There's nothing like the fresh fruit we get from our trees here in Sun City. Usually around Dec. mine is in prime form as though the oranges were holiday ornaments. So sweet.
Our fruit is usually ripest after the first of the year....the navels and tangelos come first in January, then the AZ sweet in February, the Valencia don't get real sweet till March, Grapefruit, they ripen early with the tangelos. What kind of fruit do you have that ripens so early? I would like to put in a lemon tree, maybe this year.
We water our trees twice a week for 7 hours. Winter we cut it back to once a week for 8 or 9 hours. Others may have a different schedule. We also have a drip system and do not flood the trees. Can't wait for the grapefruit,,,,they are getting big now.
I eat grapefruit everyday. Are your trees the Ruby Red? I wonder because many fruit trees in SC are described as mature and Ruby was not as common in the 60s.
Our grapefruit tree is a ruby red, but it is only 5 years old......we water the citrus 2x/week for about 70 minutes, the trees are welled and that fills the well and then slowly soaks in. In the winter we water 1x/week.
I've no idea what type the tree is, but it's in the part of the yard that get that nw bright sun in the afternoon so that might prompt it. Watering is tough to know since it depends so much on size of tree. I like the smaller ones as they are easier to keep under control. Need to nip some of the little fruits when too many seem to be on one branch so their weight won't split the limb and the ones that remain will be real prizes.
We have lots of orange trees lining the streets that are often referred to as strictly "ornamental," but not necessarily so, even if they are not the kind you want to eat off the tree, there are other options: http://www.ediblenetwork.com/wp-con...s/articles/spr09/pdfs/theOverlookedOrange.pdf
I knew they were excellent for orange marmalade, but didn't realize they had other uses as well. The idea of orangeade, made like lemonade, sounds interesting.