At present I am getting a flush of new growth again on the Algerian Clementine along with flowering buds. If I am lucky enough to have any of these blooms produce & hold any fruit would the harvest time be in Feb. or March of 2010 ? This always confused me since its always stated that citrus goes dormant when the soil temp drops below 60-65 degrees. That soil temp would naturally occur around November even down here in South Texas where I`m located. Regards
Actually, citrus being an evergreen tree, never actually becomes "dormant", in the sense of what the term means. Citrus does stop producing new growth when at temperatures below 55.4F. Not at 60-65F. - Millet (1,326-)
Millet, Thanks for the response but if the trees roots become somewhat dormant below 55 degrees and stop feeding nutrients to the branches in November how does the existing fruit on the tree continue to grow in size until harvest ? Thats the part that always confused me ! Regards
For all practical purposes, citrus roots stop functioning at 55.4F. However, the root system of citrus are still productive in a very minor way, until the soil reaches 41F. This temperature of course never occurs in sub-tropical and tropical regions where citrus are commercially grown. In fact soil temperatures in sub tropical and tropical areas would almost never come close to 55.4F (at least 2 inches below the soil surface). Have a nice day. - Millet (1,324-) http://citrus.forumup.org/
