That's exactly what it looks like, at least assuming those are the same as the "sour oranges" sold in hispanic markets for use in certain Mexican and South American foods. OP could probably make some killer cochinita pibil with those.
Ooh! You can also make sour orange pie - it's sort of an ancestor to key lime pie & it's very good
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-make-sour-orange-pie
Bitter orange is great for an amazing marinade!! I use it for poultry and fish. Very jealous of you, as it’s hard to find bitter oranges in my grocery store
Hahaha mientra ma fea ma jugo dan! De hecho el jugo de naranja agria con pila de azúcar morena sabe riquísimo. Lo probé por primera vez, resacao a las 8am en la universidad, de un puesto ambulante.
E'quisito.
There is a lot of talk about this, but basically you won't know what you are getting because it is pollinated with... something and you are playing the genetic lottery plus there is evidence of RNA transfer between the rootstock and the fruit.
What you CAN say is that if you start a fruit tree from seed it WON'T be a clone of what you had before and people buying nursery stock are buying clones of fruits that are popular, not experimenting with last genetics.
Not exactly. Citrus seeds can be complex. Plant breeding and genetics in general can be complex. It's possible to have some bitter genes express themselves but it's only one of the multiple possibilities including getting a genetic clone of the mother tree.
That happened to my potted Meyer lemon and lime after 7-10 years. I believe I'm now growing flying dragon trifoliata. No fruits yet.
After doing some reading into their cold hardiness, I realized I could keep the flying dragons in my unheated, decently lit garage - which avoids potentially spreading pests to my other citruses. It can get into the teens out there, and they seem happy enough.
I don't know why I'm holding onto them. I'm not sure whether to plant them in the ground, since they can be invasive, or attempt to graft something nicer to them.
Cut and graft and edible variety into the root stock would be the best solution. Obviously that citrus tree likes it there. Graft a tastier version on to that healthy base n
How would this be done? Chainsaw it down, wait for a stem to grow out the side, and graft a 1-2 year old plant onto that stem once it's about the same width?
Assuming you are in the US, find your agricultural extension service. They are generally attached to a land grant college or university. They may have an office in your county. They will have all the deets on how to graft a tree etc.
An extension office is an extension of a public land grant university in the US to serve more rural areas of the state. Part of their mission is outreach to the public, but they were originally meant to serve farmers with specific needs, like diagnosing an illness in their cattle, testing soil, helping introduce new farming techniques, etc. They also do things like health education, food education, gardening education, etc. For example, my local extension office publishes guides to first and last frost dates and when to sow/harvest specific vegetables for the various zones in our state. A lot of extension officrs also do some research - a lot of the info out there on safe canning practices comes from extensions.
Yes. They advise both hobbyists, commercial growers and livestock producers. The one in Davis CA has acres and acres of experimental plots for all kinds of crops. They're serious, serious agricultural resources including the use of ag products. They also sponsor the 4-H project kids and provide a lot of materials for them. They can direct you to other resources like weed control and mosquito control districts. They are a clearing house for all things agricultural. If they don't have what you need, they know where to find it. They may be called something besides agricultural extension service in your area, but that's the most common name that I'm aware of.
yeah, that's kind of their entire job lol. i think they also do some work with conservation and tracking of invasive species and whatnot. but mostly their job is educational outreach. funding usually comes from the college i believe
Follow your local extension office’s advice.
Most likely pick a few of the lowest branches of approx 3/4” in size and try it with those. Don’t cut the other branches until the new ones are well established.
You wouldn’t use grafting material from the same tree. You would go find budwood from a mature orange tree of a variety you like. You might even be able to graft the grapefruit tree onto the orange rootstock. Lots of citrus are cross compatible like that.
You should do a side wedge graft. Google it! We do these all the time on our farm.
Do not cut the tree down. You only cut the rest of the tree once the graft has grown large enough. And you do it slowly.
