut it". He waited until he tree was really dead. He cut below the crafting and only centimeters from the earth. The Rοots ware healthy and new shootings came out very quickly. My Father allow three new shootings around the trunk. I knew about crafting so I crafted 4 crafts from another lemon tree to quickly help the tree to keep it's big rooting system and also to have the round shape of the tree earlier. All 4 went well. YES. In 4-5 year we started to sit again under the shade of the new TRIPLE tree. "Papa, you like my crafting"? His smile . . . was. . .priceless. Five years ago I prune them very heavily , just above my craftings. No water, abandoned, but still alive. Lemon trees, I love them. Story with ill tree begins 1970, Cyprus. subscribed
Don’t underestimate the affect the shade has on the shady side. I have seen one of my Owari (I have 2) do the same thing while the other (Full sun) loads up every year. I have 11 types of citrus and the ones that tend to alternate are the late season (Gold Nugget, Tango, Washington Navel… because they still have fruit on during bloom. I’m not discounting what you said, you are one of my fruit tree mentors… just adding my experience. Btw Hurricane Ida knocked down all my (8) shade trees in my backyard. One took out my Black mission fig. I’m sure once I remove the tree my fig will grow back 🤞. I now have room for more fruit trees if I can convince my wife that we need them haha
You know what's funny is last year, that side of the tree fruited heavily, so I can't say it has anything to do with the shade. However, my tree seems to favor growth on the "left side" for whatever reason. I can't really explain it. Because I got fruit on the right side last year, I know it will fruit well. I think I just set myself back by not thinning my fruit last season. I just *really* wanted a big harvest off my little tree last year, and I think I'm paying the price. I'm sorry to hear about your storm damage. The fig will come back as long as the roots are intact, for sure. As long as the roots are healthy, it'll be 10 feet tall at this time next year!
@@TheMillennialGardener I think I’ve watched all the videos of your Owari and it’s looking great. I’ve always relied on the “June Drop” on all my mature citrus. After a few years old all I do is feed and prune for shape. Especially on Satsumas, the can get a little gangly.
@@itsasickness4939 my blood orange and in-ground Meyer lemon loves to self-thin, but this Owari satsuma just loves to hold its fruits. It really wants to overbear. What's interesting is that the right side of this tree didn't even bloom. It's not that it dropped its fruit - it didn't have a single bloom on it. It was pretty wild looking!
@@TheMillennialGardener so we are both right… I checked with two neighbors that have multiple Owari among other very mature citrus and both say that Owari does have a tendency to overbear but neither of them thin but do have the occasional broken branch, they also both said that the shaded areas do not bear.. one has an Owari close to a shed and like yours the sunny side is loaded and the shade side has none. Both said that this is true (Shade) for most all citrus except maybe Meyer Lemon. I looked around their orchards and can definitely confirm this. All shady areas are sparse. That was lots of fun walking around 20 -30 year old huge trees on swingle rootstock that are loaded to the hilt.. even got to sample a few even though they aren’t quite ready yet.
@@TheMillennialGardener , A few minutes ago I picked my first Satsumas of the season, I had two Browns Select and 1 Owari. The Browns is almost at peak down here in 9b, the Owari still needs a little time. Both trees are loaded so I’m good till around January ish. Then comes the Decopon (Sumo), Tango and Gold Nugget. It’s Citrus time in Louisiana!!!
Good videos bro, and thanks for replying to my comment question on one of your avo videos, much appreciated. I am having the same issue on my backyard bush lemon tree, It's massive and was overgrown when i bought the property, gave it a big prune and then let it over produce the first season after that because I was excited to finally have a big lemon tree when I should of taken half the buds off to give it a chance to re establish. Again only fruiting on the sunny side. Lesson learned, great to know why, cheers.
Giving a tree a heavy prune actually produces a ton of branching at the nodes, which forms a tremendous amount of budwood. That's why you got so much fruiting - you had tons of new wood for the buds to form. It's counterintuitive, but pruning actually yields more fruit. As long as you understand why there was an issue and don't repeat the mistake, it's actually a fun lesson to learn 😅
Wow .....thankyou for those pearls of wisdom!!! Thats exactly what happened in the 1st year of my plum tree, we were extatic to see how prolific this little baby tree was.....layden down with fruit!!! & the next year.....crash....hardly any fruit.... & we just couldn't understand what had happened in between! So that clears that up 😁 Thankyou for an in depth explanation. Blessings from South Africa 🇿🇦
That's almost certainly what happened to you. Fruit management and thinning is necessary when trees are young - and really all throughout their lives. They're just especially susceptible to this cycle when young, making fruit management and removal all the more important on small trees.
I just got an Owari satsuma. Thanks for the great video. I've watched a lot of videos on growing Owaris but this is the first one that explains how to harvest the fruit.
Thank you! Satsuma's should do well in 8b Arizona as long as you protect them when nighttime temps dip below 20F. The first couple years, you'll want to protect them when it gets colder than 25F until they get established.
so true! I have a semi-dwarf meyer lemon that is only 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide that produced 20+ average size lemons (after thinning 80% of set fruits) last year. This year's bloom looks like will set less than 5. Our lemon is in a 30 gallon container that added to the plant's stress... I'm fine with it though, lesson learned and will stay within 10 per year from here on out...
I ❤️ your channel and videos more than I can say. THANK YOU for your informational and approachable videos. You are truly my garden hero and inspiration (from way over here in zone 9, inland and oh-so-toasty-dry SoCal 😅)
Wow, thank you. I really appreciate that. Boy, do I wish I were in Zone 9. I'd have so much citrus 😂 I'm trying to limp by in Zone 8a with my little satsuma. Hope you get some rain, soon. It should start in a few weeks.
You are so correct that citrus trees grown from seed are cross pollinated and therefore not the same variety as the fruit the seed came from. I'm tired seeing people on TH-cam telling their viewers they can grow fruit trees from seed etc and also failing to advise how long it will take.
Generally, growing *any* fruit tree from seed is a very bad idea. Not only are they almost all cross-pollinated, meaning you'll almost certainly be planting a weird, undesirable cross with high seed content and poor flavor, but you'll be waiting 10-15 years to find out your tree makes lousy fruit. It can be fun to grow things from seed, but it's not the way to go if you want good quality fruit in a reasonable timeframe. I only advocate planting fruit tree seeds if you need rootstock, or if you want to get into breeding...and the latter is a very long, arduous process only for the biggest die-hards.
@@TheMillennialGardener you wouldn't wanna grow avocado from seed anyway. It's one of the not true to see ones I think. So much better to stick to grafted.
Your own dog could be asleep on the moon but as soon as you touch their lead, they are right by the door ready to go! lol On the amazon store front, i saw your list of organza bags. I really wish you could buy a pack of multi sized bags. I am looking at the UK Amazon and couldn't find any. I keep getting my baby courgettes eaten and one of my green beefsteak tomatoes is currently hitting 4 inches! I have a 2 year old conference pear tree (so probably 4 years old now). Is it too late to move it a little to get more light, if we are gentle, when the leaves fall off? I want to replace the horrible clay soil and move it more into the light. We already moved some bushes to make more space. It had loads of flowers this year but our new neighbours decided to cut down the tree in their rented place and it all landed in our garden, bashing the young pear tree and damaging some of our stuff. All the flowers were gone! I was devastated as i am all for saving trees, especially in built up areas here in the UK. Oh and it was on my birthday! We want to move the tree further away from their fence as they have also hacked our 2 mini conifer trees on one side and killed off 50 + yr old conifer tree at the back! This new pear tree is in front of the big conifer tree but i don't want them to touch it whilst it is still young. I am hoping that we can move it during winter and give it some good soil we have learnt to make. Also, by watching videos like yours, we can better care for it in the long term. I don't know much about fruit trees. Like do they have male and female flowers? Should we just keep one or two female flower fruit bulbs and cut the rest off?
I'm fairly certain Dale can teleport. The thing about the organza bags is that a pack of 100 is only around $5, so it isn't a big deal to buy a few sizes. $15 worth of bags is enough for my entire yard and then some, because they're reusable. I've only needed to bag the fruits on my fruit trees that are beginning to ripen, because pests don't care about them until then. Tomatoes can be damaged when green, though. I recommend the 6"x9" bags for tomatoes. Is your pear in-ground? You can dig it up when it is *fully dormant* in the dead of winter. That's basically how they sell bare root trees, anyway: dig them up during dormancy and sell them. Do not dig them up before they're dormant, or they could die. Don't just wait until the leaves fall off. Give it more time. You want them to be in full dormancy. All fruit trees are different. Some fruit trees have the male and female parts enclosed in a single flower. Some fruit trees have separate male and female flowers on the same tree. Some fruit trees have flowers that change from male to female. Some fruit trees are only male and only female, and you need one of each tree. Some fruit trees have male and female flowers, but they're incompatible and require a genetically different companion for cross-pollination. It depends on what you want to grow, so you must research each tree before you plant them.
How do you protect your citrus from winter freezes? I see what looks a pvc framework next to your trees. I live in south Texas and haven’t been successful protecting in ground citrus trees. They keep getting knocked back to the Scion every year. Have gone to growing in pots but would like to have in ground trees as beautiful as yours!
Its my first year growing and my atemoya, lemon, and jujube have produced a ton of flowers that I've been snipping off. I stopped trying to remove all the fig buds from my Violette Bordeaux as it has been so relentless and now is holding about 8 figs which its capable of supporting.
I had this problem with a persimmon tree. First year got 17 nice fruit. But last season zero all flower heads drop off. Maybe this year will be better.
Some persimmons are alternate-bearers when young. I have a Giombo, which is a *notorious* alternate bearing tree when young. It's so notorious that even nurseries warn you that it's an alternate-bearer when young. It hasn't flowered yet, but next year is its 3rd season in-ground, so it may flower for me next spring. I intend on thinning it to see if I can prevent the biennial cycle.
Hi I Have a lemon tree in my terrace garden. It is just starting to produce quite a quantity of mini sized fruits, so will see if the stem supports them once they grow larger. If not I will follow your advice and remove some of them. Thank you for posting the video.
How large is the tree? Lemons, limes, kumquats, calamondins, and other small-fruited citrus trees with a tendency to be "everbearing" often over-produce. If your tree sets too many fruits, it may take an eternity for them to ripen, so thinning is a good idea if the tree is small.
I'm envious that you can grow citrus in the ground. I'm 1 zone cooler and they must be in pots and moved inside when it gets cold. Even with that trouble they are still worth growing.
