Orange You Glad Winter Is The Best Time To Harvest Citrus Fruit?
The days are getting longer and it’s time to brighten up the season with some bright, sunny oranges. The shortest days of winter, and the snack filled holiday season have passed. Now it’s time for new years resolutions and health and fitness goals. Luckily this is when most citrus trees have fresh fruit ready to be harvested. In the winter oranges are ready to be enjoyed as fresh healthy snacks, which make for great alternatives to cookies and chips.
From November to June different types of lemon trees, orange trees, kumquat trees, lime trees and more are ready to have their juicy fruits harvested, providing the perfect snack during a long winter day. While all citrus fruit is delightful, today we are all about the oranges.
What makes oranges so great?
Oranges have bright orange skin that pulls us to them without us even noticing. With snow and slush causing dreary conditions outside, even when it’s sunny out the bright orange peels draw us in, and we are delighted even more when they’re cut open to reveal vibrant flesh that glows like the sun to warm our souls.
The strong citrus smell fills the room. Each whiff of tropical flavors sends people to their own miniature tropical vacations as it naturally freshens stuffy and stale winter air.
Oranges may attract us with their vibrant array of colors, but what hooks us is their irresistible sweet and tangy flavors. With every bite as the juice squishes and the fibrous flesh breaks away there is an audible crunch that’s exhilarating as tons of sweet juice spills out for a refreshing snack.
Best of all, you don’t have to live without fresh oranges. Orange trees are low maintenance and thrive indoors. They brighten up the home while flourishing indoors in containers. Your orange trees will be happy simply hanging out by a bright sunny window.
The Nutritional Legacy of Oranges
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana? As funny as that classic punch line is, some people are seriously glad. While bananas are an excellent fruit, and nutritional source, it’s great to mix it up with some citrus. Since oranges are extremely high in potassium as well as other vitamins and nutrients, don’t feel bad about skipping out bananas.
Boost your immune system. Oranges contain more than the daily-recommended dose of vitamin C, which helps your immune system fight off illnesses. Keep your immune system strong with an orange a day during this year’s cold and flu season.
Vitamin C also protects antioxidants, helping your body keep your hair and skin strong and beautiful.
What’s good about beautiful skin if you can’t see it? Luckily oranges are rich in vitamin A, which keeps the eyes healthy.
Isn’t it interesting how sporting events usually have tons of oranges in coolers for participants to enjoy? This is no coincidence. Oranges are filled with calcium and B vitamins that naturally energize the body and mind.
Keep things moving with oranges because they are high in fiber. The fiber will ease constipation and help keep things regular. The fiber will also help your body regulate sugar levels, which is great for diabetics. By eating a sweet orange instead of a healthy snack you can avoid a sugar crash later.
If you aren’t in love with oranges yet, you should be, because each of these vitamins and nutrients are great for keeping your heart happy and healthy.
Why Grow Oranges At Home?
The sweetest tasting, all natural organic oranges are the ones grown at home because you will know if the oranges were grown with harmful chemicals or not. Plus you will know where the oranges came from, and who handled them.
While it’s easy to drift into the store and grab a few oranges off of the shelf, do you consider the orange’s journey? What did it go through to get there? How long has it been from tree to shelf? Who handled it?
While looking at fruit, people pick them up to feel their firmness and judge the quality of their skin before deciding which ones to place in a produce bag, and which ones to put back on the shelf. How many people have touched the fruit before you? Hopefully they didn’t spread any germs!
Mass produced oranges need to stay healthy, and look appetizing in a cost effective manner. They’re often sprayed with chemical laden pesticides and fungicides to kill bugs and fungi. Toxic chemical concoctions designed to kill aren’t the best for people to ingest.
Once an orange is picked, it needs to look extra pretty by being covered in chemicals or wax to make it look extra shiny and pretty. They’re also covered in these chemicals in order to stay fresh for weeks. Organic, natural oranges don’t have this lustrous glow.
While most people discard their orange peels, and only eat the insides, peels are still frequently touched and held close to the face. Anything held in close proximity to the face should be chemical and germ free.
Store bought oranges often aren’t the sweetest or most nutritious because of their long transition from tree branch to shelf. Oranges are harvested as soon as they appear ripe, which results in a more tart flavor. With a little extra time to ripen on the tree, they only get sweeter.
As oranges are stored, often 4 to 6 weeks in climate controlled fridges, their nutritional value starts to decline with their freshness. While most oranges come from Florida and California, in order to achieve having shelves stocked all year stores will get their fruit from Mexico and South America.
Most oranges turn from green to orange when the weather starts to cool, however in warmer countries like Mexico the fruit won’t lose it’s chlorophyll and will stay green all year. Most green oranges are dyed orange so they will be more sellable.
Orange you ready to grown your own fruit?
Don’t hesitate turning your thumbs into green ones by growing your own oranges at home, no matter what your climate is like. Orange trees are one of the best options for container and indoor growing.
First things first, pick out a container! Any container will work, whether it’s plastic, clay or ceramic as long as it is slightly larger than the root ball and has drainage holes at the bottom. If the container you have selected doesn’t have holes at the bottom they can easily be added with a drill.
Before placing your tree in the container, fill the bottom of it with rocks. This will allow excess water to drain more easily, and add air circulation.
Get a bag of potting soil that has been specially mixed for citrus trees, like citrus tone, and place it in the container with your tree.
During the colder months keep your tree by a large sunny window. Generally windows facing south receive the most light. Orange trees need at least six hours of sunlight a day but will benefit from more. During short, dark winter days consider using a florescent grow light for an hour or two, to make up for missing sunrays.
One of the most common houseplant mistakes made is over watering. Plants aren’t as fragile or thirsty as they seem. Wait until the top two inches of soil below the soil line are dry to the touch, and then water your tree thoroughly until water drains out the bottom of the container. Make sure your soil is moist, not over saturated.
Many types of orange trees are self fertile, but still need their pollen spread from bloom to bloom. Having two or more trees will greatly increase the amount of blooms that become pollinated. You can also pollinate the blooms by hand by taking a small paintbrush and running it over every bloom once a day. Don’t wash the paintbrush until the blooms have successfully been pollinated.
Fertilize your tree in the early spring, summer and fall with a formula that’s high in nitrogen. Fertilizers that say they are specifically for citrus trees will work best.
Harvest your oranges once their skin fully turns a vibrant shade of orange, and the skin is firm. Squeeze the orange, if it’s slightly soft then it is ready to be harvested. If it’s hard, leave it on the tree for a few more days to fully ripen.
Ready? Set? Grow!
Have the self-satisfaction of growing your own oranges this winter, just in time for the new years gym resolutions. Orange trees are fuss free house plants that are fun to grow with their large white blooms, and tons of fruit. As an added bonus oranges are a fat free, healthy snack that is full of nutrition and will energize you.
Instead of collecting a few oranges from the grocery store with the mystery of who grew it with what chemicals, grow your own all natural organic oranges in your own home.
As a gardener and plant enthusiast I’ve loved growing trees and shrubs my entire life. Unknown to most, there are always new faster fruiting and double blooming plant hybrids emerging on the scene. I often feel the need to share my plant knowledge and new trends with the growing gardening community through my blog!
Originally published at www.fast-growing-trees.com on December 30, 2015.
