No. I don't think so.
There was an orange tree in San Bernardino who it said the mother of all citrus there is over a hundred years old (maybe 300 not sure)and still bearing fruit.

I agree with bencelest (of course :)...btw that Parent Washington Navel tree was planted in 1873-4 something like that, and still bears--I hear the fruit is pretty good stuff too...I stopped by to see it this last spring and it is not very big....but I digress....the point I want to make is I have read somewhere, in my typical scatterbrained fashion, that when it comes to production sometimes some commercial citrus trees are pruned back severely to re-invigorate them. I do not know if this applies to all cultivars but I seriously doubt it. I also do not know the typical age at when the groves may need this to be done, either. I also doubt the trees completely stop fruit production either, but prolly just decline in in production a bit.

However, assuming that the tree is healthy otherwise, I see that you are zone 10 ...I do recall that most citrus trees need a little cold (or water) stress at some point to induce flowering. Did you have a winter that may have been abnormally warm? Maybe that is a reason.

HTH.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here is that old tree

Winter did start late in So California. It did not start to get really cold till Frebruary.

Do orange trees require a cold period to set fruit? If so, how low? Thanks, Toni

I can only be sorta general here....perhaps someone else knows better...

The cold (or drought stress) is to induce flowering, not really fruit set. Fruit set needs certain minimum temperatures, amongst other things. Sorta makes sense then why citrus often flower in the early spring (after winter lower temps and subsequent rises in springtime temperature) and then set fruit in that warmer temperature. A lot of citrus are not really tropical but subtropical. Some types (prolly more tropical ones like Keys or kaffir) instead get stressed by relative drought patterns (water stress). For some reason citrus flowers when under some sort of stress (I don't know enough to say if this is something that other plants tend to do since I frankly *don't care* lol...). I have come to recognize sudden, out-of-character, excessive flowering in a tree as a sign of severe stress of some sort (heck come take a look at my backyard I can show you plenty of examples, and for me that is usually the signal to *please remember to water*--oops--lol). I think of it as an evolutionary concept--if the tree is heading towards that great compost bin in the sky, then it should hurry and try to leave something behind for the genetic pool.

I'd venture to guess that those trees that tend to be everbearing ones maybe get stress signals from smaller variations in temperatures (like typical diurnal changes) or perhaps from extreme sensitivity to changes in water availability. Which may explain why I hear of how some cultivars are everbearing in some climates but not others.

I think the range needed to induce flowering is not very low. Like in the 50-60's range or something like that. I think I read it here on this forum from a long time ago?

And so for the orignal poster of this thread, in theory you can try to induce some stress by changing irrigation patterns but I've never deliberately attempted to do so. The other option is to wait it out and see what the tree does. Maybe it needs more time between the chilling and spring temps to develop those flowers, since the colder weather was atypically late.

Shuttin up now.
HTH.

Rick you must have a good set of lungs..LOL..j/k.
Okay, I get it..so it's basically like forcing a plant (flowering type) to flower..hmm, very interesting.
Wonder what my citrus will do w/the newest of IL temps in June..during the day, it's 80+, but come night, the temp dips in the 40's..that can't be good, can it? Or would it be helpful? It jumps from one extreme to another, what a leap!!
Our new weather reminds me of Ca in Oct..lol. Toni

Choose to read what you will, Toni. You asked, I tried to help to the best of my ability.

Awwwwww, come on now....she was just messin' with ya!! Just MESSIN' around, Ricky! (Dibble shakes RickJames, pats him on the back) Just like when I call you SuperFreak...it don't mean nothin. Besides, you and Toni and a few others are the only citrus gurus around, so we GOTTA get along, right?
:)

Hey gang get this:

I bought a dwarf valencia tree for my balcony, finally. Found one at Home Depot. Tomorrow I'm off to look for a dwarf Hamlin, so I can have orange from the beginning of the season till the end.

In another startling development, I re-potted my cocktail meyer lemon/key lime plant. Now I have two plants....I separated 'em. The Meyer might drop its fruit from the shock, but hopefully they'll grow right back. Also, I moved it indoors cuz I have everything on the balcony but nothing inside. (So I'm sure it's not too happy w/ me at the moment!)

Anyway, I'll show you all some pics in a day or two.

Good one, Dibs...you're officially the peacemaker now :)