Believe me, it's still a bit of a stretch here. This is pretty much the most cold hardy "high quality" citrus trees you can grow, and I still need to plant it up against a south-facing brick wall on a dwarfing trifoliate rootstock, and it still requires me adding Christmas lights and a plant jacket here and there. It's far from bulletproof. Citrus really isn't reliable until you're in Zone 9b or warmer, because 1 out of every 5 winters are colder than the advertised zone. We actually had a 7b winter December 2017-March 2018, where we hit 8F in January. Had this tree been in-ground then, it may not have survived even with protection. It's tough to say.
I remember that tree last year! I thought it was over-the-top, but I don't know enough about citrus to even begin to make a statement. If I ever get an orange I want an O. Sat. for sure!
It's one of the best. It's certainly one of the most, if not the most, cold hardy of the high quality citrus. I recommend ordering from Stan McKenzie at McKenzie Farms in Scranton, SC, if you ever want one. His trees are the best.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks for the recommendation. Texas tends to be restrictive with what trees it will let into The State. I hope OSat is allowed. Can't get the lemon tree I wanted, so gave up on that.
States that have a thriving citrus industry have import restrictions due to problems like HLB. You can’t order from Stan, then. You’ll have to get one within Texas, which shouldn’t be a problem since there are countless nurseries. Look for a tree grafted onto flying dragon or trifoliate rootstock to dwarf it. You may also be able to order from Briteleaf since they’re a clean room.
@@TheMillennialGardener The problem is there are certain sp. of citrus that aren't allowed here. Ex., I wanted a Eureka lemon, but Texas would not allow Eureka, but Lisbon was allowed. I don't like Lisbons. It gets ridiculous after a while.
That's a beautiful young tree and it looks really healthy , do you have leaf miner and other citrus problemes?? would you please share how you keep it healthy and what are you using as citrus pest control and disease, here in north Florida we do have huge problems with our little citrus trees
Thank you. I live many hundreds of miles north of the nearest citrus farm. Citrus can't survive here longterm without micro-climates and some human intervention, so there are no "citrus pests" here. Every now and again, I've had a squiggly pattern on a leaf here and there, but I've never had to treat my tree for any type of best. Citrus this far north is pretty much pest-free. The cold is our problem. I really just add compost, mulch and fertilizer in the spring, and throughout the year, I'll dump some leftover soluble fertilizer on it here and there. I do very little. It's one of my lowest maintenance trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you very much for your answer and I'm enjoying all your videos especially the ones your talking about fig trees and I'm learning a lot , you're the best 👍🏼
Interesting n informative video. Learned more about fruit-bearing trees. New subscriber because of ur vid. Dale is sooohh cute ! Feature him more in ur videos. Kudos for ur video. Looking forward to ur next one. No problem growing fruit trees here. But have to be vigilant against beetles, aphids, slugs/snails, n other pests. Aloha from Hawaii
Interesting situation. I’d love to try that citrus fruit. Maybe I missed it, apologies if so. Did you adequately thin the left side of the tree earlier in this season - while nickel/quarter sized? Looks to be an abundance on limb, which is what started the issue?
Hi, I have a lime tree purchased from lowe's and it's in a pot. It has flowered from time to time, and have tiny fruit but no matter what fertilizer I put to it, it stayed tiny and continued to produce tons of leaves and branches that I have to constantly trimmed. The tree is about 2.5-3ft tall and is flowering still.
Lemons and limes are different than most citrus. Many lemons and limes don't have a defined season like a navel orange, satsuma, grapefruit, etc. do. They tend to fruit on a more everbearing pattern and can bloom periodically throughout the year. The problem with lemons and limes is that they tend to furiously overproduce when young. They can overproduce so badly that it'll stunt the growth of the tree. It sounds like you have a very small tree or bush that isn't strong enough to carry the fruit to maturity, but it wants to produce really heavily, so it's loading up with fruit and it's therefore both stunting the growth of the plant and, because the plant is stunted, can't seem to ripen the fruit. What you should probably do is heavily thin the plan. I'd remove everything but maybe 3-6 fruits, and remove any new flowers until the tree can get larger. Removing the fruit should stop stealing the energy the plant needs to grow. After the tree gets larger, it'll be better suited to ripen the fruit load.
I enjoy your channel and have a question for you. I purchased a meyer lemon tree back in May in a 3 gallon container. The tree looks healthy to me but I am seeing no flowering and certainly no fruit. I am including a couple pics for reference. Should I prune this tree back any or just let it go and looking for some blooming next year. BTW I bought the tree in California and will be bringing back home to South Carolina zone 7B.
I live on the eastern shore of Maryland (7B) 30 miles from the Atlantic ocean, and I believe there is a similitude in the growing conditions of our respective locations. Firstly, your raised beds are really well laid out and the soil, unlike mine, does not look like beach sand. I've just received my soil analysis and there are deficiencies that I must address before anything will grow. Looking ahead; after the soil has been amended where can I purchase good quality grafted fruit trees? Your fig tree growing videos took my breath away, I would love to include several varieties in my new garden. Your gardening videos are the best on YT; keep up the good work.
We have similar dewpoint patterns throughout the year, and similar precipitation patterns, although my summers are twice as wet as yours (sadly for me). My native soil is very sandy, and I have found root knot nematodes in a tomato plant before. The drainage where I live is off the charts. We've received 6 inches of rain in an afternoon storm before, and I'm telling you, there isn't even a puddle. My yard got almost 30 inches during Hurricane Florence and it never had any standing water. The downside is the nutrient washout is off the charts, so I have to use more synthetic fertilizers than I'd like to bridge the gap. My soil in my raised beds are 100% local turkey compost. I got it trucked in from a family owned operation that's been maintaining the same pile, turning it daily with a backhoe, for 30 years. I bought 20 cubic yards to fill the area! I still need to amend it regularly with more compost, mulch, kitchen scraps and azomite to maintain it, though, due to the washout problems. If you want citrus, the best place on the planet to buy citrus is from Stan McKenzie at McKenzie Farms in Scranton, SC. He's old school, so you have to go to his website and call the phone number to order. Figs are from all over the place. This is what you do for figs. Go to Harvey's website: www.figaholics.com/cuttings.htm Now, read through all the descriptions and watch all his videos. Make a list of your favorite figs. Then, you either hope and pray you can get your cuttings before they all sell out within 10 mins of going live during his January cutting sale, or you hop on Figbid and you bid for the trees that you want. That's basically how I built my collection of the years. Now, because I have so many good varieties, I just trade 1-for-1 with friends I've made. There are many other great nurseries to get the very common fruit trees: Raintree, One Green World, Stark Bros, Edible Landscaping, Peaceful Heritage, Plantogram, Bayflora, Just Fruits and Exotics, and Briteleaf are some of the best off the top of my head.
I purchased a Washington Navel to grow in a container in March this year. I am on the border of zone 8a 8b in East Texas. The label said it was budded (type of grafting) in July 2020. I transplanted it into a 22" pot. It was loaded down with blossoms shortly after I bought it. I don't want to be greedy, but I am unsure if the nursery I bought it from already pinched off the oranges last year. Will it hurt the tree if I let 3 oranges ripen?
They are not LED’s. They are incandescent lights for winter heat. I have a tutorial on how I winterize my trees here: th-cam.com/video/62ZM615RBdc/w-d-xo.html
I have about a dozen on my satsuma this year. This is the third year I have had it and the first year that it held on to the fruit. It is in a pot. The tree put out a million blossoms, most of which were pollinated and when the fruit was about marble sized, they dropped most of them. I am so excited to get one to maturity. When do they ripen?
That sounds about right with a potted satsuma and sounds like it's progressing well. When it ripens will depend on the variety. For example, my Owari is a later ripening variety. Citrus websites says Owari ripens usually end of November. *However,* because we live north of citrus growing zones, our location gets less growing degree days than real citrus zones, so our citrus is going to ripen a little later than advertised. My Owari ripens in December. Last year, I harvested on Christmas Day, but it was probably later because it was so overbearing. Expect some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas for ripening if you have an Owari. Something like a Brown's Select ripens 2-3 weeks earlier, and there are many other varieties out there that I do not know. All we can grow in-ground here is pretty much Owari, Brown's Select, and some say the new Arctic Frost/Orange Frost, but they're likely inferior to Owari and Brown's Select.
Can you tell me what it means when I have a bunch of fruit hanging on my Oro Blanco Grapefruit tree that just won’t ripen and it’s now getting into March in Southern California and there are a ton of new baby buds coming in and some of the baby fruits are falling off? Should I cull the older fruit?
Although I agree if your say not living in a country where these fruit trees are growing. But here in the far east avocados fruit at 5 to 6 years from stone. My tangerine is doing well 3 feet high and branches at 9 months from seed. I do think the climate has a lot to do with any trees behaviour.
The only way this tree can survive is placed up against the south wall of my brick house, and even then, it will require occasional protection to be sure. Since I am barely on the edge here, it would be significantly more challenging for you since you're at least half a hardiness zone cooler than I am. If it is doing well for you in a container, you may not want to take the risk. If you put it in ground, you will need to provide significant protection.
@@TheMillennialGardener it's probably 5 years old. Last year the fruit set was large and even, but this year it's only straight down the middle. The graft also swelled immensely this year. Yuzu are slower growers though, and mine stays outside in a 25 gallon in zone 8a.
Interesting. It’s been in a container for 5 years? Have you ever root pruned it? If it has been in the same container for that long, the soil may need a refresh and the roots trimmed back some.
Where are you when you say "Eastern NC"? If you're somewhere like the OBX, Emerald Isle, Beaufort or someplace very coastal down my way, it will be more doable than if you live in, say, Greenville or Fayetteville, which is still considered "Eastern NC", but it doesn't have the moderating influences of the ocean. Even here where I live, it's a challenge. I would say 50% of the winters where I live would damage the tree if left unprotected, and 1 out of 5 winters could outright kill it, especially while it's young. No matter where you live in NC, you'll have to prepare a micro-climate that blocks the north wind, and you'll need to cover it a handful of nights a year. It will greatly benefit from a heat source. Incandescent lights are mandatory for longterm success.
I know that I will have to thin fruit from my Calamondin but I am not sure how many to leave on the tree. I counted my leaves vs baby fruits & flowers last month and had more baby fruits than leaves, over 100 very small baby fruits and it is still blooming. I love the smell of the flowers. My tree is about 2 feet tall and potted inside enjoying a grow light 15hrs per day, due to living in Canada. Do you know if there is a good ratio for leaves vs fruit that is a good balance that won't drain the tree?
