I purchased a young Red Navel (Cara Cara) last spring, and it produced 13 oranges this last winter. As of June, the tree has not flowered or offered any suggestion it will bear fruit this upcoming year. This is my first Orange tree. Do they skip a year once in awhile? The tree is healthy and I have maintained a proper fertilization and insect management plan. Thanks for suggestions. Mike
Sounds like your doing everything required by your Cara Cara tree. There are citrus varieties that are bothered by alternate bearing, mostly mandarins and Valencia, but Cara Cara is not much bothered. I believe the "problem" is just the youth of your tree. There is an wonderfully helpful and inexpensive booklet concerning the culture of home citrus in the state of Florida called "Florida Your Dooryard Citrus Guide", published by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). Copies for purchase are available from IFAS-Extension Bookstore, PO Box 110011, Gainesville, Florida, 32611-0011 or by telephone at 352-392-2411, I would recomend you purchase a copy. - Millet
It seems part of your answer lies in the other thread you started. Cara Cara have a tendency not to bloom much after they have been pruned. I pruned off some extra vigorous growth last year on my tree and shaped the tree and this year the tree has not bloomed at all yet. Another aspect to take into account is that the parentage of this tree may come into play in that Washington Navels and some of their derivative plants take a while in years to become dependable bearers of fruit year after year. The Trovita as an example can bear fruit young, so can the Cara Cara and the Fukumoto but many Navels take upwards of seven to ten years to bear fruit consistently. I do not worry at all about a light crop or no crop on young plants for the Navels. That will change for the better as the trees get some age to them. Jim
Hi Jim, nice reading your posts. Junglekeeper, no they are not the same, however, what you posted is great information. Thank you for posting them. - Millet
Below is a link to the book Millet referenced. Too bad they do not ship as there are a couple of books in the list I wouldn't mind reading sometime, just to get a better "feel" for Florida Citrus. The IFAS extension bookstore carries most of the books shown in this link. CREC Publications for sale There is this accompanying link to the one that Junglekeeper posted as well. Diagnosing and Treating Problems with Dooryard Citrus I do not believe that all 50 pages of the book have been electronically posted online but it does appear that the book and most of the "Dooryard Citrus" articles are written by the same person. Jim
Thanks for the links. I did order the "Florida Your Dooryard Citrus Guide" online this afternoon. It was only $7.00 plus $3.00 shipping. Mike
Jim, thank you your link, as always you are very helpful. The eighth book down is the publication I was referring to. It is a good booklet. - Millet
Sometimes a solitary Orange may be slow to set flowers or we see new growth followed by flower bud formation and the buds never do open. For young Navel Orange type trees this is not uncommon. I'd be more concerned not seeing any new growth than I would not having any flower bud set. A trick that has been used by collectors and home gardeners is to have a second Navel Orange nearby that blooms near or around the same time your tree does. The misses Cara Cara had been surrounded on all sides by Lemons and a few Limes for well over a year. Now, we have a Trovita right next to the Cara Cara and a parent Washington Navel and a Newhall Navel just a few feet away from the Cara Cara, just to help things along for next year. Aside from the vigorous growth that was cut back on our Cara Cara last year, the new growth had signs of both a Copper and a Manganese deficiency starting to show in the vigorous growth leaves. Once I cut the shoots back to better shape the tree, along with an application of the old Bandini 0-10-10 with 10% Calcium in the formulation, two ounces then, two more ounces applied in November and two more ounces applied in January, I cleared up the deficiency. Three weeks ago I gave this tree two ounces of Vigoro brand Citrus and Avocado Food, this trees first application of Nitrogen since we've had it, along with two ounces of Epsom salts (gave these amounts to all of the fifteen gallon Citrus as well) and one ounce of the granular 0-10-10 and watered in the fertilizer well. Now that we will have steady upper 90 degree to 100 degree daily temperatures with our low humidity and mid to late afternoon hot winds, there will not be any more applications of Nitrogen the rest of the year for any of our container plants, Citrus, Maples, Magnolias and Pines. Well done having the book come in. Jim