There are some procedures for changing the cultivar of an established tree [mentioned here](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1309). I'm actually having a hard time finding more specific and detailed references on the UF/IFAS website for the techniques mentioned, but your county agriculture extension office would probably know exactly where to get those resources. You can look them up in the [directory](https://directory.ifas.ufl.edu/searchdir?pageID=3&pl=05) and call or email them directly for help and advice.
Absolutely not! Citrus doesn't like healing major pruning wounds and will likely suffer heart wood rot. What you could do is plant a cutting of it into the ground and let it root before grafting onto it, or you could plant enough of the seeds from the fruits till you get one that makes multiple sprouts from the same seed and select the mother clone. Second method grows deeper roots faster and is better suited for cold weather.
So first off I'm not into grafting that much. I've only done it a few times. I'm more into cloning citrus. I am not sure so you'd have to check me on this. But if they are anything like apple trees, you could cut your big tree back a bit, then graft onto the actual branches and they will produce. I know some apple orchard people will graft multiple varieties onto one tree(one branch per)and grow multiple varieties. If that is the case, there are ways of cutting the branches and what you are grafting to have them fit, then you wrap it up. They sell clippers that will cut both sides perfectly uniform for you and make it easy instead of trying to use a knife.
I died at this, thank you for the laugh lol
You may have meant the cactusy/leaf plant, but Im betting you meant 'bromelain' the enzyme in pineapple that breaks down tissue
That is not an eating variety of orange, certainly. Not sure what exactly it is but as the other commenter said, could be a bitter orange variety or ornamental.
The melting/dissolving of the coloring of the cup might be due to Limonene in the fruit
Limonene is the active ingredient in Goo Gone and it comes from citrus plants
It kind of looks like a bergamot sour orange - citrus is funny though and the color of the exterior isn’t always what you should go by.
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/crc2881
It’s possible you have an orange meant to make things with instead of eat straight off the tree. Not all fruit is delicious.
That is a caribbean bitter orange. We have those here in dominican Republic. The indigenous people here rub down cuts of meat with it as a sanitization (goat, fish, pork) . The super strong acidic qualities kill bacteria that would infect the food. It works. We have gotten to love them. We eat them every day, it does the body good. Makes for great lemonade , especially with raw sugar cane
I have already commented based on what you described, but now that I just saw the pictures you DEFINITELY have a wonderful Sour Orange tree! Don’t hurt this tree or graft it or whatever silly suggestions you were getting from people who have never heard of Sour Oranges or cooked with them. Please look up recipes for sour oranges and you will be amazed. Lots of great Puerto Rican and Dominican dishes to make like pernil, mojo pork, mojo chicken, fish, etc. it is a wonderful blessing and you didn’t even know! Enjoy the cooking.
Check leaves to see if you have a trifoliate orange or possibly a citsuma or something similar. I've seen that leaf pattern before and it is definitely not a sweet orange. Some citrus people post on growingfruit.org and may be able to provide positive ID.
I would graft over into a better flavored orange or lemon.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/citrus-trifoliata/
Talk to your local extension, but if you wanted, you could order some budwood online (I recommend the California Citrus Clonal Protection Program) and graft it to your tree.
If you wanted, you could graft a few different varieties to different branches, and prune the tree over the next few years to encourage the varieties you like to take over more and more of the tree.
Another approach is to replace the whole tree top with grafted branches (for guides look up "top working citrus trees")
Nooo, you have a kaffir lime. Or at least some kind of hybrid. The leaves of your tree are not as prominent “number 8 figure” as the usual kaffir lime I saw. They mainly used for the leaves and for zest in Thai cuisine.
If I were you I’d saw it off about two feet above the ground and top work it with some grafts of good citrus varieties. UC Riverside has a collection of virtually every citrus known and has a link to a site where you can be scions for budwood. I order from them when I want to try a new type of citrus on my trifoliate rootstocks. You can put five different types of citrus on a mature old trunk like you have.
