Author Topic: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.  (Read 756 times)

edweather

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Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« on: January 08, 2023, 12:26:33 PM »
1. He says a Hamlin is a navel. I say it's not. He swears it is.🤔

2. He says his all his citrus (with fruit on) can withstand several nights of low 20s in a row, and not ruin the fruit. He shows a photo of a Hamlin tree after a cold snap, with major leaf drop, but with fruit still on. He said the fruit is fine. I just can't believe it. We just had 4 consecutive nights with temps 21-24 degrees. No way am I leaving fruit on unprotected trees.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0BKDx6wg6rBXKe4Wz94xDfR1aECGedffboTTLAG5Kh1na9VRcojBX2jbkf1HdBdT4l&id=222291017971960&mibextid=Nif5oz

Peep

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2023, 12:46:55 PM »
I have no experience with this at all, but temperature numbers don't say everything. How long was it low 20's, what was the moisture level of the air, was it raining, no wind or a lot of wind, how were the day temperatures. I think I've read that fruit can go down to -5°C, which is 23 f. Some cold resistant varieties can even go lower.

And I'm not expert on oranges, but I feel like you should be able to see if something has a navel or not.

 

Galatians522

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2023, 12:56:32 PM »
Sounds like he does not know as much as he thinks he does. Hamlin and Navel are not the same. The navel in a Navel is a second fruit that forms at the base of the primary fruit. It can happen in any citrus. A Hamlin could form a navel at the base, but I have never seen one that did. Navel oranges are the result of a bud mutation and most of the fruits on the tree form the navel. They have notoriously unstable genetics and mutate often.

As for how a freeze effects the fruit, ask him to count how many fruits are left on the tree in two weeks. Lol!

1rainman

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2023, 01:48:04 PM »
Hamlin is cold hardy like a navel. But Hamlin is a juice oranges. Navels make somewhat nasty juice that acidifies when exposed to air but are great for fresh eating. Hamlin is often planted because it's a cold tolerant juice oranges but not sure how low it can go. A pineapple orange, Valencia etc can't tolerate freezes and are hard to grow. Navels are usually easier to grow more cold hardy maybe that's why he thinks of it as a navel.

edweather

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2023, 07:54:38 PM »
Thanks. Foley, Al is on the same latitude as I am in Kingsland, GA, the next state over. He is talking about the exact same recent cold snap that we both had. I'm a meteorologist by vocation, and I checked the weather data for the 5 days. His cold weather was actually slightly colder than mine. We had temps that bottomed out in the low 20s for 4 nights in a row. It was clear and cold, and breezy the first two nights. They were the longest nights of the year, and each night had 10 hours+ below freezing. More power to him, but if you don't know the difference between a juice orange, and a navel, what else is there to say. Shoulder shrug.

Ilya11

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2023, 07:01:42 AM »
Hamlin is certainly not a navel, but fruit cold resistance depends much on sugar (Brix) content. 
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1rainman

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Re: Having a discussion with a nursery owner on two points.
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2023, 09:19:16 PM »
Not the fruit the tree itself. Valencias often die after a freeze. If you can get a really big tree it will be ok but we could never get one to survive long enough to get big. Along comes a good freeze or a few during winter and it might not go immediately but it will kick the bucket. A Hamlin or navel can survive a 25 degree low. Most likely a 20 degree low too but it's starting to push it. The bigger the tree the better cold tolerance to an extent of the duration isn't too long.