A Question about an Orange Tree .....
 

About ten years ago I bought a Navel Orange tree at the local Walmart
garden center. I liked caring for it and the fruit has been plentiful and
delicious. I added a Satsuma Orange tree to my yard and it has done well
also. The Satsuma is a mandarin orange (Tangerine). I also have a Meyer
Lemon tree.

A few years ago I decided to add a second Navel Orange tree to my
collection so again I went to the Walmart garden center and selected a nice
looking small tree in a pot. The pot had a label glued on which stated that
it was a "Navel Orange". There was a plastic strip wrapped around the trunk
which declared it to be a "Navel Orange" and the colorful dangling tag
which hung from the tree said it was a "Navel Orange". That winter when I
saw the first fruit it was immediately obvious that it was not a "Navel
Orange". There was no Belly Button on the fruit and there were seeds. My
first thought was to dig it up and throw it out, but I didn't get around to
taking any action so it is still growing in my backyard. I have trimmed it
back aggressively but it is doing well and looking healthy.

I have since discovered a very desirable characteristic about this tree and
I am happy that I let it grow. The fruit ripens around Christmas time which
is a few weeks later than my other orange trees but the fruit stays good
and delicious on the tree for a very long time. It will be September in
less than 2 weeks and the fruit is still great. This morning my wife went
out into the yard and picked a few oranges and made juice from them for
breakfast. She considers them to be more delicious than anything you can
buy in a store.

The oranges are about 3" to 3 1/2" in diameter. Does anyone else have
similar results with their oranges? If this is unusual, does anyone have an
idea what type of orange tree I ended up with?

I think I will try to graft or T-bud a cutting from this tree as a form of
insurance just in case something happens to this tree. I am in
Shreveport,LA and every few years we have some winter weather that is cold
enough and long-lasting enough to damage an orange tree.

Thanks for any feedback,

PON