Hello, I have a Valencia Orange and the fruit taste are sour. It's a almost 10 years old,tried to clean the 6 feet radius from weeds or grass. We feed Chicken manure every spring time to keep it healthy,water iit at least once a week and the fruits are always sour! I tried to pick one very week to taste it and check if there's any improvement but it's the same. Any ideas how to make it sweet? The tree is located at the Northern California, 40 miles south of San Frnacisco, Zipcode 95035 Thank you Raymag Milpitas California.
A presumption I would have, right off the top of my head, is that the Valencia graft on the sour orange root stock either did not "take" or the graft died( freezing, for example), and the root stock (sour orange) has become dominant.
Thank you Chuck. Is there anyway I can fix it or do something to make the fruits sweet? This December 2007 is the last year of this tree and I plan to remove it and have a new one this time. Thanks Raymag
Raymag: If you have never tried grafting, now might be the time. IF, in fact, your orange root stock has become the predominant, you can start a graft, or couple of grafts, and have what you would care to have as a particular kind of orange.
I agree with Chuck-- grafting is pretty easy if you can get budwood. I did my first citrus grafting last year and now have about 20+ varieties on my 5 trees. I have 3 grapefruit on a graft that is less than 6 inches--it bloomed as soon as it sprouted this spring. If you graft, you will have a tree that is already established and will produce more fruit sooner that a new tree if you replace it.
