Hi!
I've recently bought an sour-orange, chinotto, citrus myrtifolia.
I've bought it last week, and it has 6 oranges on it, which i can already harvest, as they are ready to eat.
Thanks.
Hand pollinating is easy but you should try to touch each flower.
I usually use a small artist paint brush (children's water color paints have a small brush) or any small (very soft) brush (even a make-up brush will work). These work better than anything else as you only need to lightly touch the pollen and then touch the next flower.
"Repeat this process until you've touched all the flowers on your tree. You should also repeat this process once a week until all the flowers are gone for the highest yield of oranges."
Here is a link to some useful information.
www.gardeningknowhow.com/
onegreenworld.com/
The reason for the lack of pollen is the growing conditions of the plant. Temperature has a strong effect on development of flower and ovary development, pollen germination. For the period of budding and flowering of orange trees, the optimum temperature of air and soil is 20°C (293,15K). Flowers that have blossomed at an average temperature above 25°C (298,15K) are, as a rule, small, with an underdeveloped pistil or its absence, with deformed filaments, with sterile pollen, etc. Check the temperature in the room where your tree is.
Orange trees don't need another variety to pollinate them, but they will not make fruits without pollination. Pollination is done by insects, especially bees. Your trees may bloom away, and you will even see a tiny fruit develop, but without pollination, these fruits will soon fall off. Hand pollination will resolve this problem and will make sure you get a big crop. Hand pollinating oranges isnt difficult. You need small and soft thing, such as paint brush, or cotton swab, or a birds feather. The goal is to transfer the pollen from one flower (powdery grain on the ends of stamen) to the pistil on another flower (the single stalk in the middle of the ring of stamens). Repeat this process for all the flowers on your tree. Make it once a week until all the flowers are gone.
Ask a QuestionHere are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.
Hardiness Zone: 8a
James from Snellvile, GA
I'm not sure I can give you a good answer based on the information you gave me. What variety is your orange tree? There are dozens of varieties of orange trees sold for growing in containers and some have very different way of reproducing. Some varieties require cross-pollination with other citrus trees to produce fruit (e.g. Tangor or Tangelos). Others are self-pollinating. Some, like the Washington navel, do not produce viable pollen at all. Instead, these trees are able to set fruit parthenocarpically, that is, flower and set seedless fruit without being pollinated.
Another question is how old is your tree? Many orange trees do no start to produce successfully until they reach 5 to 6 years of age. If your tree is producing a lot of flowers, take that as a good sign. Keep in mind though, that only a small percentage of flowers will ever set fruit. Citrus trees need a lot of sun to produce fruit, but suspect that's not your problem. A lack of sun and your tree would never flower in the first place.
Are you giving it adequate fertilizer? I would recommend a high-nitrogen, slow release fertilizer formulated specifically for citrus trees.
If all else fails, next the tree flowers again, give it a good shake. If it is a self-pollinating variety, this should help do the trick.
Good luck!
Ellen
