Here is a picture of it - twice the circumference it was in May....

And a closeup....

It'll be fine :-)
Yes, some branches may break or bend. When the fruit appears, you can certainly do some judicious thinning to alleviate some of the weight.

Josh

Thanks Josh! The flowers are all starting to open - should be a good show. Fingers crossed the branches aren't all dragging on the ground in a few months.

okay - so a follow up - the tree bloomed like crazy and set a million tiny fruits - many of which are now falling off - sounds like hail when the wind picks up. many are still there though and growing. is this sloughing normal? or should I worry?

thanks for any advice! or perhaps there is a recommended article on normal growth cycles for mature orange trees?

thanks much!!

Totally normal; mature oranges are very good at self thinning; i.e. dropping what fruit it cannot support. If you want it to keep more, it usually works just to feed it more; but with such new and tender branches, it's probably best to just keep fewer fruits.

ah great thanks so much for your quick response! i thought that might be the case since it seemed like way too many fruits per branch... thanks for your help!!