Author Topic: best citrus for tropical climate  (Read 5176 times)

Lory

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best citrus for tropical climate
« on: March 20, 2017, 09:37:14 AM »
I'd like to add some more citrus to my garden. I currently have just ponderosa lemon, citrofortunella microcarpa and pomelo.
What other species are suitable for tropical climate and can fruit here?
I'm located at  10°N from the equator.
Thanks
Lorenzo

Millet

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2017, 12:03:12 PM »
Top quality grapefruit has a high heat requirement, so is best suited to tropical and hot, humid, subtropical climates. Tangerines,Kumquats and limequants are produced primarily in China and the Philippines, they are eaten fresh or candied with the whole fruit - including the peel - being consumed.Of the round oranges the one most suited for warm climates would be Valencia.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2017, 12:14:38 PM by Millet »

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2017, 08:26:17 AM »
Thanks for reply, Tangerine sounds very interesting to me, is it of difficult cultivation?
Lorenzo

vlan1

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2017, 09:45:41 AM »
I would say avoid blood oranges and their hybrids.  Blood Oranges actually require cold weather to acquire the red coloring.

This is an example of what they look like without adequate chilling


Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2017, 10:02:14 PM »
Thanks for the tip  ;)
I was thinking about some kind of mandarine,  clementine or tangerine
Lorenzo

Mike T

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2017, 06:21:33 AM »
Your choices are limited at 10 latitude but Darwin at a similar latitude south of the equator can be a good guide.Pomelos and limes, especially Mexican limes will grow well as will kumquats and calamondins. Lemons are not so good except some rough skinned types and meyer which isn't ideal.Grapefruit should be ok but it is getting more tropical than they prefer. Very few mandarins will be alright and tangerines (orange of Tangiers) are just mandarins.If you can get emperor,the common thai small green,ellendale or hickson they will do ok. Valencia orange should be ok.There are a range of southern thai,hainan and Indonesia citrus that would do alright but might be hard to get.

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2017, 10:15:16 PM »
Yes you are perfectly right, Darwin can be a very good reference. I have pomelo and calamondin but also some ponderosa lemons growing and fruiting  surprisingly well.
I'm not a grapefruit fan I never tasted a kumquat in my whole life but the description of  valencia orange taste i found in internet is interesting I think i will go for that.
I'm italian and i can easily get italian citrus varieties Valencia is one of them.
Lorenzo

fruitlovers

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2017, 11:13:42 PM »
Washington navel does better here than Valencia. Tangerines do wel as do Minneola tangelol. Ruby red grapefruit gets loaded. All lemons and limes do well, as well as kumquat, pommelo, finger limes, buddha's hand, and etrog.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2017, 05:13:29 AM »
Oscar, I would agree with ruby reds and even rio reds doing well but minneola,navel and standard lemons like Lisbon not so much. Ironically after alerting people to my navel failures and those of a friend I tried navels at mission beach a few weeks ago and they were great.It is only a little milder there than here. Temps here seem anchored on 33c during the day and 24/25c minimum and for a sixth consecutive month have been at least that. The humidity has remained at saturation levels for moths also with the air like syrup.
The Darwin comparison is a reasonable one as Darwin is as hot and humid as anywhere I have experienced and even winter is oppressively hot.

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2017, 05:22:40 AM »
Oscar you just gave me a great news since I really ADORE the navel washington orange.
We've plenty of them in little area of sicily (Ribera) and they are absolutely delicious!
Lorenzo

Millet

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2017, 12:03:56 PM »
Cara Cara should also be good,  They grow Cara Cara in Valenzuela+ which probably has much the same climate as you you have in the Philippines. 

EvilFruit

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2017, 02:55:37 PM »
Thai Tangerine, the best citrus juice I ever had.  8)



« Last Edit: March 23, 2017, 02:57:17 PM by EvilFruit »
Moh'd

Zafra

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2017, 04:44:05 PM »
I'm in Venezuela, tropical (though we're at about 800 meters elevation), and my little navel orange tree produced two of the sweetest, most delicious oranges I've ever had in my life, most of which I lived in California. I was thrilled.

fruitlovers

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2017, 06:34:09 PM »
Cara Cara should also be good,  They grow Cara Cara in Valenzuela+ which probably has much the same climate as you you have in the Philippines.
Yes Cara cara does fine here also. Forgot to mention it.
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2017, 06:37:04 PM »
Oscar, I would agree with ruby reds and even rio reds doing well but minneola,navel and standard lemons like Lisbon not so much. Ironically after alerting people to my navel failures and those of a friend I tried navels at mission beach a few weeks ago and they were great.It is only a little milder there than here. Temps here seem anchored on 33c during the day and 24/25c minimum and for a sixth consecutive month have been at least that. The humidity has remained at saturation levels for moths also with the air like syrup.
The Darwin comparison is a reasonable one as Darwin is as hot and humid as anywhere I have experienced and even winter is oppressively hot.
Lisbons doing great here also. But i'm at 19 degrees north of equator. You are a bit closer to equator, and so is a different story. I'm sure you're hotter, but not more humid than here. We get rain almost year round which equals close to 100% humidity.
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #15 on: March 23, 2017, 06:39:32 PM »
Just remembered, i've seen Washington navel oranges grown and sold in Fiji, which is very equatorial. There are some areas there with a couple thousand feet of elevation, which helps. The oranges there don't turn fully orange colored, but are still fine to eat.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2017, 06:41:13 PM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #16 on: March 23, 2017, 10:16:12 PM »
That's really encouraging. The only one real nightmare here is CITRUS GREENEING.....I just found out that one of my pomelo has some "strange" leaf veins yellowing....I hope I'm wrong  :-\
Lorenzo

Millet

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2017, 10:22:56 PM »
If you want a citrus to have a long life in an area with citrus greening (HLB) you have to construct an insect proof screen enclosure around the tree, so the psyllid cannot reach your tree.