Calamondin's are tiny, so small(ish) trees can hold some fruit. This website, I think, has a good approach: www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/fruit-thinning-citrus-rees.htm 1. First, wait for the citrus to naturally self-thin. All citrus will go through a period of self-thinning, where the tree will drop several baby fruits. 2. Remove another 20-30%, starting with any deformed fruit. After removing anything deformed or less than perfect/marred, remove until you get around 1/4 to 1/3 gone.
Do you have a video on how to prune citrus trees? I pruned my kumkquat little tree after fruiting season. This year no flowers, no fruit. It was a small harvest the first year.
Not yet. I'll probably perform my first citrus pruning this winter on my Owari, and within the next month for my Meyer. I'll make sure to document it when I do.
I do have a video on grafting using a grafting tool here: th-cam.com/video/GJb5KBTouGw/w-d-xo.html However, I've never grafted with a grafting knife. The reason why is that I can't justify grafting anything myself. It's difficult to grow rootstock from seed and obtain scion wood, and grafted trees are usually so affordable and easy to find that it's just too easy to buy a well-done tree. There are really only two things I intend on grafting: 1. I want a loquat, but I can't find dwarf loquats in the US. I want to get quince rootstock and graft some loquat wood from my neighbor, because he's growing loquats from seeds from Sicily where he was born. It's the only way to grow a dwarf loquat. 2. I can't find a dwarf Ichang lemon *anywhere*. I have a seed-grown Ichang in a pot, and once the caliper gets large enough, I want to graft it onto trifoliate. I will probably film both if and when the time comes.
@@TheMillennialGardener ah, thank you. My sister attempted to graft a small branch from the tangerine to grapefruit (can’t tell if it’s grapefruit or pomelo) but it all died on her XD we do have a kumquat and two lime trees (the later two fruits pretty fast). Thanks and take care.
That would depend on how much the tree bears, I would think. My first year, my tree only set 4 oranges, so it looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree. I allowed the fruit to stay, because the fruit set was so small given the tree's size. The second season, I really should have thinned it, because it was clearly overbearing. Next year, I expect a more "normal" heavy fruit set, and I'll likely thin the tree this time.
I don’t agree what you said at 3’20” the tree thinks of it’s age of scion wood - I think it’s other way - graft a one year old scion to a 30 year old rootstock, because of the massive root system, the next year the Scion May fruit. Am I right?
No, it is the opposite. This is why my Lila Avocado flowered its very first season, and it's why all my citrus trees flower immediately. It is the scion wood that determines fruiting. The rootstock is just there for certain properties, like vigor, dwarfing and disease resistance. If you take a 10 year old rootstock and graft on wood from a 1 year old seedling, it won't flower. If you graft 20 year old scion wood onto a 1 year old rootstock, chances are it'll try to flower.
I have a mature Cara Cara tree that seems to have an alternate bearing cycle. It produced a lot of fruit the first year after I bought the property, and much less the second year, and now it has a lot of fruit again. I've read that this happens due to over-pollination. The tree produces more blossoms (potential fruit) than it can handle, in anticipation of dropping some due to lack of pollination. When they all get pollinated by productive non-native honey bees, the tree uses too many resources supporting all of the fruit. In the case of your tree, I had a thought. Is that the shady side, or the evening sun side? I've noticed that my trees tend to drop blossoms and young fruit that is in direct sun first when it is heat or drought stressed.
Over-pollination is the normal condition for most self-fertile, grafted citrus. The flowers have both the male and female parts in a single flower, just like a tomato flower, so all they need to be pollinated is have the wind blow the flower around and mix the pollen up internally. However, unlike tomatoes, which struggle to pollinate in hot, humid conditions, citrus are basically bulletproof. It's pretty normal for every single flower to pollinate, and then the plant tends to "self-thin" itself. You'll go through a period where you'll see pea-sized citrus fruits dropping all over the ground. However, they often don't self-thin enough if you have a grafted tree, because the tree thinks it's a big, 30-year-old beast of a tree and doesn't realize it is just a little guy. And, of course, some citrus trees may continually overproduce through their entire lives more than they can handle, even! It sounds like your Cara Cara may over-produce. Thinning 30-50% of the fruit each season may be what the doctor ordered to snap it out of its cycle. I called it the "shady side," but that tree pretty much gets full sun. My avocado tree blocks some of the morning sun now, which gives it some part shade in the AM, but by the afternoon, the tree is getting plenty of light. I'm willing to bet you're in California or Arizona if you're growing a Cara Cara in-ground with drier conditions? It will definitely benefit from drip lines being run to it. If you're in the desert Southwest, maybe some light shade cloth (30%) in the summer could be beneficial, too.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yep, Escondido, CA. It's a grafted tree. Aside from what appears to be an alternate bearing cycle (we've only witnessed 2 and 1/2 seasons since we bought the property it's on) it seems pretty happy. It did go through some stress after we first bought the property and we didn't know how to properly care for/water it, which might account for the low production season now that I'm thinking about it. I'm working on getting drip put in everywhere. I got the banana circle all setup with drip, and they love it. They are still small and not well established yet. I was watering every day, and they were still wilting a little. I put the drip in and now they go days without water and don't wilt (the Rachio smart controller decides when to drip.) I've been trying to deep water my citrus, but I'm sure it'll be the same way... they will be much happier and actually deep watered with drip. Especially since they are on a slope and the water tends to run off. I'm still running the mainlines in the back yard where the citrus trees are. Maybe this weekend. The lemon tree could sure use it, it lost all its spring fruit in an early heat wave, and I feel like a good deep watering may have prevented it.
1:16 it’s truth. I grow a orange from seed since 2011 and it is blooming right now in spring 2022. But the benefit is the tree grows from seed is stronger and live longer than graft fruit trees from nursery
Thank you. No, because the other side is bare. You basically have to divide the tree by two. If you were to spread all that fruit over the entire tree, it wouldn't be too much for the tree to handle. If the entire tree looked like that, I would agree with you and it would require thinning. I think when you spread that fruit load over the entire area of the tree, it would be able to handle it. I could be wrong, but it certainly isn't as heavily bearing as last season.
Man, I wish I could!!! I've always wanted to make a Dale channel because he deserves it, but between my job and all of this, it's literally a 100 hour a week commitment and there just isn't any time left. That's why I always give Dale his own segment at the end of the videos. I just don't have an hour to spare left for his own channel, but he deserves it and so much more.
I have been guided in the past to remove half of the fruit on the tree to reduce the likelihood of this happening. What that being said, do you recommend thinning fruits on fig trees?
Looking back, that's probably what I should have done. On figs, it is not necessary to do it immediately, but it should be done to encourage faster ripening later in the season if you live in a place with short seasons. For example, it takes around 90 days for most figs to ripen after figlet formation, so if your first chance of frost is November 1, you should know that any fig that sets after August 1 won't have a prayer to ripen. Therefore, any figs that set after that date should be removed, because they'll never ripen and will only slow down ripening of the others.
My O'Henry seed peach trees took 3-4 years to fruit and wow. The one I gave my neighbor is 3x better than the original. Then there is the other daughter in my yard. It is October and it still has fruit s. It won't drop them.
You might have touched on this, but do grafted or regular-cutting grown figs ever enter these alternating bearing cycles? did you have this problem with any 2 year figs that produced nicely last year?
I have never seen this happen with figs. Figs seem to be prolific no matter what. I do not think they are prone to alternate bearing cycles, and as such, figs require no thinning *unless* you have a short season and you're trying to ripen them more quickly. If that's the case, removing the figs higher up can help the figs down low ripen faster simply because that concentrates more energy into the fewer remaining fruits.
@@TheMillennialGardener Awesome thanks. Great info! I am 7b, same lattitude as you but over in GA. I will remember this for my Cravens Craving, DSJG, and CLBC figs as I think those might be a tad on the later side.
Thank you. Dale is a rescue, so we had to get him tested. He is 50% American Foxhound, 33% Pit Bull Terrier, 17% American Staffordshire Terrier. We think he was bred as a hunting dog, because it's very popular in the South to mix pit bull in with hound dogs for hunting, because you get the prey drive and nose of a hound, but with the relentless stamina of a pit bull. Dale does not like loud noises and is extremely independent, so we think we didn't "make the cut" and was dumped off somewhere...or he possibly got lost during a hunt. Whatever happened, we sure are lucky to have him, because he's an amazing dog.
I have a question.. I have a orange tree in a large pot and I had it since March 2020 it Produced hundreds of flowers this spring but zero fruit.. one fruit got to marble size and then it fell.. why? Is it because the rootstock isn’t old enough? Or is it something else? I fertilize it well and it’s very healthy and has lots of growth The orange tree is very healthy and big but why won’t it hold the fruit? If you say it takes 2-3 years from when you buy a grafted orange tree? And when I got it it looked less than a year old graft then my conclusion is the rootstock is to young to allow the tree to produce?
My guess is you have a grafted tree. As I explained in this video, grafted trees think they're the age of the scion wood. The scion wood was from a tree in peak production, so it tried to fruit just like it was a full-sized, mature tree. However, the small caliper trunk and tiny root system couldn't support the fruit yet, so they dropped. You should be able to support some fruit next season (maybe 3-6 oranges), and the following season is when you can get a better harvest.
hello fellow millenial. i also have a similar shapeless young satsuma. Do you have any future plans about shaping it like an upright tree or you would like to keep it as a shrub? If you are gonna shape it can you also show us please :) thanks brother.
Most satsuma's have a naturally weeping habit and do not grow upright. They should not be shaped like an upright-growing citrus tree. Doing so would be a bad idea and will compromise the fruiting. They grow towards the ground, and they should be pruned minimally compared to most other citrus.
Grafted citrus trees will typically fruit the second season. If you are growing a seed-grown tree, they can take 10 years or longer. If your tree is grafted: 1. They need at least 8 hours of direct sun a day, but 10-12 hours is better. They need full sun to flower and fruit. 2. Make sure you are fertilizing them enough. A hungry tree will not fruit well. 3. They want a thick layer of compost and mulch at all times. I'm guessing your problem may be one of those 4 things.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you for your response. It’s a grafted tree. I made need to do more fertilizing and will add more mulching. I live in central Florida so it has plenty of sun 🙂. BTW I just started the experiment that you did with your Meyer Lemon tree. Mine looks exactly like yours so we’ll see if I get some fruit. I think that I’ve been missing high phosphorus/potassium from my fertilizers. I never knew this could be a game changer. You are very thorough in your explanation, thank you I appreciate that.