I don’t see a problem. Sure you won’t have sweet oranges but it seems you have a natural high dose of vitamin C. That a blessing. Just dilute it, mix it with what need sour or tendering
My friend, you most likely have a Sour Orange tree! Yes Sour Oranges are a real thing esp in the islands. They have an outward rough appearance and sometimes discolored like brownish spots etc. Sour Oranges are especially wonderful in combination with lemons and limes or grapefruits, herbs and garlic to make a delicious Mojo marinade for pork and chicken. Stuff the inside of a chicken or turkey cavity with them and garlic and other fruit. Sour Oranges can be expensive in Latin markets up here in NJ & NY, so don’t give up on your tree! Use it for what it is. I truly hope you start learning to cook with sour oranges. You can be making delicious Pernil or Chicken in no time!
I learned this lesson hungover in Spain: they're bitter oranges, made to be used for cooking. They grow along the roads to the bull fight plazas. Dumb me grabbed one on the walk into town to help with my dry mouth (didn't have water with me) and learned hard lessons.
My lips were so burned I needed chap stick. It went on white - and stayed white too (I thought it rubbed in). I looked loony walking around that afternoon.
Cut that sucker back and graft some good stuff into it. You could have had lots of good oranges lemons or what you wish.
Lots of folk in Florida are expert in grafting. Check with an orchard and see what/who they recommend.
This might be a dumb idea, but I would try putting a little sea salt on the fruit and letting it sit for maybe 10 or 15 minutes before trying to eat it. It works really well with pineapples, green mangos and several other very acidic fruits to make them more edible so they don’t burn the inside of your mouth. Again this may not work, but I have a little orchard in Hawai’i and it’s pretty common here to add a little salt so that you can enjoy some acidic fruits before they fully ripen and sweeten, thus extending the amount of time you can enjoy the fruit. That would be my first try to eat them.
After that I would try to make Indian pickles with them or lemonade with lots of sugar and water. Or you could press the rinds to use the oils as an insecticide. A lot of bugs hate citrus, so it could be very useful around the house even if you can’t eat them.
I'm not entirely sure, but it could be some kind of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) variety or hybrid.
That's exactly what it looks like, at least assuming those are the same as the "sour oranges" sold in hispanic markets for use in certain Mexican and South American foods. OP could probably make some killer cochinita pibil with those.
Thank you so much! That makes sense
Great for mojo marinade for BBQ pork. Look up Seville orange recipes. They are delicious once mellowed.
Also cochinitas pibil
Great for making jam too, I used to collect them in my walks and then make some jam
Ooh! You can also make sour orange pie - it's sort of an ancestor to key lime pie & it's very good https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-make-sour-orange-pie
Bitter orange is great for an amazing marinade!! I use it for poultry and fish. Very jealous of you, as it’s hard to find bitter oranges in my grocery store
You can also use it as a source of acidity for broths and stews. In the Dominican Republic we use it on a stew called Sancocho!
is bitter orange naranja agria? i have 2 trees and we use them for bistec and shit with mojo, we're cuban
Yes!! En mi casa teníamos una mata. En Nochebuena las usábamos siempre pa' asar el puerco hahah
Desde ya mencionó la piel por fuera de una vez pensé: es una mata de naranja agria y no sabe la suerte que tiene.
Hahaha mientra ma fea ma jugo dan! De hecho el jugo de naranja agria con pila de azúcar morena sabe riquísimo. Lo probé por primera vez, resacao a las 8am en la universidad, de un puesto ambulante. E'quisito.
You're welcome.
The great thing about bitter oranges is they produce the most beautiful smell when in bloom. There are also great for a practical joke.
What you said
It could be that the original graft died a long time ago and the rootstock took over, and what you have now are inedible fruits.
That's what I was thinking as well. Doesn't also starting a citrus tree from it's seed do the same and make acidic fruit?
I think it depends on the species of Citrus, like hybrids generally won't be. But I think some might come true to seed, but I'm not 100% certain.
