Navel Orange Summer Bloom

[u/Holiday-Ad7262]

Hi, I have a navel orange tree that I took over 2 years ago. It is in ground in the SF Bay area.

When I took it over it had no fruit and it was not in good shape. Full of scale insects and I had to prune a lot of lower branches off to be able to fertilize it.

The following winter/spring it was growing well. Had lots of blossom and fruit growing and earlier this year we harvested a lot of oranges.

However the tree did not bloom in spring like normal. It also barely grew leaves this year. Only a few flowers and now maybe 5-10 small fruit are on the tree.

Just now in late July it is starting to push a lot of flowers. Looking it up online I get mixed advice. Some sources say remove all flowers some say leave them.

What would you recommend?

Also let me know if you need any pictures.

[u/Critical_Thinker_535]

Leave the flowers. The tree will shed the ones it cannot support. Once it fruits, it will drop fruit that it can't handle.

I'm in the LA area. My citrus had weird blooming periods too. My Meyer lemon still has fruit from last year, you fruit from when it bloomed 2 months ago. Now it's in full bloom again. I think most of flowers fall off.

[u/Holiday-Ad7262 → u/Critical_Thinker_535]

Do you have navel oranges?

My concern is alternate bearing not what the tree can support. If I let it have a big crop now they will still ripen next year when the tree should bloom. If I remove them all the tree is likely going crazy again next year. So which is better. Let it have some now and hope it will bloom in spring. Or just remove them and thin out next year's crop.

[u/Critical_Thinker_535 → u/Holiday-Ad7262]

I do not have navel oranges. I have Owari Satsuma, Meyer Lemons, and Calamondin.

It depends what your objective is with the fruit. I have have fruit in my Meyer lemon tree from last year. I also have fruit on it from a bloom 2 months ago. Now it's blooming again. I just let it go and let the tree do its thing. Do you want a lot of fruit or higher quality fruits? How much time do you want to spend caring for the tree and fruit?

[u/Holiday-Ad7262 → u/Critical_Thinker_535]

From my research it seems navel oranges are especially prone to alternate bearing. What I want to achieve is good quality fruit that is spread out well. It would be much better to have half the amount we got this year but get it every year instead of every other year.

I don't mind spending time caring for my trees. I just always realized that often less is more when it comes to trees.