Great video. I have a 35 year plus valencia orange that is covered in flowers every year but has only ever had 12 oranges in its life. does anyone know how I can get this orange tree to set a proper crop? Cheers Muffy from Oz (Australia)
What does the tree do, exactly? Do the flowers form little green fruits, and then the fruits drop? Or do the flowers all fall off and not set any fruit? Baby oranges are very tiny, so you must look carefully.
That's true. You should move south where it's warmer! I think Naples is a little too far south. At least for me. I don't want to be hot 10.5 months a year. But somewhere in between is really nice! At least get to Zone 8b. A lot of options open up, and you still get a nice, sweatless cool season that isn't too too cold.
It definitely isn't a light issue, because that side fruited the most heavily the previous year. The fact that the alternate bearing manifested on that side may have been a result of that side fruiting too hard last year and it being shadier may have nothing to do with it. Or, it could just be a coincidence and that side was selected as the alternate bearing side randomly. It's tough to say, but I know for certain it doesn't need any supplemental light. This could have been avoided had I not been so greedy last year and thinned the crop.
I wish my grafted citrus looked that good, I planted it 7 years ago and it looks exactly the same, it's still only about 3 feet. Flowers but never sets. Clay soil in Australia doesn't help.
The soil is likely the reason. I would advise planting your trees on a mound because of your soil type. Basically, you set the root ball maybe only 8-10 cm deep and then dump compost and mulch all around the rest. Or, you build a raised bed and plant it in a raised bed. That allows the tree to send surface roots all over the place. I only bury half the root balls when I plant trees, and I backfill the rest with compost and mulch. After 1 year, the top layer of soil is usually a giant mass of surface roots. My citrus tree has surface roots all over the place. I think that's why I've had success.
That's extremely unusual. Typically, citrus trees take around 10 years to fruit. Sometimes longer. My neighbor has a lemon tree grown from seed that's 10 feet tall on its 8th season and it's never flowered.
@@TheMillennialGardener Actually me and my neighbours had our trees on the 4th and some the 5th. That's common in Southern California. Of course we don't have the same trees planted.
It isn't necessarily a problem with lack of fertilizer. It's a problem with the tree stressing itself out by overbearing. If your tree bears more fruit than it can physically handle, it can send it into a reduced bearing pattern the final season. I wouldn't really consider that a significant fertilizer, though.
This was right on time! I've had my Meyer for 3 years, but this is the first year with significant blooms. My tree is potted and probably has 25 tiny lemons and two larger lemons. Still jot sure what to do over winter here in Pittsburgh. But thank you for another awesome video. Such knowledgeable content here.
The meyer will do well in a sunny, south-facing window, but it will struggle to ripen with the low amount of solar energy. You may not want to let too many lemons sit on the tree once you take it inside. You'll be asking a lot of the tree to both stay happily alive and carry a lot of fruits on it so far north with only "window light." What I do with my citrus trees once the cold season comes is carry them inside during the night and bring them outside during the day once it's over 39F. All citrus do just fine in 40+ degree temps. I know Pittsburgh spends a significant time of the year where even the days are below freezing, so you'll need to leave them inside 24 hours a day then. *Be very careful* when you carry your tree inside to say.* Citrus *do not like* being taken from outside to inside. They need to be slowly acclimated, where you carry them inside for a couple hours, then bring them back out. If you go from 100% outdoor light to 100% indoor light, your tree will freak out and drop all its leaves. I've seen it happen many times. Just like indoor-grown seedlings need to be slowly acclimated to sunshine outside, citrus need to be slowly acclimated to being brought indoors.
Thanks so much for the advice, I will definitely follow that. The massive leave drop is exactly what happened my first year. I was able to avoid so much leaf drop by easing it in and getting it in a better situated room for more sunlight as well as artificial lights. It is just so big now I don't know if I can keep bringing it every year.
Yep, citrus can actually die from the shock. They do not recover easily. I’ve had my blood orange partially defoliate on me twice just from normal conditions. They are fussy, fussy, fussy.
Due to a whole host of climactic reasons, I can only grow grafted citrus here. Due to our cold-ish winters, heavy rains and my small backyard, most citrus needs to be grown on trifoliate rootstock. I would not want any orange tree growing on its own roots.
@@TheMillennialGardener When they're just starting to ripen, they're pretty similar to a crisp apple in texture. As they get darker and darker (the skin goes from straight green to mottled green and brown to fully brown), they get incredibly sweet. If you leave them on the tree beyond that, they'll start to dry and go to a spongier texture, while picking up some caramel flavors. I tend to mostly like really crisp fruit, so I'll eat them when they're mottled green and brown. Our trees (one honey jar and a sugar cane) are incredibly prolific and bloomed heavily starting in the 2nd year. For us they leaf out in June, so they miss any spring frosts / hard freezes. I'd say we got at least 5# of fruit off of our 3rd year tree this season. It's only about 5' tall. They seem to literally have no disease or pest or weather issues where we are, which is incredible. FYI we can get fruit at the farmers markets, might be worth trying them if you're curious. I tried some fresh goji berries out of curiosity and was glad to cross those off my list.
It's going to depend on how heavily your fruit tree bears. At any time, a fruit tree can bare more than it can handle, even if the tree is mature. My point is more the younger the tree, the more susceptible the tree will be to overbearing, the more important it is to thin the fruits when young. However, I believe commercial growers with trees in their prime fruiting age still thin, because if they don't, having an entire orchard that has an off year can be financially devastating. Thinning is probably always important regardless of age, but it's especially important when young.
You may be able to root citrus (although it isn't easy like figs), but they'll be growing "on their own roots." Generally, you should grow citrus grafted ontp very specific rootstock that provides beneficial characteristics to your unique climate, such as nematode resistance, dwarfing characteristics, characteristics that prevent root rot, etc. Citrus grown on their own roots will likely grow to be 30 feet tall if they take.
Figs don't seem to have this issue. The biggest problem with figs is they overproduce so much every year that they can stall ripening if you don't remove the fruits that'll never ripen in time.
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If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 Introduction To Mistakes Growing Fruit Trees
0:26 Two Problems Growing Fruit Trees From Seed
1:42 Why Grafted Fruit Trees Fruit Sooner
3:39 Why Alternate Bearing Can Occur In A Grafted Fruit Tree
5:15 What Alternate Bearing / Biennial Bearing Looks Like
6:44 How To Prevent Alternate Bearing Fruit Trees
8:34 Why And When You Should Thin Your Fruit Harvest
9:58 Final Fruit Tree Growing Tips
10:45 Adventures With Dale
Have you tried Paclobutrazol
to make young branches mature earlier?
Yes
Where do you get the plants? Many of your videos don't have the place of where you get trees, but you are selling everything else and the kitchen sink lol.
when I bought my peach tree it was already flowering and I was so excited to to see it bearing fruits! there were 10 of them and it was just too small for such (50 cm tall), but as a beginner I just wanted to get fruits and was impressed. This is its second year in my garden ground and i dug it out to prepare the soil afresh and i have stopped it from flowering after learning a thing or two from youtube. It was not doing well at all.Thank you guys for sharing your skills
Make sure that your soil is very well-draining. Most trees will not do well if they're sitting in any standing water.
How can you build up your soil to be well draining ? Thank you 🙏
Good content. I have to thin a number of fruit trees especially citrus. Typical thinning process is to thin clusters to one or two fruit and anything on the tips of branches go before those more toward the insides. I always thin to a number we can reasonably harvest and consume in one season as well as smaller or misshapen individuals. I neglected to thin a mature Gold Nugget Mandarin last season and we ended up with probably 600 mature fruit and I’m paying for it this season with probably a total of only 30 immature fruit. Thanks for the informative video-always something I can use.
WOW! From 600 to 30? That's a heart breaker. It's just so tempting to leave the fruits. Is there anything more beautiful than a citrus tree laden with fruit? I find citrus to be the most beautiful trees. Citrus must do incredibly well in your climate.
You could always make loads of compote spread or preserves to give away. lol
@@TheMillennialGardener I agree and here's a story. Since I remember we had lemon trees in the garden along with some others. One especially was right next to the house about 3 meters away. The house had a small veranda. Under the veranda was always a table. The tree was big and was laying same of it's branches on the veranda roof. Every Sunday lunch time we pulled the table from the veranda to, under the shade of the tree. All family sitting and eating under the shade of the lemon tree and when we wanted a lemon we just raise our hands and take from the tree. The years went passed and the tree got sick on it's trunk. Gum was coming out of it. My Father brought 2 Αgronomists to save the tree. Both told him the same. "Tree will die, cut it". He waited until he tree was really dead. He cut below the crafting and only centimeters from the earth. The Rοots ware healthy and new shootings came out very quickly. My Father allow three new shootings around the trunk. I knew about crafting so I crafted 4 crafts from another lemon tree to quickly help the tree to keep it's big rooting system and also to have the round shape of the tree earlier. All 4 went well. YES. In 4-5 year we started to sit again under the shade of the new TRIPLE tree. "Papa, you like my crafting"? His smile . . . was. . .priceless. Five years ago I prune them very heavily , just above my craftings. No water, abandoned, but still alive. Lemon trees, I love them. Story with ill tree begins 1970, Cyprus. subscribed
You give good lecture. Skilled at communication. I'll watch more of you.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Don’t underestimate the affect the shade has on the shady side. I have seen one of my Owari (I have 2) do the same thing while the other (Full sun) loads up every year. I have 11 types of citrus and the ones that tend to alternate are the late season (Gold Nugget, Tango, Washington Navel… because they still have fruit on during bloom. I’m not discounting what you said, you are one of my fruit tree mentors… just adding my experience. Btw Hurricane Ida knocked down all my (8) shade trees in my backyard. One took out my Black mission fig. I’m sure once I remove the tree my fig will grow back 🤞. I now have room for more fruit trees if I can convince my wife that we need them haha
You know what's funny is last year, that side of the tree fruited heavily, so I can't say it has anything to do with the shade. However, my tree seems to favor growth on the "left side" for whatever reason. I can't really explain it. Because I got fruit on the right side last year, I know it will fruit well. I think I just set myself back by not thinning my fruit last season. I just *really* wanted a big harvest off my little tree last year, and I think I'm paying the price. I'm sorry to hear about your storm damage. The fig will come back as long as the roots are intact, for sure. As long as the roots are healthy, it'll be 10 feet tall at this time next year!
@@TheMillennialGardener I think I’ve watched all the videos of your Owari and it’s looking great. I’ve always relied on the “June Drop” on all my mature citrus. After a few years old all I do is feed and prune for shape. Especially on Satsumas, the can get a little gangly.