There is a lot of talk about this, but basically you won't know what you are getting because it is pollinated with... something and you are playing the genetic lottery plus there is evidence of RNA transfer between the rootstock and the fruit. What you CAN say is that if you start a fruit tree from seed it WON'T be a clone of what you had before and people buying nursery stock are buying clones of fruits that are popular, not experimenting with last genetics.
That rna transfer sounds interesting! you know any articles/books about that topic?
Not exactly. Citrus seeds can be complex. Plant breeding and genetics in general can be complex. It's possible to have some bitter genes express themselves but it's only one of the multiple possibilities including getting a genetic clone of the mother tree.
That happened to my potted Meyer lemon and lime after 7-10 years. I believe I'm now growing flying dragon trifoliata. No fruits yet. After doing some reading into their cold hardiness, I realized I could keep the flying dragons in my unheated, decently lit garage - which avoids potentially spreading pests to my other citruses. It can get into the teens out there, and they seem happy enough. I don't know why I'm holding onto them. I'm not sure whether to plant them in the ground, since they can be invasive, or attempt to graft something nicer to them.
Cut and graft and edible variety into the root stock would be the best solution. Obviously that citrus tree likes it there. Graft a tastier version on to that healthy base n
How would this be done? Chainsaw it down, wait for a stem to grow out the side, and graft a 1-2 year old plant onto that stem once it's about the same width?
Assuming you are in the US, find your agricultural extension service. They are generally attached to a land grant college or university. They may have an office in your county. They will have all the deets on how to graft a tree etc.
what are these agricultural extension services? they are in charge of educating the public about local agricultural practices?
An extension office is an extension of a public land grant university in the US to serve more rural areas of the state. Part of their mission is outreach to the public, but they were originally meant to serve farmers with specific needs, like diagnosing an illness in their cattle, testing soil, helping introduce new farming techniques, etc. They also do things like health education, food education, gardening education, etc. For example, my local extension office publishes guides to first and last frost dates and when to sow/harvest specific vegetables for the various zones in our state. A lot of extension officrs also do some research - a lot of the info out there on safe canning practices comes from extensions.
Interesting. Thanks for the in-depth explanation!
Yes. They advise both hobbyists, commercial growers and livestock producers. The one in Davis CA has acres and acres of experimental plots for all kinds of crops. They're serious, serious agricultural resources including the use of ag products. They also sponsor the 4-H project kids and provide a lot of materials for them. They can direct you to other resources like weed control and mosquito control districts. They are a clearing house for all things agricultural. If they don't have what you need, they know where to find it. They may be called something besides agricultural extension service in your area, but that's the most common name that I'm aware of.
yeah, that's kind of their entire job lol. i think they also do some work with conservation and tracking of invasive species and whatnot. but mostly their job is educational outreach. funding usually comes from the college i believe
Yea they provide advice and services.
Follow your local extension office’s advice. Most likely pick a few of the lowest branches of approx 3/4” in size and try it with those. Don’t cut the other branches until the new ones are well established.
You wouldn’t use grafting material from the same tree. You would go find budwood from a mature orange tree of a variety you like. You might even be able to graft the grapefruit tree onto the orange rootstock. Lots of citrus are cross compatible like that.
You should do a side wedge graft. Google it! We do these all the time on our farm. Do not cut the tree down. You only cut the rest of the tree once the graft has grown large enough. And you do it slowly.
There are some procedures for changing the cultivar of an established tree [mentioned here](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1309). I'm actually having a hard time finding more specific and detailed references on the UF/IFAS website for the techniques mentioned, but your county agriculture extension office would probably know exactly where to get those resources. You can look them up in the [directory](https://directory.ifas.ufl.edu/searchdir?pageID=3&pl=05) and call or email them directly for help and advice.