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #18 on: March 23, 2017, 10:48:16 PM »
Yes. But one of pomelos is a seddling 3 years old quite big size already, difficult to protect.
I can't believe that scientist didn't find yet an effective treatment for this terrible disease....
There is no systemic antibiotic  that can effectivelt kill that microscopic monster of candidatus liberibacter asiaticus??
If i will be sure that my pomelo is infected i will do my own experimentation
Lorenzo

Mike T

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #19 on: March 25, 2017, 08:09:45 PM »
Cairns Max Temperatures (March 26 to 31 2017)
34 °C 
35 °C
34 °C
34 °C
34 °C
34 °C
Min. Temperature
26 °C
27 °C
26 °C
26 °C
26 °C
My 5 day outlook didn't copy too well but it feels very hot (even if summer is over) and water temps are still not much below 30c and coral on the GBR is dying. Fiji at around 18 latitude with a mild maritime climate might not be the best indicator for 10 latitude and like here the navels could be from up the mountains a bit at say 1000 to 2000ft.Oscar you are right about humidity and I should have talked about discomfort due to humidity as it is just a measure of water in the air compared to maximum possible at that temperature. While the air holds over double the water at 30c as 20c for the same humidity it feels different so it is the combination of temps and humidity that means something.
I would be interested to hear how growing standard lemons, minneola and navels goes at 10 latitude as people in my town including me have problems growing them .In Townsville, just 370km down the road at 20 latitude and a dry climate they go very well.

mrtexas

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #20 on: March 25, 2017, 11:57:18 PM »
Your temps are about what Houston is in the summer, humid too.
I'm used to it. I'd love to live in California for the weather but
my house would be 4x as much!

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #21 on: March 27, 2017, 06:54:06 PM »
Cairns Max Temperatures (March 26 to 31 2017)
34 °C 
35 °C
34 °C
34 °C
34 °C
34 °C
Min. Temperature
26 °C
27 °C
26 °C
26 °C
26 °C
My 5 day outlook didn't copy too well but it feels very hot (even if summer is over) and water temps are still not much below 30c and coral on the GBR is dying. Fiji at around 18 latitude with a mild maritime climate might not be the best indicator for 10 latitude and like here the navels could be from up the mountains a bit at say 1000 to 2000ft.Oscar you are right about humidity and I should have talked about discomfort due to humidity as it is just a measure of water in the air compared to maximum possible at that temperature. While the air holds over double the water at 30c as 20c for the same humidity it feels different so it is the combination of temps and humidity that means something.
I would be interested to hear how growing standard lemons, minneola and navels goes at 10 latitude as people in my town including me have problems growing them .In Townsville, just 370km down the road at 20 latitude and a dry climate they go very well.


Mike i can COPY and PASTE here  ;D
During summer time we have exactly the same temperatures range.
Right now we are still in the range 25-32 °C but we are getting hotter day by day.
Lorenzo

Mike T

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #22 on: March 28, 2017, 04:49:45 AM »
27c min to 37c max here todayLory and Cyclone Debbie Cat 4 crossed 500km south of here so good luck to the people of Bowen to Mackay, especially Airlie and Proserpine.263km/hr wind measured on Whitsundays.
I put the aircon on 26c last night and it felt like a meat locker with the relative chill.I am moderated by the Coral Sea and nothing like inland. There seems to be weather records being broken all the time and after a really hot summer is over I am looking forward to lower temps and more bearable humidity.
Citrus trees hold up well to heat and many Qld,SA and NSW growing areas didn't lose trees in temps of almost 50c this summer. Lory, in places with prolonged hot,wet and humid conditions oranges, mandarins and limes are prone to fungal diseases and you have to be picky about rootstocks to avoid elephant footing. My main fungal disease for me is pink's disease which is a pink mould that takes out branches making them drop fruit,foliage and just die very quickly. It creeps and must be removed fast and treated with fungicides. Trees should be well aerated and fertilised to withstand heat and humidity stress better.

Lory

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Re: best citrus for tropical climate
« Reply #23 on: March 29, 2017, 10:24:03 PM »
I understand you so well Mike.
Here we had 2 years ow awful weather, 2015 and 2016 with very very low rainfall and extremely high temperatures.
This year  it seems that we're back to normal with a temperature range more acceptable 25-30°C as it should be.
Even now, end of march should be start of summer it's still  around 27°c and the north east cool wind still blowing.
Because of the hot-dry weather my citruses were not heavily attacked by fungal diseases until now but i had problems with leaf miners, aphids mites, mealy bugs.
And of course the real nightmare is citrus greening...I lost already a calamondin and I think one of my pomelo is sick, some veins yellowing is making me suspicious....
Lorenzo