@@itsasickness4939 my blood orange and in-ground Meyer lemon loves to self-thin, but this Owari satsuma just loves to hold its fruits. It really wants to overbear. What's interesting is that the right side of this tree didn't even bloom. It's not that it dropped its fruit - it didn't have a single bloom on it. It was pretty wild looking!
@@TheMillennialGardener so we are both right… I checked with two neighbors that have multiple Owari among other very mature citrus and both say that Owari does have a tendency to overbear but neither of them thin but do have the occasional broken branch, they also both said that the shaded areas do not bear.. one has an Owari close to a shed and like yours the sunny side is loaded and the shade side has none. Both said that this is true (Shade) for most all citrus except maybe Meyer Lemon. I looked around their orchards and can definitely confirm this. All shady areas are sparse. That was lots of fun walking around 20 -30 year old huge trees on swingle rootstock that are loaded to the hilt.. even got to sample a few even though they aren’t quite ready yet.
@@TheMillennialGardener , A few minutes ago I picked my first Satsumas of the season, I had two Browns Select and 1 Owari. The Browns is almost at peak down here in 9b, the Owari still needs a little time. Both trees are loaded so I’m good till around January ish. Then comes the Decopon (Sumo), Tango and Gold Nugget. It’s Citrus time in Louisiana!!!
Good videos bro, and thanks for replying to my comment question on one of your avo videos, much appreciated. I am having the same issue on my backyard bush lemon tree, It's massive and was overgrown when i bought the property, gave it a big prune and then let it over produce the first season after that because I was excited to finally have a big lemon tree when I should of taken half the buds off to give it a chance to re establish. Again only fruiting on the sunny side. Lesson learned, great to know why, cheers.
Giving a tree a heavy prune actually produces a ton of branching at the nodes, which forms a tremendous amount of budwood. That's why you got so much fruiting - you had tons of new wood for the buds to form. It's counterintuitive, but pruning actually yields more fruit. As long as you understand why there was an issue and don't repeat the mistake, it's actually a fun lesson to learn 😅
This explains what happened with my Peachtree last year. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Wow .....thankyou for those pearls of wisdom!!! Thats exactly what happened in the 1st year of my plum tree, we were extatic to see how prolific this little baby tree was.....layden down with fruit!!! & the next year.....crash....hardly any fruit.... & we just couldn't understand what had happened in between!
So that clears that up 😁
Thankyou for an in depth explanation.
Blessings from South Africa 🇿🇦
That's almost certainly what happened to you. Fruit management and thinning is necessary when trees are young - and really all throughout their lives. They're just especially susceptible to this cycle when young, making fruit management and removal all the more important on small trees.
I just got an Owari satsuma. Thanks for the great video. I've watched a lot of videos on growing Owaris but this is the first one that explains how to harvest the fruit.
Awesome! I have extensive videos on citrus. I'd invite you to take a look here: www.youtube.com/@TheMillennialGardener/search?query=satsuma
highly, highly informative....''alternate bearing pattern''--interesting !!!!
Thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful.
Excellent video as always. Hope you and Dale are well. I'm in 8b zone in AZ. Will that citrus variety survive and fruit here.
Thank you! Satsuma's should do well in 8b Arizona as long as you protect them when nighttime temps dip below 20F. The first couple years, you'll want to protect them when it gets colder than 25F until they get established.
Oh wow! You just taught me so much! Thank you!
Glad to help! Thank you for watching.
Wow!...... Millennium You just taught me a lot of valuable staff
I thank You....
Keep on doing this wonderful job.
I’m glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching.
so true! I have a semi-dwarf meyer lemon that is only 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide that produced 20+ average size lemons (after thinning 80% of set fruits) last year. This year's bloom looks like will set less than 5. Our lemon is in a 30 gallon container that added to the plant's stress... I'm fine with it though, lesson learned and will stay within 10 per year from here on out...
I ❤️ your channel and videos more than I can say. THANK YOU for your informational and approachable videos. You are truly my garden hero and inspiration (from way over here in zone 9, inland and oh-so-toasty-dry SoCal 😅)
Wow, thank you. I really appreciate that. Boy, do I wish I were in Zone 9. I'd have so much citrus 😂 I'm trying to limp by in Zone 8a with my little satsuma. Hope you get some rain, soon. It should start in a few weeks.
Excellent video. This guys speaks so well, intelligently and with so much knowledge.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks. I’ve seen hundreds of videos on fruit tree growing and this is one of the best.
Good information for me as a beginer farmer. Thank you.
Shout Out From South Africa!!!!
Thanks for watching! I appreciate it!
You are so correct that citrus trees grown from seed are cross pollinated and therefore not the same variety as the fruit the seed came from. I'm tired seeing people on TH-cam telling their viewers they can grow fruit trees from seed etc and also failing to advise how long it will take.
Generally, growing *any* fruit tree from seed is a very bad idea. Not only are they almost all cross-pollinated, meaning you'll almost certainly be planting a weird, undesirable cross with high seed content and poor flavor, but you'll be waiting 10-15 years to find out your tree makes lousy fruit. It can be fun to grow things from seed, but it's not the way to go if you want good quality fruit in a reasonable timeframe. I only advocate planting fruit tree seeds if you need rootstock, or if you want to get into breeding...and the latter is a very long, arduous process only for the biggest die-hards.
So many people growing avocados from seed on youtube.
It’s faster to conceive a child and get them into high school than it is to fruit an avocado tree grown from seed 😂
@@TheMillennialGardener you wouldn't wanna grow avocado from seed anyway. It's one of the not true to see ones I think. So much better to stick to grafted.
love the info.. so may be this is the reason why my loquat tree is only fruiting on one side this year ......
Is it a young tree? If it's a young tree and you had a great harvest last year, it very well may be your problem.
Thank God this wasn’t a video about figs. Because I’m definitely greedy when it comes to fig trees.
Figs should be thinned only after you're sure they won't ripen before frost. Other than that, they can load up if it's early in the year.
Your own dog could be asleep on the moon but as soon as you touch their lead, they are right by the door ready to go! lol
On the amazon store front, i saw your list of organza bags. I really wish you could buy a pack of multi sized bags. I am looking at the UK Amazon and couldn't find any.
I keep getting my baby courgettes eaten and one of my green beefsteak tomatoes is currently hitting 4 inches!
I have a 2 year old conference pear tree (so probably 4 years old now). Is it too late to move it a little to get more light, if we are gentle, when the leaves fall off? I want to replace the horrible clay soil and move it more into the light. We already moved some bushes to make more space.
It had loads of flowers this year but our new neighbours decided to cut down the tree in their rented place and it all landed in our garden, bashing the young pear tree and damaging some of our stuff. All the flowers were gone! I was devastated as i am all for saving trees, especially in built up areas here in the UK. Oh and it was on my birthday!
We want to move the tree further away from their fence as they have also hacked our 2 mini conifer trees on one side and killed off 50 + yr old conifer tree at the back! This new pear tree is in front of the big conifer tree but i don't want them to touch it whilst it is still young. I am hoping that we can move it during winter and give it some good soil we have learnt to make.
Also, by watching videos like yours, we can better care for it in the long term. I don't know much about fruit trees. Like do they have male and female flowers? Should we just keep one or two female flower fruit bulbs and cut the rest off?
I'm fairly certain Dale can teleport. The thing about the organza bags is that a pack of 100 is only around $5, so it isn't a big deal to buy a few sizes. $15 worth of bags is enough for my entire yard and then some, because they're reusable. I've only needed to bag the fruits on my fruit trees that are beginning to ripen, because pests don't care about them until then. Tomatoes can be damaged when green, though. I recommend the 6"x9" bags for tomatoes.
Is your pear in-ground? You can dig it up when it is *fully dormant* in the dead of winter. That's basically how they sell bare root trees, anyway: dig them up during dormancy and sell them. Do not dig them up before they're dormant, or they could die. Don't just wait until the leaves fall off. Give it more time. You want them to be in full dormancy.
All fruit trees are different. Some fruit trees have the male and female parts enclosed in a single flower. Some fruit trees have separate male and female flowers on the same tree. Some fruit trees have flowers that change from male to female. Some fruit trees are only male and only female, and you need one of each tree. Some fruit trees have male and female flowers, but they're incompatible and require a genetically different companion for cross-pollination. It depends on what you want to grow, so you must research each tree before you plant them.
How do you protect your citrus from winter freezes? I see what looks a pvc framework next to your trees. I live in south Texas and haven’t been successful protecting in ground citrus trees. They keep getting knocked back to the Scion every year. Have gone to growing in pots but would like to have in ground trees as beautiful as yours!
Its my first year growing and my atemoya, lemon, and jujube have produced a ton of flowers that I've been snipping off. I stopped trying to remove all the fig buds from my Violette Bordeaux as it has been so relentless and now is holding about 8 figs which its capable of supporting.
I had this problem with a persimmon tree. First year got 17 nice fruit. But last season zero all flower heads drop off. Maybe this year will be better.
Some persimmons are alternate-bearers when young. I have a Giombo, which is a *notorious* alternate bearing tree when young. It's so notorious that even nurseries warn you that it's an alternate-bearer when young. It hasn't flowered yet, but next year is its 3rd season in-ground, so it may flower for me next spring. I intend on thinning it to see if I can prevent the biennial cycle.
Hi I Have a lemon tree in my terrace garden. It is just starting to produce quite a quantity of mini sized fruits, so will see if the stem supports them once they grow larger. If not I will follow your advice and remove some of them. Thank you for posting the video.
How large is the tree? Lemons, limes, kumquats, calamondins, and other small-fruited citrus trees with a tendency to be "everbearing" often over-produce. If your tree sets too many fruits, it may take an eternity for them to ripen, so thinning is a good idea if the tree is small.
I'm envious that you can grow citrus in the ground. I'm 1 zone cooler and they must be in pots and moved inside when it gets cold. Even with that trouble they are still worth growing.
Believe me, it's still a bit of a stretch here. This is pretty much the most cold hardy "high quality" citrus trees you can grow, and I still need to plant it up against a south-facing brick wall on a dwarfing trifoliate rootstock, and it still requires me adding Christmas lights and a plant jacket here and there. It's far from bulletproof. Citrus really isn't reliable until you're in Zone 9b or warmer, because 1 out of every 5 winters are colder than the advertised zone. We actually had a 7b winter December 2017-March 2018, where we hit 8F in January. Had this tree been in-ground then, it may not have survived even with protection. It's tough to say.
I remember that tree last year! I thought it was over-the-top, but I don't know enough about citrus to even begin to make a statement. If I ever get an orange I want an O. Sat. for sure!
