After you plant orange,lemon, or grapefruit trees do you remove the fruit from the trees for a number of years?
It is not necessary to pick the fruit like that. By the time they are able to fruit, they should be well established. The only reason I would say to pick the fruit like that would be, for some reason the tree isn't as full of leaves or branches as you would like.
Here is an article about when to harvest: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/citurs-fruit-wont-come-off-tree.htm
I live in Carefree Arizona and my orange trees are loaded with fruit however all of the oranges are green and not turning orange. What is going on
Citrus fruits can take a long time to ripen. This article is about lemons, but the advice applies to all citrus trees:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/lemons-stay-green.htm
Some non-commercial varieties of orange can have greenish skin when ripe- try one and see how it tastes.
Also check this article in case your tree has symptoms of citrus greening:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/citrus-greening-disease.htm
We have a dwarf orange tree and a full size Meyer Lemon tree. In the past six months we noticed both trees shrunk at least a couple inches. We know this because they are both up against a fence that is not shrinking. We suspect gophers, but both trees were planted in full gopher cages or wire, but we do not see any signs of gopher activity.
It could be that the soil is fertile, and extremely well aerated. This would cause them to shrink some, as the soil compacts itself down over time. It will not hurt your trees. Here is a link to several articles for citrus care: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/
You most likely had a grafted orange tree, meaning the top of the tree was from a different variety and had different genetics from the roots of the tree. The rootstock (the variety that the roots came from) has now taken over and is producing the inedible fruits.
Talk to an arborist or a university extension agent to see what can be done. You will probably have to replace the tree. But if there are still a few oranges being produced on one section of the tree, it may be possible to cut out the sections that are producing "lemons" and help the oranges take over again.
What causes oranges to split on the tree?
This happens when water and sugar move too quickly to the fruit, causing it to rupture. Here is an article explaining why, and what you can do to correct the issue: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/oranges/oranges-splitting.htm
I applied Powerfeed instead of citrus food to the tree early this spring and the tree leaves now become very large. I wonder if it is a sign of healthy tree or abnormal. Thanks in advance for your answer.
I did a little research on Powerfeed. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with giving the tree this. I feed my citrus, and in fact, all of my plant both edible and not, with CYCO. This is a fully liquid line of pharmaceutical grade nutrients. It is far from organic, but I know it is clean, and pure.
Bottom line is: You don't have to use citrus nutrients. They just take the guesswork out of knowing how much, and when to feed, since the NPK ratio is geared towards citrus.
If it acts properly, and grows vigorous without sacrificing fruit then it is fine for the tree. But make sure you know when to cut back on the Nitrogen or else you may not get fruit.
This is the first fall ,in my 78 year old fathers memory ,that the Osage Orange Tree on his parent's property has had basically no Osage Oranges . There have been years where there have been 5000 plus. Have you ever heard of this and do you know what could be causing this?
Osage orange is reported to have an average 75-year lifespan, although some individual trees live longer. So it could just be coming to the end of its lifespan or its fruit-producing years.
Here are some more general reasons a plant may not flower in a particular year, and thus may produce no fruit:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/plant-not-blooming.htm