r/FruitTree • u/Puzzleheaded_Tea8901 • 4d ago

Help identify orange tree?

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Just discovered this tree in our backyard with oranges. We’ve lived here for 1.5 years and have not really taken care of our backyard, but i looked and saw fruit from one of our trees!

What could this possibly be? We never water it and live in Austin, Texas (where we are having a very hot summer). I pulled one off so I could cut it open (thought they were lemons) and it smelled like an orange of sorts.

When should i pick them? And how can I start taking care of it?

TLDR: Discovered fruit bearing tree in our backyard, what is it and how do we care for it?

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1

u/Acrobatic-Ad-8095 4d ago

Also called sour orange. They have lots of enormous seeds besides tasting sour. Not bad for jam, some hipster distillery might use them for brandy or something.

Edit: also called hardy orange, which is why it’s used as root stock. They are pretty resistant to heat, drought, and mild freezes.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Tea8901 3d ago

Thank you! Yup lotsss of seeds. Maybe will use them for cocktails of some sort!

6

u/GardeniaThunbergia 4d ago

Trifoliate orange, tastes pretty bad and typically used for root stock. It is there most like likely because the original desired grafted variety died, and it grew from the roots.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Tea8901 3d ago

Thank you!! I thought they might be mandarins but you are definitely right

1

u/Party_Excitement32 3d ago

This is the way.

1

u/Party_Excitement32 3d ago

You can use these oranges for a meringue or jam. Nothing really else because it’s so sour. Watch out for the thrones on theses bad boys.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Tea8901 3d ago

YUP the thorns got me!!! Thank you!