I have several blood orange trees but they are too young for production yet.

Me too.

Anybody from wine country? That sounds like the perfect blood orange zone.

Thanks Brett! That is very helpful! So, I live in MD and my citrus need to come inside during the dead of winter. I have a few questions for you...When are they finished ripening? What month? Our daytime summer temps are high...80s-90s and very humid. This can last until mid September. We usually get our first frost in Nov. By Nov., my trees need to come indoors. I do have a sunroom that I can limit the heat on. During the day, it will be in the 70s, but at night, if I don't turn on the heat in that room, it can drop into the low 60s. Under those conditions, do you feel they will ripen properly? I have hesitated getting those because of those limitations, but wonder if it may be possible...

I did some reading of old posts from this forum and now want a Moro and sanguellini....ugh...where will I stuff them???

Hi Laura, I am not sure those indoor temperatures are low enough to develop good color. My Moros ripen in January and develop their color in December/January when the night time temperatures drop into the 30s and 40s. That being said, I am under the impression (although I could be wrong) that the blood color of the oranges are related to cool temperatures, but not necessarily the flavors. The flavors are very unique compared to a "real" orange. While it would be great to have the characteristic colors, it's mainly the flavor that really matters!

-Brett

Thanks Brett, and I am in agreement with you. I find the flavor most important, if the color is not linked to the flavor, then I'm ok with that. As I researched this, I saw that Brian from N.Car (who does have a greenhouse) said his blood oranges were incredible, both in terms of flavor and color. However, I have no greenhouse and would need to rely on my sunroom. I can close it off overnight though and lower the temps, but in the morning, it would heat up again.

I have some Sanguinelli budwood if you're interested in grafting or trying to root them. I got some Depokon which I grafted on to the Sanguinelli. I cut off a branch to do the grafting. Van

Thanks Van! Let me think about that. Could I graft the sanguellini onto a Dekopon? I'm a bit scared of that since I've never tried grafting, and the cutting I just tried to root failed miserably. I need a tutorial...lol!

You can graft on to any citrus, but I would graft on to your biggest and most vigorous tree. Also if you have multiple choices, I would pick the one of most similar growth habit (mandarin with other mandarins, orange with orange, lemon or lime...). Otherwise if you put a say grapefruit with a mandarin, the grapefruit may take over the mandarin or you'll be doing a lot of pruning.

Grafting will open a whole new world. No more buying trees, just swapping bud wood. Plant some flying dragon seeds for root stock and they be ready for grafting in about a year. The Depokon I just grafted was put on sangunelli , a lime, a mandarin and a sour orange that I started from seed 6 months ago.

I'll be happy to post a tutorial if your interested. I'm no expert. I've only been citrus grafting for about 9 months. You have to start somewhere.

Vanman, I would love a tutorial!! Since I am very tight for space, the thought of grafting several varieties sounds great - and space effective! I tried to root a flying dragon growth, but also failed. I need to try again.

Laura..

Living in New England, what I can tell you about mine is that it's all in the environment that determines if mines will do as well as those that can keep them outside longer, in pots or ground, where the sun angle makes a huge huge difference and the amount of daylight.

I did have mine ripen very sweet but when they were subjected to cool temps and in a bright area, like my greenhouse. I could not mimic the light or temps like that indoors, although one year the heat broke in a very sunny window at work and bot did they ripen just right in December! Juicy and sweet.

The one indoors only did well when they ripened in winter and grew all summer which is not an exact science, since our growing season influences when you get fruit or not. When they ripened in summer or spring, the fruit was dry and just horrible.

Sometimes our trees up here can be so off schedule as compared to those in lower regions of this country that you can grow fruit in fall to ripen in summer, or grow fruit in summer to ripen next spring. It's a hit or miss thing. I usually got these Oranges to ripen just so if they were grown and ripen just in time for fall, the cooler months outside in full sun.

Now, I just get all my citrus with no expectations, hoping they do what they are suppose to do and that the weather and sunlight helps them along correctly. It's like pulling a straw out of a hat sometimes and then at times I hit it just right.

Too, if your fruit decides to ripen in the dead of summer heat, or lack of sunlight, they get dry and have no flavor at all.