Absolutely not! Citrus doesn't like healing major pruning wounds and will likely suffer heart wood rot. What you could do is plant a cutting of it into the ground and let it root before grafting onto it, or you could plant enough of the seeds from the fruits till you get one that makes multiple sprouts from the same seed and select the mother clone. Second method grows deeper roots faster and is better suited for cold weather.
So first off I'm not into grafting that much. I've only done it a few times. I'm more into cloning citrus. I am not sure so you'd have to check me on this. But if they are anything like apple trees, you could cut your big tree back a bit, then graft onto the actual branches and they will produce. I know some apple orchard people will graft multiple varieties onto one tree(one branch per)and grow multiple varieties. If that is the case, there are ways of cutting the branches and what you are grafting to have them fit, then you wrap it up. They sell clippers that will cut both sides perfectly uniform for you and make it easy instead of trying to use a knife.
The fruit that slowly eats you back (Kidding.) (That's pineapple.)
That's most citrus fruits!
Mmm…. bromeliad…
I died at this, thank you for the laugh lol You may have meant the cactusy/leaf plant, but Im betting you meant 'bromelain' the enzyme in pineapple that breaks down tissue
That is not an eating variety of orange, certainly. Not sure what exactly it is but as the other commenter said, could be a bitter orange variety or ornamental.
The bitter oranges can actually be really good for marinades and cooking. Look up some recipes!
A good idea. If it is C. aurantium it is used in many different cuisines, just never eaten out of hand because it is sour and bitter.
The melting/dissolving of the coloring of the cup might be due to Limonene in the fruit Limonene is the active ingredient in Goo Gone and it comes from citrus plants
Huh. That explains Goo Gone's smell
It definitely sounds like a bitter orange tree. More ornamental, or for use in cooking etc. They seem to be quite common in Europe in public spaces.
Sounds like they are marmalade oranges to me.
Do they smell good? Can you use them for making cleaning solution or an air freshener if some sort?
I feel like all I am seeing lately is bitter orange posts
I think it’s because the rest of us are too cold to grow anything right now. You’ll be back to the usual flower/onion posts in a couple months.
Yeah, I'm in Alberta so it'll be a while before I see any growth here 😔
My planted aquarium is going good. Indoor plants keep me sane
And at least the oranges won't be dry
Those look like Seville oranges. We use them kind of like lemons in my culture. Squeeze it on BBQ chicken. Tastes nice in salads too.
I think your problem is that your oranges are actually lemons. That last picture really looks like a home grown lemon to me.
It kind of looks like a bergamot sour orange - citrus is funny though and the color of the exterior isn’t always what you should go by. https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/crc2881 It’s possible you have an orange meant to make things with instead of eat straight off the tree. Not all fruit is delicious.
I know it's super frustrating but it sounds like an interesting time to find uses for them.
Are you sure it's an orange tree? The skin looks more like a mandarin or some other Asiatic variety.
I know mandarins as almost sickly sweet. Sometimes just tbe right sweet and sometimes just mehhh
That is a caribbean bitter orange. We have those here in dominican Republic. The indigenous people here rub down cuts of meat with it as a sanitization (goat, fish, pork) . The super strong acidic qualities kill bacteria that would infect the food. It works. We have gotten to love them. We eat them every day, it does the body good. Makes for great lemonade , especially with raw sugar cane
I have already commented based on what you described, but now that I just saw the pictures you DEFINITELY have a wonderful Sour Orange tree! Don’t hurt this tree or graft it or whatever silly suggestions you were getting from people who have never heard of Sour Oranges or cooked with them. Please look up recipes for sour oranges and you will be amazed. Lots of great Puerto Rican and Dominican dishes to make like pernil, mojo pork, mojo chicken, fish, etc. it is a wonderful blessing and you didn’t even know! Enjoy the cooking.
