Derald wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

I thought it would be a compromise.
No doubt, it is, but the consequences are not likely to be drastic.
If you leave fruit on the tree, I don't believe you'll have a "Lordy,
what have I done" moment when the new crop sets. If you have several
specimens, you can always test and draw your own conclusions.
Remember, if you test, that you'll want to do so over several seasons
because many varieties don't bear consistently season over season.
They'll have heavy years followed by light years regardless of what
you do.

Curious:
What varieties do you have? How do you protect trees from cold, if
necessary?

I have about 50 fruit trees of different kinds. The citrus are oranges,
lemons, cumquats, mandarins, tangelos with different cultivars of each.
They ripened about 1 to 4 months ago and I have been working through them;
eating, freezing, marmalading etc. Right now I have a tangelo and cumquat
still bearing. I have a customer for the cumquats who wants them in a month
but not now.

Only the citrus are frost sensitive here. They all had black plastic
"nightshirts" through winter for their first 3 years. The last few years
they have been naked and done well. The only frost problem that I have with
them is late fruiting in autumn (or even winter) can be damaged, the
immature fruit die and fall off after heavy frost. Mature fruit don't. I
tried Tahitian limes and grapefruit but the cultivars I could get were too
frost tender and died. I have a kaffir lime in a tub that goes under
shelter in winter.

David