I hope you get them just because and keep your fingers crossed each year hoping that all the planets align properly for a good harvest which you will get once in a while. It's all by chance in our regions) As they say.."there is always room for one more" lol

Hope this helps)

Thanks Mike! I did order a Sanguellini from Four Winds today. I have an order that is on hold and I removed one tree and added that one. I figure I can start with that one and see how it goes. I can always try grafting onto it like Van said...a triple blood orange tree...lol...I will not get these for at least two more weeks because they are on hold because of the heat and then the week they were going to ship, we are on vacation...hopefully mid to late this month, I will have them. I can't mimic a greenhouse exactly, but the room that most of my citrus will be in is separate from the house and at night over winter, I can close it off entirely with a sliding door. If I don't turn on the heat, it can get quite chilly in there...I can even try cracking a window in a pinch to lower the temperature further. But I am getting ahead of myself...hopefully by the time I have oranges, I will have a greenhouse :-)

Laura, I don't know if you read the citrus enthusiasts blog. Below is a link to one he wrote on Blood Oranges. I think you might enjoy reading. He also gives a lot of recipes in most of his topics that he writes about.

http://citrusenthusiast.blogspot.co.nz/2016/08/blood-oranges.html?m=1

Cory

Thanks Cory! I've seen his blog, but not that post! I'll check it out.

I made a decision against growing blood oranges base on a chart showing the different lighting needs of citrus cultivars. This showed that bloods did very poorly in lower light and damp soil; a definite red flag for up north container growing

Possibility of directing us to this chart poncirus?

citrus trees for sale

arctic frost satsuna

orange frost satsuma

Yuzu hardy citrus

Meyer lemon does poorly

Hi Laura. My experience with Blood Oranges is slightly different as mine are all growing outside & inground. I think Blood Oranges are one of my favourite fruits even though only a few of my trees have produced so far. Mine have been very slow to fruit compared to my other Citrus trees most of them have taken about 4 years to start to flower & fruit (and yes they are grafted). This year though, i have had a disappointing colouration on my bloods. This has been because we've had such an unusually mild winter here in Auckland. With only one night over Winter that we had a frost. I think they need a good couple of weeks with overnight temps between 30-40F to get a nice, deep blood colour. This might be difficult to replicate with your indoor bloods but worth a try i'm sure, only be careful not to go so cold that you get cold damage. In my opinion i think the Moro is the best of the Bloods as you get the most colouration and it has great flavour too. Thanks also for checking out my blog, hope the Squirrels are behaving themselves!

http://citrusenthusiast.blogspot.co.nz

Thanks Troy! I love your blog! My only blood orange is a sanguinelli and is nowhere near producing fruit. When it does though (assuming it does), I hope to be able to leave it out a bit longer like Cory said above so that it gets enough cold to color up. If necessary, I can place that tree nearest the door so it will be easier to lug it in and out. The squirrels are behaving a bit better, but have decided to bury the corn I am giving them in my citrus containers...I have little corn stalks growing everywhere ;-).

Steve, I hope I can get my blood orange to grow well. So far, it is my only tree from FW that has sprouted after the shipment. It seems happy and the leaves are a lovely dark green (they came that way).

Cory, I hope that if you can manage with the bloods, then I should have a shot since I am a bit south of you...we shall see. I am dreading brining everyone indoors - although that is still a ways out for me, I hope.

Troy, nice blog..I love it!! Thank you for sharing it with us...Lot's of interesting stuff to read and from your area..You must love living there in that climate and congrats on spring as I roll into fall(())

Hey, guys and gals!

I, too, am a northern California blood orange grower, and my Moro doesn't color up well unless it can spend time outdoors on "good" days during the Winter. I am hoping that the greenhouse will now allow a much better balance of temperature and light, improving both flavor and color saturation.

Josh

I have a tarocco and a sanguinelli, both are very young but the sanguinelli has a promising fruitlet!!

How long do they take to ripen? Does it make sense that mine is just setting now? How long do fruitlets take to mature?

Hi Josh!

No fruit for me yet Hobby, but hopefully someone can help you! From my research, I found that the harvest time for sanguinelli is between Nov-Jan, but who knows for us container growers. My hope for you would be they may be ripe next year....sometime....

For bloods to color up, they need cold nights and warm days in the fall & winter. nights in the 34-40 range and days in the 75-80 range. Just cold nights will not do it, they need the stress, the stress of dealing with the large variation in temperature is what creates the anthocyanins (Red color) in the fruit. Something the northern Gardner should have no problem with in the greenhouse setting. Since you are/should be in complete control of the environment soggy soil shouldn't be an issue either.

Thanks Ryan...I called you Brian up above...sorry ;-). I did remember that you grow them in your greenhouse. Which varieties do you have and which do you like best? I do not have a greenhouse - yet. Hopefully next year. Other than having no space in my house to move, it will not be much of an issue for the blood oranges bc I only have one small tree...a sanguinelli from FW. It is rapidly growing though. If you have a minute, I would love to see pics of your trees.