It's one of the best. It's certainly one of the most, if not the most, cold hardy of the high quality citrus. I recommend ordering from Stan McKenzie at McKenzie Farms in Scranton, SC, if you ever want one. His trees are the best.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks for the recommendation. Texas tends to be restrictive with what trees it will let into The State. I hope OSat is allowed. Can't get the lemon tree I wanted, so gave up on that.
States that have a thriving citrus industry have import restrictions due to problems like HLB. You can’t order from Stan, then. You’ll have to get one within Texas, which shouldn’t be a problem since there are countless nurseries. Look for a tree grafted onto flying dragon or trifoliate rootstock to dwarf it. You may also be able to order from Briteleaf since they’re a clean room.
@@TheMillennialGardener The problem is there are certain sp. of citrus that aren't allowed here. Ex., I wanted a Eureka lemon, but Texas would not allow Eureka, but Lisbon was allowed. I don't like Lisbons. It gets ridiculous after a while.
Thankyou for this information
Thanks for watching!
Thanks, you solved a lot of my problems.
I'm glad to hear it was helpful! Thank you for watching.
That's a beautiful young tree and it looks really healthy , do you have leaf miner and other citrus problemes?? would you please share how you keep it healthy and what are you using as citrus pest control and disease, here in north Florida we do have huge problems with our little citrus trees
Thank you. I live many hundreds of miles north of the nearest citrus farm. Citrus can't survive here longterm without micro-climates and some human intervention, so there are no "citrus pests" here. Every now and again, I've had a squiggly pattern on a leaf here and there, but I've never had to treat my tree for any type of best. Citrus this far north is pretty much pest-free. The cold is our problem. I really just add compost, mulch and fertilizer in the spring, and throughout the year, I'll dump some leftover soluble fertilizer on it here and there. I do very little. It's one of my lowest maintenance trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you very much for your answer and I'm enjoying all your videos especially the ones your talking about fig trees and I'm learning a lot , you're the best 👍🏼
I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos. Thanks for watching!
That's exactly what happened to me half the tree facing the sun gave me some apples but next year it's going to be loaded. Good video.
Thanks for watching!
Interesting n informative video. Learned more about fruit-bearing trees. New subscriber because of ur vid. Dale is sooohh cute ! Feature him more in ur videos. Kudos for ur video. Looking forward to ur next one.
No problem growing fruit trees here. But have to be vigilant against beetles, aphids, slugs/snails, n other pests.
Aloha from Hawaii
Thank you! Dale always gets the spotlight at the end of all my videos. He's the best looking member of the family, so he has to get his close-up.
Interesting situation. I’d love to try that citrus fruit. Maybe I missed it, apologies if so. Did you adequately thin the left side of the tree earlier in this season - while nickel/quarter sized? Looks to be an abundance on limb, which is what started the issue?
Perfect timing! My 20 year old semi-dwarf has too much fruit.
Glad it was timely. Thanks for watching!
I have the same issue...........thanks for the info....made me understand what is going on
Glad it helped! Thank you for watching.
Hi, I have a lime tree purchased from lowe's and it's in a pot. It has flowered from time to time, and have tiny fruit but no matter what fertilizer I put to it, it stayed tiny and continued to produce tons of leaves and branches that I have to constantly trimmed. The tree is about 2.5-3ft tall and is flowering still.
Lemons and limes are different than most citrus. Many lemons and limes don't have a defined season like a navel orange, satsuma, grapefruit, etc. do. They tend to fruit on a more everbearing pattern and can bloom periodically throughout the year. The problem with lemons and limes is that they tend to furiously overproduce when young. They can overproduce so badly that it'll stunt the growth of the tree. It sounds like you have a very small tree or bush that isn't strong enough to carry the fruit to maturity, but it wants to produce really heavily, so it's loading up with fruit and it's therefore both stunting the growth of the plant and, because the plant is stunted, can't seem to ripen the fruit. What you should probably do is heavily thin the plan. I'd remove everything but maybe 3-6 fruits, and remove any new flowers until the tree can get larger. Removing the fruit should stop stealing the energy the plant needs to grow. After the tree gets larger, it'll be better suited to ripen the fruit load.
I would plant it in the ground.
I enjoy your channel and have a question for you. I purchased a meyer lemon tree back in May in a 3 gallon container. The tree looks healthy to me but I am seeing no flowering and certainly no fruit. I am including a couple pics for reference. Should I prune this tree back any or just let it go and looking for some blooming next year. BTW I bought the tree in California and will be bringing back home to South Carolina zone 7B.
I live on the eastern shore of Maryland (7B) 30 miles from the Atlantic ocean, and I believe there is a similitude in the growing conditions of our respective locations. Firstly, your raised beds are really well laid out and the soil, unlike mine, does not look like beach sand. I've just received my soil analysis and there are deficiencies that I must address before anything will grow. Looking ahead; after the soil has been amended where can I purchase good quality grafted fruit trees? Your fig tree growing videos took my breath away, I would love to include several varieties in my new garden. Your gardening videos are the best on YT; keep up the good work.
We have similar dewpoint patterns throughout the year, and similar precipitation patterns, although my summers are twice as wet as yours (sadly for me). My native soil is very sandy, and I have found root knot nematodes in a tomato plant before. The drainage where I live is off the charts. We've received 6 inches of rain in an afternoon storm before, and I'm telling you, there isn't even a puddle. My yard got almost 30 inches during Hurricane Florence and it never had any standing water. The downside is the nutrient washout is off the charts, so I have to use more synthetic fertilizers than I'd like to bridge the gap. My soil in my raised beds are 100% local turkey compost. I got it trucked in from a family owned operation that's been maintaining the same pile, turning it daily with a backhoe, for 30 years. I bought 20 cubic yards to fill the area! I still need to amend it regularly with more compost, mulch, kitchen scraps and azomite to maintain it, though, due to the washout problems.
If you want citrus, the best place on the planet to buy citrus is from Stan McKenzie at McKenzie Farms in Scranton, SC. He's old school, so you have to go to his website and call the phone number to order.
Figs are from all over the place. This is what you do for figs. Go to Harvey's website: www.figaholics.com/cuttings.htm
Now, read through all the descriptions and watch all his videos. Make a list of your favorite figs. Then, you either hope and pray you can get your cuttings before they all sell out within 10 mins of going live during his January cutting sale, or you hop on Figbid and you bid for the trees that you want. That's basically how I built my collection of the years. Now, because I have so many good varieties, I just trade 1-for-1 with friends I've made.
There are many other great nurseries to get the very common fruit trees: Raintree, One Green World, Stark Bros, Edible Landscaping, Peaceful Heritage, Plantogram, Bayflora, Just Fruits and Exotics, and Briteleaf are some of the best off the top of my head.
I purchased a Washington Navel to grow in a container in March this year. I am on the border of zone 8a 8b in East Texas. The label said it was budded (type of grafting) in July 2020. I transplanted it into a 22" pot. It was loaded down with blossoms shortly after I bought it. I don't want to be greedy, but I am unsure if the nursery I bought it from already pinched off the oranges last year. Will it hurt the tree if I let 3 oranges ripen?
Are those led lights just decoration or do they help in the winter
They are not LED’s. They are incandescent lights for winter heat. I have a tutorial on how I winterize my trees here: th-cam.com/video/62ZM615RBdc/w-d-xo.html
Any updates on the paw paws?
Funny you ask. That's today's video: th-cam.com/video/GYZxumlbh60/w-d-xo.html
Very good explanation
Useful and helpful.
Glad it was helpful! I appreciate you watching.
What do you fertilize your citrus trees with? Thanks jim80
Like your harness...
Thanks for the tips
Thanks for watching!
very interesting, I would have thought my hardy tree is taking over my bearing tree, thanks
Thanks for watching!
I have about a dozen on my satsuma this year. This is the third year I have had it and the first year that it held on to the fruit. It is in a pot. The tree put out a million blossoms, most of which were pollinated and when the fruit was about marble sized, they dropped most of them. I am so excited to get one to maturity. When do they ripen?
That sounds about right with a potted satsuma and sounds like it's progressing well. When it ripens will depend on the variety. For example, my Owari is a later ripening variety. Citrus websites says Owari ripens usually end of November. *However,* because we live north of citrus growing zones, our location gets less growing degree days than real citrus zones, so our citrus is going to ripen a little later than advertised. My Owari ripens in December. Last year, I harvested on Christmas Day, but it was probably later because it was so overbearing. Expect some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas for ripening if you have an Owari. Something like a Brown's Select ripens 2-3 weeks earlier, and there are many other varieties out there that I do not know. All we can grow in-ground here is pretty much Owari, Brown's Select, and some say the new Arctic Frost/Orange Frost, but they're likely inferior to Owari and Brown's Select.
Can you tell me what it means when I have a bunch of fruit hanging on my Oro Blanco Grapefruit tree that just won’t ripen and it’s now getting into March in Southern California and there are a ton of new baby buds coming in and some of the baby fruits are falling off? Should I cull the older fruit?
Nice seeing those rain barrels still in good shape
They're doing great. We just broke 50 inches of rain for the year, so they've been working overtime!
Although I agree if your say not living in a country where these fruit trees are growing. But here in the far east avocados fruit at 5 to 6 years from stone. My tangerine is doing well 3 feet high and branches at 9 months from seed. I do think the climate has a lot to do with any trees behaviour.
How about the cold weather?
Im in North Carolina also (Charlotte) and Im affraid to put them trees on the ground.
The only way this tree can survive is placed up against the south wall of my brick house, and even then, it will require occasional protection to be sure. Since I am barely on the edge here, it would be significantly more challenging for you since you're at least half a hardiness zone cooler than I am. If it is doing well for you in a container, you may not want to take the risk. If you put it in ground, you will need to provide significant protection.
Very educational video!
Glad you liked it! I appreciate you watching.
I haven a two foot lemon tree with 3 small.lemons ur saying I should remove them
Excellent video, so detailed.
Thank you! Glad it was helpful.
Thanks, very well explained
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
My Yuzu definitely experienced this this season
Is it a younger tree?
@@TheMillennialGardener it's probably 5 years old. Last year the fruit set was large and even, but this year it's only straight down the middle. The graft also swelled immensely this year. Yuzu are slower growers though, and mine stays outside in a 25 gallon in zone 8a.
Interesting. It’s been in a container for 5 years? Have you ever root pruned it? If it has been in the same container for that long, the soil may need a refresh and the roots trimmed back some.
Second year in the 25 gallon. I'll definitely look into refreshing it after harvest or spring.
