Orlando Orange Company

Guides

Juice versus eating in a Central Florida yard

Navels eat or juice. Hamlin juices most. Valencia is the late juice orange. Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape is the planting paper. Gardening Solutions splits the fruit by use. CREC Selecting a Citrus Tree is the nursery walk-around. Freeze and greening are real.

Pick the fruit you actually use

Gardening Solutions: navel oranges are the most popular because they can be eaten fresh or juiced. Hamlin trees produce the most oranges for juicing. Valencias provide sweet, bright-orange juice and are considered the king of juice oranges in Florida. Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape still puts sweet orange first. If the yard holds one tree, it names an early Hamlin or a navel. Valencia is the late fruit for a second tree. One tree cannot cover November into July.

  1. Decide juice, eating, or both. Navel covers both. Hamlin and Valencia are the juice row.
  2. Read the Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape harvest window. Early Hamlin/navel October through January. Valencia March through June.
  3. Ask the nursery for the rootstock on the tag. Per Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape: retail trees are usually on industry standards.
  4. Look for a USDA-certified nursery tag, deep green leaves, a dense canopy, and a straight trunk. CREC names those checks.
  5. If the lot freezes every few years, skip the late fruit. Valencia is the freeze risk.

The UF calendar, two clocks

The harvest table in Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape is the home-landscape stagger. CREC Selecting a Citrus Tree is a little tighter: Hamlin December through January, Valencia from about mid-February. Taste beats peel color on both. A green-tinged Valencia in May can be ready. A pretty navel in July is usually someone else's grove.

CultivarHome landscape guideCREC selecting a treeUse
HamlinOct–JanDec–JanMost fruit for juice
NavelOct–JanEarly sweet orangeEat or juice. Shy bearer
ValenciaMarch–JuneFrom mid-FebruaryKing of juice oranges

Rootstock and greening

Per Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape: rootstocks change soil adaptation and fruit quality. You usually do not pick the rootstock at a garden center. Ask anyway. CREC: there is no citrus tree resistant to Huanglongbing. Some UF varieties (Sugar Belle, Marathon, OLL-4) are more tolerant and can still fruit for years after they contract HLB. The HLB era page is blunt: incurable, endemic, no guarantee of success. Buy clean stock. Take a leaf sample to Extension. Hypothesis for Orange County: the tree will see greening. Plant it anyway only if you can live with blemished fruit and a shorter tree life than the 1920 prospectus sold.

Questions

Which orange do I plant for juice?

Gardening Solutions: Hamlin produces the most fruit for juicing. Valencia is the king of juice oranges. Per Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape: if the yard holds one tree, plant an early Hamlin or navel.

When does Valencia hang?

UF/IFAS citrus guidance lists Valencia March through June. CREC puts Valencia from about mid-February. Taste beats color.

Is greening avoidable in Orange County?

CREC: there is no citrus tree resistant to Huanglongbing. The disease is incurable and endemic. Some UF varieties are more tolerant. Buy a USDA-certified nursery tree.

Sources

  1. Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape (HS132), UF/IFAS
  2. Citrus, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions
  3. Selecting a Citrus Tree, UF/IFAS CREC
  4. Growing Citrus in the HLB Era, UF/IFAS CREC

Cited grow notes · Yard fruit versus the grocery box · Press, zest, or pole

Grow

Planting, freeze notes, rootstock, and the UF/IFAS paper for this crop.

Season

When yard fruit shows up against grocery fruit.

Compare

Juicer, zester, or picker.

Valencia

The late juice orange with a visor.

Kitchen tools sit on Shop. Harvest order sits on Sets.

From the old homepage

Longer yard notes that used to sit on the homepage. Kept here so home stays a directory.

Yard notes

Juice orange versus eating orange

UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions splits Florida sweet oranges by use. Navels are the popular fresh fruit because they can be eaten or juiced. Hamlin trees produce the most oranges for juicing. Valencias give sweet, bright-orange juice and are called the king of juice oranges in Florida. Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape still puts sweet orange first for a dooryard. If the yard holds one tree, it names an early variety such as Hamlin or a navel. Valencia is the late fruit.

The UF calendar

The harvest table in Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape is the stagger. Hamlin and navel sit October through January. Pineapple and Midsweet cover midseason. Valencia hangs March into June. CREC Selecting a Citrus Tree puts Hamlin in December through January and Valencia from about mid-February. Selection of a tree from each of those three maturity seasons supplies fruit from early November to July. One tree cannot do it.

CultivarHome landscape windowUse in the papers
HamlinEarly, Oct–JanMost fruit for juicing. CREC: Dec–Jan
NavelEarly, Oct–JanEat fresh or juice. Shy bearer
Pineapple / MidsweetMid, Dec–MarWinter bowl. Pineapple alternate-bears
ValenciaLate, March–JuneKing of juice oranges. CREC: from mid-February

Rootstock, freeze, and greening

Per Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape: rootstocks change soil adaptation and fruit quality. Retail trees come on industry standards, not a choice you pick off a rack. Ask the nursery what is on the tag anyway. CREC wants a USDA-certified nursery tree with deep green leaves, a dense canopy, and a straight, firm trunk. Freeze is the Orange County line. The home-landscape citrus guide limits citrus to sites that do not regularly freeze, and late fruit freezes before it matures on a historically cold lot. Hypothesis: much of the Orlando urban core maps to USDA zone 10a (average annual extreme minimum 30–35°F); inland pockets of Central Florida still include 9b. Valencia is the late fruit, so it is the freeze risk.

Huanglongbing, citrus greening, is real. CREC states there is no citrus tree resistant to it. Some UF varieties are more tolerant and still fruit for a number of years after they contract HLB. The disease is incurable and endemic. Buy clean stock. Expect greening in the neighborhood. Take a leaf sample to the county Extension office rather than guessing from a photo.

Cited grow notes · 1920 prospectus line · Juice versus eating