I was about to post a question very similiar and thought to put it in your thread. We have a 125 year old orange tree (in a huge wine vat!) that was started from a shoot of an orange tree in Rome that was started by our founder, St. Dominic almost 800 years ago! Truly! This tree is still at S. Sabina in Rome and there are many trees started from seeds from oranges from this tree around the world. We received our tree 2 years ago from a monastery that had to close. We live in NJ so we even built a small greenhouse for the winter. It's very happy and full of small fruit. HOWEVER, they have been GREEN for months and are about the size of a golf ball. I know that the previous monastery got tangerine size fruit from this tree and made marmalade and that the oranges DID get ORANGE! Any advice as to what to do? It is now starting a new crop of tiny, tiny oranges while the "elders" are still hanging there GREEN! Thanks for your help! I'll post this separately in case that is the better thing to do. Sr. Mary Catharine
Dear Sister Mary Catharine, This could easily be caused by keeping your greenhouse to warm and humid. It is common for the fruit of citrus trees growing in the tropics, to produce fruit that does not turn orange when mature, but remain green in color. This is due to the higher heat and humidity, and of course, makes it difficult to tell the mature fruit on the tree, from the unripe fruit. Pick a few of your tangerines (mandarins) and taste them to determine if indeed they are ripe. It is also possible that not enough time has passed. Know that it can take up to eight months from fruit set to maturity for some varieties. Sister, I am a collector of citrus. I currently grow 74 different varieties of citrus trees. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, please I would be humbled to have some seeds (10) from this tree, to start a seedling to add to my collection. I would absolutely be honored to have a citrus tree with a heritage that dates back to the great Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order. I would forever be in your debt. One of my trees is a Silverhill Satsuma Mandarin, a rare tree, that has a sign attached that says: "This tree is dedicated to the Virgin Mary," I would germinate and grow your seeds in the greenhouse, then place the tree from your seeds next to it with sign to Saint Dominic. - Millet
