First blood orange

[jules]

Hello all

It's still a small tree, and I've only let one fruit stay - it's
colouring up very nicely, but does anyone know how long I should leave
it or how I can tell it's actually ready? I'm thinking it might be like
my mandys - they stayed orange for ages before they were ready (lots of
fun getting my daughter to go out and test the fruit each week. Her
enthusiasm for mandys meant she never got the idea she should be careful
of the first bite!)

ta

Jules

[David Hare-Scott[_2_]]

jules wrote:
> Hello all
>
> It's still a small tree, and I've only let one fruit stay - it's
> colouring up very nicely, but does anyone know how long I should leave
> it or how I can tell it's actually ready? I'm thinking it might be
> like my mandys - they stayed orange for ages before they were ready
> (lots of fun getting my daughter to go out and test the fruit each
> week. Her enthusiasm for mandys meant she never got the idea she
> should be careful of the first bite!)
>
> ta
>
> Jules

The local tradition is that oranges are not properly ripe until the frost
has been on them. I doubt that the frost has any affect in itself but the
idea is leave them until well into winter. We leave citrus on the tree
until they are needed, in some cases this is many weeks after they seem to
be full coloured. If they start to fall or get fungus etc we pull them.

David

[jules]

Thanks, I'll leave it until well into winter, but blood orange is frost
tender so I think I won't let the frost get onto it somehow!

ta

jules

David Hare-Scott wrote:
> jules wrote:
>> Hello all
>>
>> It's still a small tree, and I've only let one fruit stay - it's
>> colouring up very nicely, but does anyone know how long I should leave
>> it or how I can tell it's actually ready? I'm thinking it might be
>> like my mandys - they stayed orange for ages before they were ready
>> (lots of fun getting my daughter to go out and test the fruit each
>> week. Her enthusiasm for mandys meant she never got the idea she
>> should be careful of the first bite!)
>>
>> ta
>>
>> Jules
>
> The local tradition is that oranges are not properly ripe until the
> frost has been on them. I doubt that the frost has any affect in itself
> but the idea is leave them until well into winter. We leave citrus on
> the tree until they are needed, in some cases this is many weeks after
> they seem to be full coloured. If they start to fall or get fungus etc
> we pull them.
>
> David