Scott was my key lime pie the ‘devil that did it’?
I’m sure it was lurking back in my head somewhere, along with a margarita I had a few weeks ago 
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My citrus is doing well in my greenhouse. However, I’m in a constant battle with mites, especially on my kumquat tree.
Thanks for the tips.I’ve heard about the need for the soil to be warm like the air.I have a heat mat to try,but the plant looks pretty bad with most or all of the branches dead.I guess if there is still some life in the crown and roots,more may push out. Brady
Sounds like a sales, marketing and distribution challenge. If something is known to grow well in a locale with few to no chemical or other inputs, it really should be grown there. Citrus ships incredibly well and people are willing to pay for it.
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We used to grow tens of thousands of acres of citrus in the Phoenix valley. Economics decided that the land was more valuable to make subdivisions. Used to be big business here…now its almost all gone, along with the distribution houses that made getting it out to out of state markets possible.
My concern is selling to my local market. And I cant give it away here. Sadly.
I think part of the issue is maybe due to the number of folks that have backyard citrus? At least out here, that is certainly the case. I think it is something like 75-90% of backyards have at least 1 citrus tree in it, in S. California, or something close to that. It was a huge, huge percentage quoted in a seminar I attended a few years ago. And, the cost of your water too, probably makes citrus crops not very profitable. We lost all our commercial citrus in S. California long ago due to the cost of water. So sad.
Even so, citrus is well represented in every market that I frequent. It’s never not at least “good” wherever you find it. Just seems odd to have to dump it.
i think it might be the main issue. Our mom just has one orange tree and one lemon tree in peoria, az, and those two seem more than enough to make her not too keen about growing another citrus variety or buy citrus fruits for consumption.
sure causes a great deal of zone-envy, for people like me…
i kind of agree, considering that orange juice that is usa -grown, costs 7-8$/gallon, and even shipped all the way from florida/california.
but then again, it could be that water is more expensive in az compared to ca and fl, to allow some profit-- even if selling the juice to fellow arizonians…
I understand 100%. That’s the primary reason for my recent post about hacking out a citrus tree. All those leaves year around make it very difficult to kill 100% of the scale. It just keeps coming back.
‘Bearss’ limes are dropping as expected. ‘Kishu’ mandarins are running ahead of schedule, as they are already starting to show some color. Looking more like Halloween than Thanksgiving for fresh ‘Kishu’.
There’s no issue growing citrus in Nor Cal. I think it may have to do with you being in Berkley which really has no heat, and is fogged in a good number of days. Over here inland oranges, lemons, limes, they are all growing no problems.
I don’t envy you all who love citrus and who live in temperate zones and have to work so hard to get a citrus crop. I can’t imagine having to haul any number of trees inside the house in autumn and then outside again in spring.
I live in sub tropical Brisbane, Australia, its an ideal citrus climate and we just love our citrus! Because we are in the southern hemisphere we are enjoying our summer at the moment and watching our citrus filling out nicely. I also love citrus and have several in the ground and some in pots because I have no more in ground room as I am also growing apples, and stone fruit. I have 3 navel oranges, 2 mandarins, a Myer lemon all in ground and Eureka lemon, Nagami kumquat and several seedlings in pots.
I was hoping to post some photos but it looks like that will have to wait until I can work out how to do that.
Mick
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Thanks for bumping this. My Washington navel which is the size of grapefruits this year, is just about ready to start eating the oranges this weekend 
Oh, and for some reason (even with the cold dreary weather) my Mexican Lime is putting out all kind of blooms so early. Meanwhile last year I couldn’t get it to bloom if my life depended on it lol
Hey Mick,
On the plus side, some of us in temperate zones who bring in our citrus are enjoying the wonderful fragrances of citrus blooms inside. 
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Yes, JustAnne,Preformatted text there is always a positive element to counter the negative. I am just happy that I live in a climate where I can grow just about anything I want.
With the work being done on low chill stone fruit, including apples it’s amazing how diversified the options are. I am quite envious of the huge diversity in the range of varieties that are available to you in the US that we don’t see here. You certainly seem to have access to a wider range of citrus than we see here. Still I wouldn’t swap with you. I am a creature of the sub tropics and I can’t imagine what you guys have to do to get a decent orange 
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Ps I hope I don’t get a double image
Wishing that I got them as big as grape fruit.
It’s been a pretty wet year. That’s sure to have swollen them so much. On the down side, this is an off bearing year, so a much lower yield, and a lot of fruit split.
