Author Topic: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?  (Read 6902 times)

Millet

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #25 on: March 06, 2018, 06:03:29 PM »
Ypurgos you asked ...."would applying biuret to this tree in January counter the alternate bearing tendency'

The answer is it would not completely counter the alternate bearing, but it would help.  The fertilizer goal for the heavy crop year with alternate bearing trees is to provide adequate fertilizer to support the developing crop, and to also support the summer vegetative shoot growth (normally in June) which become the blooming shoots for the following year (the off crop year). Therefore, be sure to also apply a low biuret urea foliar spray directly after the tree's early drop period.  (After a citrus tree blooms the tree will set many more small fruitlets than the tree can possibly supply enough energy to bring all of them to maturity, so it drops a great number of the new fruitlets, plus many of the flowers that never set -- this is called the Early Drop). Foliar spraying low biuret urea directly after the early drop should supply much of the energy to greatly help with fruit set during the off year.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 08:58:24 PM by Millet »

Dylan SB

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #26 on: March 07, 2018, 12:15:50 AM »
Dylan, the coloration of the Moro shown above has pretty good color for a California grown blood orange.

My trees are planted in a cool micro climate where temperatures in December/January frequently dip below 40F (5C) at night.  I was hoping for more pigmentation but maybe it does not get cool enough for that to develop?

Badfish8696

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #27 on: March 07, 2018, 01:45:24 AM »
Dylan, that is very light for Moro in my experience. I am letting mine hang a bit longer as winter was very warm until recently when we got subtstantial chill hours. Since the chill my Moro fruit has colored up substantially on the outside with a lot of fruit turning very red. Will probably pick some soon and will post a photo if I remember. It does seem like Moro needs some nights around freezing to really color up, which is certainly what happened for me this year. Usually we have at least a handful of nights around freezing so that would explain why my Moros are always a pretty deep red. For what it’s worth I am inland but only about 15 miles from the ocean.

Badfish8696

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #28 on: March 07, 2018, 08:22:11 PM »
Just picked some and juiced, they are very good, perhaps a bit tart, so by the end of the month they should be even better. The one in the middle was from the south side of the tree where they do not color up on the outside nearly as much. The inside is still pretty red but slightly lighter.











Dylan SB

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #29 on: March 08, 2018, 12:43:47 AM »
Just picked some and juiced, they are very good, perhaps a bit tart, so by the end of the month they should be even better. The one in the middle was from the south side of the tree where they do not color up on the outside nearly as much. The inside is still pretty red but slightly lighter.











You have some nice pigmentation on your Moro's.  I am in a cool night microclimate but maybe it is not cold enough.  The tree is planted along a fence by the driveway so it is in a rather protected area.

Mark in Texas

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #30 on: March 08, 2018, 07:59:43 AM »
Those look great, am a bit surprised they're a still tart.  As Moro's hang they get sweeter, richer, and the acid drops out a bit.

Yorgos

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Re: When to Pick Moro Blood Orange?
« Reply #31 on: March 09, 2018, 01:44:00 PM »
Ypurgos you asked ...."would applying biuret to this tree in January counter the alternate bearing tendency'

The answer is it would not completely counter the alternate bearing, but it would help.  The fertilizer goal for the heavy crop year with alternate bearing trees is to provide adequate fertilizer to support the developing crop, and to also support the summer vegetative shoot growth (normally in June) which become the blooming shoots for the following year (the off crop year). Therefore, be sure to also apply a low biuret urea foliar spray directly after the tree's early drop period.  (After a citrus tree blooms the tree will set many more small fruitlets than the tree can possibly supply enough energy to bring all of them to maturity, so it drops a great number of the new fruitlets, plus many of the flowers that never set -- this is called the Early Drop). Foliar spraying low biuret urea directly after the early drop should supply much of the energy to greatly help with fruit set during the off year.

Thank you Millet.  This looks to be a banner year for my moro so I will have remember this for next year. This year I will need to thin I think. 
Near NRG Stadium, Houston Texas. USDA zone 9a