I've got an owari satsuma in a pot. I didn't realize we can plant them in the ground here in eastern NC.
Where are you when you say "Eastern NC"? If you're somewhere like the OBX, Emerald Isle, Beaufort or someplace very coastal down my way, it will be more doable than if you live in, say, Greenville or Fayetteville, which is still considered "Eastern NC", but it doesn't have the moderating influences of the ocean. Even here where I live, it's a challenge. I would say 50% of the winters where I live would damage the tree if left unprotected, and 1 out of 5 winters could outright kill it, especially while it's young. No matter where you live in NC, you'll have to prepare a micro-climate that blocks the north wind, and you'll need to cover it a handful of nights a year. It will greatly benefit from a heat source. Incandescent lights are mandatory for longterm success.
I know that I will have to thin fruit from my Calamondin but I am not sure how many to leave on the tree. I counted my leaves vs baby fruits & flowers last month and had more baby fruits than leaves, over 100 very small baby fruits and it is still blooming. I love the smell of the flowers. My tree is about 2 feet tall and potted inside enjoying a grow light 15hrs per day, due to living in Canada. Do you know if there is a good ratio for leaves vs fruit that is a good balance that won't drain the tree?
Calamondin's are tiny, so small(ish) trees can hold some fruit. This website, I think, has a good approach:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/fruit-thinning-citrus-rees.htm
1. First, wait for the citrus to naturally self-thin. All citrus will go through a period of self-thinning, where the tree will drop several baby fruits.
2. Remove another 20-30%, starting with any deformed fruit. After removing anything deformed or less than perfect/marred, remove until you get around 1/4 to 1/3 gone.
Beautiful citrus plants
Thank you! I appreciate that. Thanks for watching!
Do you have a video on how to prune citrus trees? I pruned my kumkquat little tree after fruiting season. This year no flowers, no fruit. It was a small harvest the first year.
Not yet. I'll probably perform my first citrus pruning this winter on my Owari, and within the next month for my Meyer. I'll make sure to document it when I do.
Veru interesting, curious to know if you ever or planned on making a video on how to graft fruit trees. Have a fantastic afternoon.
I do have a video on grafting using a grafting tool here: th-cam.com/video/GJb5KBTouGw/w-d-xo.html
However, I've never grafted with a grafting knife. The reason why is that I can't justify grafting anything myself. It's difficult to grow rootstock from seed and obtain scion wood, and grafted trees are usually so affordable and easy to find that it's just too easy to buy a well-done tree. There are really only two things I intend on grafting:
1. I want a loquat, but I can't find dwarf loquats in the US. I want to get quince rootstock and graft some loquat wood from my neighbor, because he's growing loquats from seeds from Sicily where he was born. It's the only way to grow a dwarf loquat.
2. I can't find a dwarf Ichang lemon *anywhere*. I have a seed-grown Ichang in a pot, and once the caliper gets large enough, I want to graft it onto trifoliate.
I will probably film both if and when the time comes.
@@TheMillennialGardener ah, thank you. My sister attempted to graft a small branch from the tangerine to grapefruit (can’t tell if it’s grapefruit or pomelo) but it all died on her XD we do have a kumquat and two lime trees (the later two fruits pretty fast). Thanks and take care.
We were always taught to strip the first years s fruits of the tree to better the fruit seasons in future years
That would depend on how much the tree bears, I would think. My first year, my tree only set 4 oranges, so it looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree. I allowed the fruit to stay, because the fruit set was so small given the tree's size. The second season, I really should have thinned it, because it was clearly overbearing. Next year, I expect a more "normal" heavy fruit set, and I'll likely thin the tree this time.
How old was your owari when you planted it in ground? Trying to assess age of tree the size of yours
It was barely a year old. It was a little guy. You can see the planting video here: th-cam.com/video/Xrjq5ozU3PA/w-d-xo.html
Where can I find a grafted tree, such as yours? I am in zone 7. Do you have to cut sprouts from the root stock at all?
Please show us your rain barrel system
I have a comprehensive DIY tutorial here: th-cam.com/video/szMxYIKDXmU/w-d-xo.html
Very informative video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
I don’t agree what you said at 3’20” the tree thinks of it’s age of scion wood - I think it’s other way - graft a one year old scion to a 30 year old rootstock, because of the massive root system, the next year the Scion May fruit. Am I right?
No, it is the opposite. This is why my Lila Avocado flowered its very first season, and it's why all my citrus trees flower immediately. It is the scion wood that determines fruiting. The rootstock is just there for certain properties, like vigor, dwarfing and disease resistance. If you take a 10 year old rootstock and graft on wood from a 1 year old seedling, it won't flower. If you graft 20 year old scion wood onto a 1 year old rootstock, chances are it'll try to flower.
I have a mature Cara Cara tree that seems to have an alternate bearing cycle. It produced a lot of fruit the first year after I bought the property, and much less the second year, and now it has a lot of fruit again.
I've read that this happens due to over-pollination. The tree produces more blossoms (potential fruit) than it can handle, in anticipation of dropping some due to lack of pollination. When they all get pollinated by productive non-native honey bees, the tree uses too many resources supporting all of the fruit.
In the case of your tree, I had a thought. Is that the shady side, or the evening sun side? I've noticed that my trees tend to drop blossoms and young fruit that is in direct sun first when it is heat or drought stressed.
Over-pollination is the normal condition for most self-fertile, grafted citrus. The flowers have both the male and female parts in a single flower, just like a tomato flower, so all they need to be pollinated is have the wind blow the flower around and mix the pollen up internally. However, unlike tomatoes, which struggle to pollinate in hot, humid conditions, citrus are basically bulletproof. It's pretty normal for every single flower to pollinate, and then the plant tends to "self-thin" itself. You'll go through a period where you'll see pea-sized citrus fruits dropping all over the ground. However, they often don't self-thin enough if you have a grafted tree, because the tree thinks it's a big, 30-year-old beast of a tree and doesn't realize it is just a little guy. And, of course, some citrus trees may continually overproduce through their entire lives more than they can handle, even! It sounds like your Cara Cara may over-produce. Thinning 30-50% of the fruit each season may be what the doctor ordered to snap it out of its cycle.
I called it the "shady side," but that tree pretty much gets full sun. My avocado tree blocks some of the morning sun now, which gives it some part shade in the AM, but by the afternoon, the tree is getting plenty of light. I'm willing to bet you're in California or Arizona if you're growing a Cara Cara in-ground with drier conditions? It will definitely benefit from drip lines being run to it. If you're in the desert Southwest, maybe some light shade cloth (30%) in the summer could be beneficial, too.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yep, Escondido, CA. It's a grafted tree. Aside from what appears to be an alternate bearing cycle (we've only witnessed 2 and 1/2 seasons since we bought the property it's on) it seems pretty happy. It did go through some stress after we first bought the property and we didn't know how to properly care for/water it, which might account for the low production season now that I'm thinking about it.
I'm working on getting drip put in everywhere. I got the banana circle all setup with drip, and they love it. They are still small and not well established yet. I was watering every day, and they were still wilting a little. I put the drip in and now they go days without water and don't wilt (the Rachio smart controller decides when to drip.) I've been trying to deep water my citrus, but I'm sure it'll be the same way... they will be much happier and actually deep watered with drip. Especially since they are on a slope and the water tends to run off. I'm still running the mainlines in the back yard where the citrus trees are. Maybe this weekend. The lemon tree could sure use it, it lost all its spring fruit in an early heat wave, and I feel like a good deep watering may have prevented it.
1:16 it’s truth. I grow a orange from seed since 2011 and it is blooming right now in spring 2022. But the benefit is the tree grows from seed is stronger and live longer than graft fruit trees from nursery
Thanks for great videos, do not you think that you are repeating the same mistake on the left side of the tree. It is overloaded.
Thank you. No, because the other side is bare. You basically have to divide the tree by two. If you were to spread all that fruit over the entire tree, it wouldn't be too much for the tree to handle. If the entire tree looked like that, I would agree with you and it would require thinning. I think when you spread that fruit load over the entire area of the tree, it would be able to handle it. I could be wrong, but it certainly isn't as heavily bearing as last season.
Dale needs his own channel he is so cute!
Man, I wish I could!!! I've always wanted to make a Dale channel because he deserves it, but between my job and all of this, it's literally a 100 hour a week commitment and there just isn't any time left. That's why I always give Dale his own segment at the end of the videos. I just don't have an hour to spare left for his own channel, but he deserves it and so much more.
I understand! Thanks for making Dale a part of your video! ❤️
I wouldn’t have it any other way 🐕
I have been guided in the past to remove half of the fruit on the tree to reduce the likelihood of this happening. What that being said, do you recommend thinning fruits on fig trees?
Looking back, that's probably what I should have done. On figs, it is not necessary to do it immediately, but it should be done to encourage faster ripening later in the season if you live in a place with short seasons. For example, it takes around 90 days for most figs to ripen after figlet formation, so if your first chance of frost is November 1, you should know that any fig that sets after August 1 won't have a prayer to ripen. Therefore, any figs that set after that date should be removed, because they'll never ripen and will only slow down ripening of the others.
I living in Charlotte NC but where your location? I bring my tree in the house in the winter time, your tree grow so good .
I'm in Wilmington. Exact location info is in the Channel Description and details are in every video description.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you very much
You’re welcome!
My satsuma is not bearing fruit. All the flowers this year fell off...
Did they turn into fruits and then the baby fruits dropped? Or did all the flowers die? What is your location, and is it in ground or in a container?
Useful. Thanks
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
My O'Henry seed peach trees took 3-4 years to fruit and wow. The one I gave my neighbor is 3x better than the original. Then there is the other daughter in my yard. It is October and it still has fruit s. It won't drop them.
Thanks for watching!
You might have touched on this, but do grafted or regular-cutting grown figs ever enter these alternating bearing cycles? did you have this problem with any 2 year figs that produced nicely last year?
I have never seen this happen with figs. Figs seem to be prolific no matter what. I do not think they are prone to alternate bearing cycles, and as such, figs require no thinning *unless* you have a short season and you're trying to ripen them more quickly. If that's the case, removing the figs higher up can help the figs down low ripen faster simply because that concentrates more energy into the fewer remaining fruits.
@@TheMillennialGardener Awesome thanks. Great info! I am 7b, same lattitude as you but over in GA. I will remember this for my Cravens Craving, DSJG, and CLBC figs as I think those might be a tad on the later side.
Thanks for the tree tips! What is Dale's breed? He's a lovely dog.