The idea that blood oranges need cold nights and warm days at the same time just isn't true. My bloods develop color when the nights are in the 30s and the days barely crack 50. With these temperatures the Moros develop a very dark color.

-Brett

So for my purposes, I can leave them outside when temps are in the mid 30s? They are in containers....perhaps upper 30s to be safe. No issues this year, as I said, but I am thinking of buying a Moro and maybe even a tarocco...not that I need any more trees...lol

Citrus can easily handle sub freezing temperatures for relatively short periods of time. My oranges can handle 8 hours of sub freezing temperatures with lows around 25 degrees without any damage whatsoever. This assumes that temperatures during the day are above freezing, however. Citrus are a lot more cold hardy than they get credit for.

Thanks Brett! I'm happy to hear that! I would love to grow blood oranges and you are giving me hope that it may be possible!

Only one of my tangerine trees survived when temperatures droped to 7F then a high of 15F and back down to 7F then up to 25F then down to the high teens and up to 30F. The other 2 died.

Thanks Laura for the ripening info it will be interesting to see. I really want a moro too it's on my list for next year. I could still get one but I figure this late I may as well it grow in a greenhouse rather than in my room. You still have plenty of outside time it sounds like-lucky you.

Brett are your trees in ground though? I think in ground trees can take colder temps than containers. You and Steve are crazy to go that low! I thought I was brave in the high 30s!

About half of my trees are in the ground and half in pots. I go by the Noah's ark principle, have 2 of each so there's always a backup. I leave the pots outside all winter. In my experience the cold tolerance is mainly related to the variety and the size of the tree, not as much in ground vs. pot. My potted trees haven't gotten more cold damage when they are a similar size to the in ground ones. That being said the in ground ones grow a lot faster. My 5 foot tall Moro blood orange actually had zero frost damage when the lows hit 20 degrees whereas a lot of the smaller trees had a lot of damage ( in ground and in pots).

Laura, I have tried a few varieties of bloods, Budd, Moro, Sang, Tarocco. I always go back to Moro. I know everyone's environment is slightly different but, for me they have been very consistent year after year. Also our family now waits for blood orange season every year with anticipation.

Brettay, what you say is unusual to me. Even blood growers in California report this to be true. I have tried leaving a moro outside until late December where the temperatures are about the same as you mention 30night/50day. I left one in the GH also to compare. Both are about the same age (about 10 years old) size and variety. The one outside did turn light to medium light red. However the GH tree was almost purple. We may just have a different definition of what a moro should look like. post a picture of a fruit from your tree if you have one.

Ryan, my experiences are certainly in line with commercial citrus growers in northern California. The farmer's markets here in nor Cal are packed with darkly pigmented blood oranges most of the winter. None of the places these come from have consistent daytime highs around 70 in the winters. Of note, my bloods develop the darkest pigment after about 3 months of exposure to cold night-time temperatures, it doesn't occur right away. The are usually ready to go in February or so. I'll try to find a picture later tonight.

-Brett

A picture of my Sanguinello fruit from last year is below. The Moro is darker but I couldn't find a picture. The Tarocco is lighter but I haven't gotten any fruits from that tree yet.

-Brett

That is a beautiful orange Brett!

I would call that orange lightly pigmented. Although a beautiful and tasty fruit.

I am a bit of a perfectionist.

This is what a fully pigmented Moro will look like if done "correctly"

This is the color I see with my Moros exposed to warm days and cold nights.

These dark fruits taste different, a berry/wine flavor profile, very uniqie. I cant get enough of them.

Both are nice. Ryan, the difference may be due to the type and not the conditions. From what I have read about bloods, the Moros color up like yours, whereas the sanguinelli (Brett's) color up like the photo he posted. How do your sanguinellis turn out Ryan? Are they as dark as the Moro?

Nice photos! hopefully next year it will be a colder winter here in New Zealand, as this was all i got out of my Moros:(

Thanks Laura. That is my impression too. Sanguinellos are intermediate in color between moro and tarocco. I have some moros ripening on my tree right now. In February/March when they are ripe I will update with pictures.

Troy, how was the flavor? I was under the impression that even if the colors aren't dark that they still have a blood orange flavor, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Anthocyanin is evidently almost flavorless, but not sure if color development is associated with other "blood-orangey" flavors. What is your experience?

Thanks Brett and Troy...I have also wondered about that myself. Will the bloody color affect the flavor? Ryan, I would love to see a sanguinelli of yours!

Yes Danny. Let's hear your experiences. I'm sure they will help us.

Cory

Danny, please share!!