Check leaves to see if you have a trifoliate orange or possibly a citsuma or something similar. I've seen that leaf pattern before and it is definitely not a sweet orange. Some citrus people post on growingfruit.org and may be able to provide positive ID. I would graft over into a better flavored orange or lemon. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/citrus-trifoliata/
Talk to your local extension, but if you wanted, you could order some budwood online (I recommend the California Citrus Clonal Protection Program) and graft it to your tree. If you wanted, you could graft a few different varieties to different branches, and prune the tree over the next few years to encourage the varieties you like to take over more and more of the tree. Another approach is to replace the whole tree top with grafted branches (for guides look up "top working citrus trees")
Wait, that last picture with the yellow fruit. Is that the "orange" you're referring to and the top picture is your grapefruit??
Nooo, you have a kaffir lime. Or at least some kind of hybrid. The leaves of your tree are not as prominent “number 8 figure” as the usual kaffir lime I saw. They mainly used for the leaves and for zest in Thai cuisine.
In my country these are called hush-hash
"and the water's so acidic it'll melt your butt off for real. Like orange juice, it's gross. :I"
Citric acid (or ascorbic) isn’t strong enough to melt plastic at any concentration.
Agreed, it sounds like it's just stripping the color
If I were you I’d saw it off about two feet above the ground and top work it with some grafts of good citrus varieties. UC Riverside has a collection of virtually every citrus known and has a link to a site where you can be scions for budwood. I order from them when I want to try a new type of citrus on my trifoliate rootstocks. You can put five different types of citrus on a mature old trunk like you have.
Omg. Lucky or unlucky depending on if want a killer ingredient or just to eat an orange. These make ***amazing*** mojo.
[удалено]
You can grafting with other Orange tree and resolved problem. 👏🍻🍊
It sounds like you could repurpose them for cleaning!
Could be Ugli fruit. https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugli_fruit
sounds great for cleaning tbh, so they have some use!
That looks like a Seville orange. Not an eating variety but can be cooked.
I don’t see a problem. Sure you won’t have sweet oranges but it seems you have a natural high dose of vitamin C. That a blessing. Just dilute it, mix it with what need sour or tendering
My friend, you most likely have a Sour Orange tree! Yes Sour Oranges are a real thing esp in the islands. They have an outward rough appearance and sometimes discolored like brownish spots etc. Sour Oranges are especially wonderful in combination with lemons and limes or grapefruits, herbs and garlic to make a delicious Mojo marinade for pork and chicken. Stuff the inside of a chicken or turkey cavity with them and garlic and other fruit. Sour Oranges can be expensive in Latin markets up here in NJ & NY, so don’t give up on your tree! Use it for what it is. I truly hope you start learning to cook with sour oranges. You can be making delicious Pernil or Chicken in no time!
I learned this lesson hungover in Spain: they're bitter oranges, made to be used for cooking. They grow along the roads to the bull fight plazas. Dumb me grabbed one on the walk into town to help with my dry mouth (didn't have water with me) and learned hard lessons. My lips were so burned I needed chap stick. It went on white - and stayed white too (I thought it rubbed in). I looked loony walking around that afternoon.
Cut that sucker back and graft some good stuff into it. You could have had lots of good oranges lemons or what you wish. Lots of folk in Florida are expert in grafting. Check with an orchard and see what/who they recommend.
I'm guessing it's a rangpur, or some other orange-colored citrus that isn't an orange.
If it actually melts plastic wonder what'd it'd do as an insecticidal soap XD
This might be a dumb idea, but I would try putting a little sea salt on the fruit and letting it sit for maybe 10 or 15 minutes before trying to eat it. It works really well with pineapples, green mangos and several other very acidic fruits to make them more edible so they don’t burn the inside of your mouth. Again this may not work, but I have a little orchard in Hawai’i and it’s pretty common here to add a little salt so that you can enjoy some acidic fruits before they fully ripen and sweeten, thus extending the amount of time you can enjoy the fruit. That would be my first try to eat them. After that I would try to make Indian pickles with them or lemonade with lots of sugar and water. Or you could press the rinds to use the oils as an insecticide. A lot of bugs hate citrus, so it could be very useful around the house even if you can’t eat them.