Thank you. Dale is a rescue, so we had to get him tested. He is 50% American Foxhound, 33% Pit Bull Terrier, 17% American Staffordshire Terrier. We think he was bred as a hunting dog, because it's very popular in the South to mix pit bull in with hound dogs for hunting, because you get the prey drive and nose of a hound, but with the relentless stamina of a pit bull. Dale does not like loud noises and is extremely independent, so we think we didn't "make the cut" and was dumped off somewhere...or he possibly got lost during a hunt. Whatever happened, we sure are lucky to have him, because he's an amazing dog.
I have a question.. I have a orange tree in a large pot and I had it since March 2020 it Produced hundreds of flowers this spring but zero fruit.. one fruit got to marble size and then it fell.. why? Is it because the rootstock isn’t old enough? Or is it something else? I fertilize it well and it’s very healthy and has lots of growth
The orange tree is very healthy and big but why won’t it hold the fruit?
If you say it takes 2-3 years from when you buy a grafted orange tree? And when I got it it looked less than a year old graft then my conclusion is the rootstock is to young to allow the tree to produce?
My guess is you have a grafted tree. As I explained in this video, grafted trees think they're the age of the scion wood. The scion wood was from a tree in peak production, so it tried to fruit just like it was a full-sized, mature tree. However, the small caliper trunk and tiny root system couldn't support the fruit yet, so they dropped. You should be able to support some fruit next season (maybe 3-6 oranges), and the following season is when you can get a better harvest.
hello fellow millenial. i also have a similar shapeless young satsuma. Do you have any future plans about shaping it like an upright tree or you would like to keep it as a shrub? If you are gonna shape it can you also show us please :) thanks brother.
Most satsuma's have a naturally weeping habit and do not grow upright. They should not be shaped like an upright-growing citrus tree. Doing so would be a bad idea and will compromise the fruiting. They grow towards the ground, and they should be pruned minimally compared to most other citrus.
How did you get such young tree to fruit?? I have something similar but no flowers/fruits 😕
Grafted citrus trees will typically fruit the second season. If you are growing a seed-grown tree, they can take 10 years or longer. If your tree is grafted:
1. They need at least 8 hours of direct sun a day, but 10-12 hours is better. They need full sun to flower and fruit.
2. Make sure you are fertilizing them enough. A hungry tree will not fruit well.
3. They want a thick layer of compost and mulch at all times.
I'm guessing your problem may be one of those 4 things.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you for your response. It’s a grafted tree. I made need to do more fertilizing and will add more mulching. I live in central Florida so it has plenty of sun 🙂. BTW I just started the experiment that you did with your Meyer Lemon tree. Mine looks exactly like yours so we’ll see if I get some fruit. I think that I’ve been missing high phosphorus/potassium from my fertilizers. I never knew this could be a game changer. You are very thorough in your explanation, thank you I appreciate that.
Great video. I have a 35 year plus valencia orange that is covered in flowers every year but has only ever had 12 oranges in its life. does anyone know how I can get this orange tree to set a proper crop? Cheers Muffy from Oz (Australia)
What does the tree do, exactly? Do the flowers form little green fruits, and then the fruits drop? Or do the flowers all fall off and not set any fruit? Baby oranges are very tiny, so you must look carefully.
@@TheMillennialGardener The fruit fall off. I have about 50 tiny oranges a the moment. None usually survive.
Tell us about your rain barrels.
I have a comprehensive DIY video on them here: th-cam.com/video/szMxYIKDXmU/w-d-xo.html
There was a lot of great content in this video, unfortunately all my brain processed was "move south, it's warmer. You can grow oranges!" :)
That's true. You should move south where it's warmer! I think Naples is a little too far south. At least for me. I don't want to be hot 10.5 months a year. But somewhere in between is really nice! At least get to Zone 8b. A lot of options open up, and you still get a nice, sweatless cool season that isn't too too cold.
I see a ton of water spouts on the right side prune those off
The tree will be pruned in December after harvest.
I have a pear tree that does that. It only gets fruit every other year. And yes it's grafted.
Try thinning it next year. That may be your problem.
I wonder if you could put a grow light on that shady side.
It definitely isn't a light issue, because that side fruited the most heavily the previous year. The fact that the alternate bearing manifested on that side may have been a result of that side fruiting too hard last year and it being shadier may have nothing to do with it. Or, it could just be a coincidence and that side was selected as the alternate bearing side randomly. It's tough to say, but I know for certain it doesn't need any supplemental light. This could have been avoided had I not been so greedy last year and thinned the crop.
I wish my grafted citrus looked that good, I planted it 7 years ago and it looks exactly the same, it's still only about 3 feet. Flowers but never sets. Clay soil in Australia doesn't help.
The soil is likely the reason. I would advise planting your trees on a mound because of your soil type. Basically, you set the root ball maybe only 8-10 cm deep and then dump compost and mulch all around the rest. Or, you build a raised bed and plant it in a raised bed. That allows the tree to send surface roots all over the place. I only bury half the root balls when I plant trees, and I backfill the rest with compost and mulch. After 1 year, the top layer of soil is usually a giant mass of surface roots. My citrus tree has surface roots all over the place. I think that's why I've had success.
re plant your. tree Hellen white. method. of. plantig trees. watch it. on you. tube.
I’m here for Dale…! 👅🐾🐾
A wise decision!
And God said…”I will send them without wings so no one knows they are Angels”
I have my orange tree from seed and I got fruits on it's 4th year.
That's extremely unusual. Typically, citrus trees take around 10 years to fruit. Sometimes longer. My neighbor has a lemon tree grown from seed that's 10 feet tall on its 8th season and it's never flowered.
@@TheMillennialGardener Actually me and my neighbours had our trees on the 4th and some the 5th. That's common in Southern California. Of course we don't have the same trees planted.
If i regularly pee to the tree, will it help prevent that cycle?
It isn't necessarily a problem with lack of fertilizer. It's a problem with the tree stressing itself out by overbearing. If your tree bears more fruit than it can physically handle, it can send it into a reduced bearing pattern the final season. I wouldn't really consider that a significant fertilizer, though.
Tell me someone been. Lifting without telling me someone been lifting 😂👍🏼
It's starting to get cooler out, so it's "weight gain" season 😮
Awesome!
Thanks for watching!
@@TheMillennialGardener love your channel!
This was right on time! I've had my Meyer for 3 years, but this is the first year with significant blooms. My tree is potted and probably has 25 tiny lemons and two larger lemons. Still jot sure what to do over winter here in Pittsburgh. But thank you for another awesome video. Such knowledgeable content here.
The meyer will do well in a sunny, south-facing window, but it will struggle to ripen with the low amount of solar energy. You may not want to let too many lemons sit on the tree once you take it inside. You'll be asking a lot of the tree to both stay happily alive and carry a lot of fruits on it so far north with only "window light." What I do with my citrus trees once the cold season comes is carry them inside during the night and bring them outside during the day once it's over 39F. All citrus do just fine in 40+ degree temps. I know Pittsburgh spends a significant time of the year where even the days are below freezing, so you'll need to leave them inside 24 hours a day then. *Be very careful* when you carry your tree inside to say.* Citrus *do not like* being taken from outside to inside. They need to be slowly acclimated, where you carry them inside for a couple hours, then bring them back out. If you go from 100% outdoor light to 100% indoor light, your tree will freak out and drop all its leaves. I've seen it happen many times. Just like indoor-grown seedlings need to be slowly acclimated to sunshine outside, citrus need to be slowly acclimated to being brought indoors.
Thanks so much for the advice, I will definitely follow that. The massive leave drop is exactly what happened my first year. I was able to avoid so much leaf drop by easing it in and getting it in a better situated room for more sunlight as well as artificial lights. It is just so big now I don't know if I can keep bringing it every year.
Yep, citrus can actually die from the shock. They do not recover easily. I’ve had my blood orange partially defoliate on me twice just from normal conditions. They are fussy, fussy, fussy.
What about airlayering an orange tree ?
Due to a whole host of climactic reasons, I can only grow grafted citrus here. Due to our cold-ish winters, heavy rains and my small backyard, most citrus needs to be grown on trifoliate rootstock. I would not want any orange tree growing on its own roots.
Very helpful! And Dale is smart and cute 😊
Thank you! Dale is a very good boy. We're lucky to have him. He knows all and smells all 😂
Do you have any jujubes in the yard? Our trees seem to fruit prolifically at a young age. Might be a good option for a greedy gardener :D
I do not. They haven’t looked appealing to me. What do they taste like? They almost look like a mini apple.
@@TheMillennialGardener When they're just starting to ripen, they're pretty similar to a crisp apple in texture. As they get darker and darker (the skin goes from straight green to mottled green and brown to fully brown), they get incredibly sweet. If you leave them on the tree beyond that, they'll start to dry and go to a spongier texture, while picking up some caramel flavors. I tend to mostly like really crisp fruit, so I'll eat them when they're mottled green and brown.
Our trees (one honey jar and a sugar cane) are incredibly prolific and bloomed heavily starting in the 2nd year. For us they leaf out in June, so they miss any spring frosts / hard freezes. I'd say we got at least 5# of fruit off of our 3rd year tree this season. It's only about 5' tall. They seem to literally have no disease or pest or weather issues where we are, which is incredible. FYI we can get fruit at the farmers markets, might be worth trying them if you're curious. I tried some fresh goji berries out of curiosity and was glad to cross those off my list.
I don't think alternate bearing is limited to size of the tree. I see it all the time on various very mature washington naval trees in my area
It's going to depend on how heavily your fruit tree bears. At any time, a fruit tree can bare more than it can handle, even if the tree is mature. My point is more the younger the tree, the more susceptible the tree will be to overbearing, the more important it is to thin the fruits when young. However, I believe commercial growers with trees in their prime fruiting age still thin, because if they don't, having an entire orchard that has an off year can be financially devastating. Thinning is probably always important regardless of age, but it's especially important when young.
Strange but I just cut a branch from my citrus or fig n stick it in the ground n it grows.
You may be able to root citrus (although it isn't easy like figs), but they'll be growing "on their own roots." Generally, you should grow citrus grafted ontp very specific rootstock that provides beneficial characteristics to your unique climate, such as nematode resistance, dwarfing characteristics, characteristics that prevent root rot, etc. Citrus grown on their own roots will likely grow to be 30 feet tall if they take.
Thank God this wasn’t a video about figs.
Figs don't seem to have this issue. The biggest problem with figs is they overproduce so much every year that they can stall ripening if you don't remove the fruits that'll never ripen in time.
@@TheMillennialGardener Nice