Today we share how we're choosing citrus varieties for the new farm. Support the channel for free by starting your Amazon shopping here! www.amazon.com/shop/edgeofnow...
Exactly the video that I needed since I am in the process of choosing Citrus Trees for my backyard. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Excellent video!!! I Love RSI Growers but it is always out of stock for me. I'll keep trying! I really like Greenfield nursery too but RSI has fantastic prices. You should try ORLANDO Tangelos. I tasted them at the Citrus Clinic at Greenfield and it was so delicious! Sunset nursery has them and you can buy from retail nurseries like Food of the Gods nursery or Richard's Garden Center.
Glad you enjoyed this one and you'll do just fine with citrus trees from Greenfield. As you're saying, RSI sells out quickly, so we've sourced citrus from Richard's Garden Center and Summer Winds who both stock citrus grown out by Sunset Nursery in Yuma who uses AZ root stocks for their citrus. Haven't heard of that Orlando tangelo before, so thank you for the suggestion!
Glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful Leslie. We'll have an update to this one this Winter as we have several more varieties of citrus on the new farm that all have fruit on them.
Went up to Reed and bought a couple of orange varieties after watching a few of your vids. Your an inspiration . And Reed! Boy that guy is a well of knowledge. I could have picked his brain all day. I was doing alot of things wrong. I'm looking forward to great things.
Hey Rick. Yeah, Reid really knows his stuff. It's why we're trying to get everything we possibly can from him. It will take us a bit longer to get everything in the ground, but in the long run it's going to really pay off.
Another great video guys, I definitely agree about rootstock I've got a couple trees from Reid that are 6 months old and they're caught up with their two-year-old sisters already.
Amazing what a difference it makes. I remember the first time buying a tree from Reed being skeptical and now 4 years later going to him hoping he can provide most of our trees on the new farm!
I like having one of many kind just to try it out and to have a variety. I agree with you, my Washington Navel from Costco, great fruit, small tree, struggles all the time. My satsuma finally after 5 years has 3 fruit on it, also from Costco, looks like the Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, only tree from costco that does well, my blood orange. Got it just 2 years ago and it has 6 large fruit. For a costco tree that is a miracle. Are you guys moving yet? Weather is nice!!
Hey Garry. It's a bummer about the Costco trees, but I understand the challenge for them trying to buy for all their locations. We're in the middle of moving now actually. Waiting on a couple more items to get done by early next week to officially call it home.
I have a 40ft long space that I want to plant citrus along, how closely spaced can I get away with oranges? I picked up 2 mandarins, 2 navels, 2 valencias, a blood orange not too long ago. Also, do you recommend I wait until after winter to plant them (I'm on an irrigated lot in Phoenix)? Thanks!
Hey Javiaero. You can plant citrus just about any time of year and right now would be fine. We prefer to plant them after the last frost (late Feb), but you should be ok. For spacing, that all depends on how you plan on pruning them. Your naval, valencia and blood oranges can get very large (assuming they're not on a dwarf or semi-dwarf root stock), but you can prune to a smaller size. For full size trees they typically need 12-15', but again you can prune and have them much closer, maybe 10' or so. Your mandarins can be a few feet apart. We like to keep them in clumps with about 4-5' spacing between them. Your trees will LOVE your irrigated lot, so you should be in good shape with your selections.
Excellent presentation. I wonder if me being in Cochise County means that no citrus could thrive here. It only happens occasionally in the year but temps drop to around 18 or 20 F. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed this one. I would say it's worth a shot. We hit 20 degrees for several nights in a row back in 2019 and all of our citrus survived. The Pommelo and lime struggled a bit, but the lemons, orange and especially the mandarins muscled right through it. When you hit those temps is it just for a few hours in the AM?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Yes its overnight and then just a bit in the AM. Hummingbird feeders freeze etc. Then by noon its up to about 40 or so. Thanks for all of the encouragement.
I hope you will try another Meyer Lemon on the new property. Maybe one from Reid would be more successful. I have a young one from Lowe’s that has some protection from larger trees and I would really be curious how mine will do compared to one from Reid.
Glad to hear that tree is doing well for you Rob. We've come to find out that Satsuma needs a bit of humidity to really thrive which is quite the opposite of what we have here. Our soils here are also very alkaline, so a root stock that can hold up to that is really ideal.
What is your experience with Cara Cara navel orange? Do they actually produced many fruit and is the flesh really red? Also- did some research on rootstock and most rootstock sold in Arizona in big box stores are the C35 semi dwarf. They are NOT compatible with our clay soil. Best rootstock would be Seville sour orange rootstock as it is a standard rootstock that can handle the thick clay soil
I don't have much experience with the Cara Cara outside of the small one we have growing here. We probably won't be here for the harvest, but if we are we'll have to let everyone know. And you're right about the rootstock. That's why we're going with RSI growers for nearly all of our trees on the new property. He has used Seville forever for his citrus trees, so you're right on with your root stock suggestion!
For the most part, all citrus love heat as long as you irrigate correctly (deep, but infrequent). That being said, they are not extremely fast growers. Ours are full size trees and at 3 years old the largest is about 7-8' tall and 6' wide. If you don't care what type, Arizona Sweet Oranges, any variety of grapefruit and Eureka Lemons have been the best growers in our experience as long as they're on AZ appropriate root stocks. Those you can find at local nurseries, NOT big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes.
I have a piece of property over by Pahrump Nevada in California desert. Do you think the growing conditions are sort of the same as Arizona as far as climate. Like do you think Arizona Sweet oranges would grow their good. Thanks for the videos keep up the good work
Hey David. I had to pull up Pahrump on Wikipedia to get an idea of what you're facing and it sounds similar to what we have here. Maybe a little cooler on both ends of the spectrum. I think the biggest challenge to your citrus may be on the Winter side of things. If the temps listed there are correct, you can get a bit colder than we do here. Our lowest temp is about 20 degrees and on those nights our citrus trees struggle a bit. That temp would be cold enough to kill a young citrus. Getting lower still you have the potential to kill a larger citrus tree. You may need to cover your trees if the forecast shows getting down that low. Other than that, I would say you should have a good shot at growing AZ Sweet oranges.
I was looking at Arizona Sweet orange trees at the nursery here thousand bucks a piece delivered and planted there in about a 30 gallon pot way too rich for my blood
With a higher winter low temp like that I would definitely add tropicals to the mix. Lori is DYING for a mango tree and they just can't take 20 degree temps. If you're getting into the lower 40's you still have chill hours, so you may have the perfect balance of tropical and sub tropical options. Choosing lower chill varieties and adding those tropicals is where I would head.
I never thought of mangoes, we have local mango trees they grow probably 70 feet high! I’ll have to espalier them or something for my tiny yard but I’ll definitely consider it after googling when to plant one
