Thanks Barb! Good question, those are 4" perforated pvc pipes embedded 18" into the ground. It is a deep root watering system and my irrigation lines run inside of those pipes. That way my trees get watered from the surface down to 18" below grade.

Evan

Sounds like a good idea when your in the desert. But what about when the tree gets bigger, aren't you worried they will be too close to the trunk?

Hey pip, thanks. No, not too worried about that, if the tree ends up getting that large I'll just pull the pipes and carefully relocate them further out. This was an experiment for me to see if it helps with growth. The couple other trees I have this system installed on have grown significantly faster than trees with regular drip irrigation on top of the soil.

Evan

At the least your getting deep roots compared to the surface roots top irritating would encourage.

Exactly! We typically use this system for irrigating desert trees like mesquite, palo verde and desert willow to encourage the roots to grow down instead of out. Those types of trees grow so quickly that if the roots don't grow downwards will fall over when we get our springtime winds due to the rapid canopy growth they have when irrigated. I had a mesquite tree in my back yard that grew to 40' tall and wide in 5 years from a 5 gallon pot that had a 1/2" trunk when I planted it. Mesquites are very vigorous growers!

Evan

Very cool idea! They do seem happy with it!

Yes they are! Here are some comparative photos of trees I have used this irrigation method on.

Trovita Orange at planting

Citrus 2 · More Info

Trovita Orange Progressin, notice how Chlorotic my trees get in the winter

Citrus 2 · More Info

Trovita orange after approximately 15 months in the ground

Mulched citrus trees April 2016 · More Info

Pomona Sweet Lemon

Citrus 2 · More Info

Pomona Sweet Lemon

Mulched citrus trees April 2016 · More Info

Evan

Those are great looking trees Evan!!

Update on my Tango mandarin on Macrophylla rootstock after about 16 months in ground. It's almost 6' tall and about 4' wide, it's holding onto 1 fruit this season. It's fun to see everyone's trees progress over the years. I can't stress enough how important it is to take pics of your trees every few weeks so you can see how they grow to remind you of why we grow citrus. These trees can be discouraging at times but when you look at the progress pics you think "Oh yeah, I remember how small that tree was when I planted it or potted it up and look at it now!"

Citrus 2 · More Info

Citrus 2 · More Info

Evan

iutf7

Wow! I am floored by the growth - in ground trees are like container trees in some serious steroids! (Not to mention I suspect you baby yours like I baby mine ;-).

Laura, I baby them more than my real kids lol. Your container trees are some of the nicest on the forum, they're much greener than mine.

Wow! That is some amazing growth! Congrats! I know that took a lot of hard work.

Those look great, after moving to the desert I have new respect for growing here.

Thanks Amanda, it's much easier than containers, I always admire the container citrus gurus on the forum because I know how difficult growing them out of their normal growing zones can be.

Pip, thanks, wait until July/ August, then you'll have a new respect for Air Conditioning, haha.

Evan

Very nice Evan I have always been so impressed by your tree's your definitely an in ground guru . Love the pics .

Brian

looking forward to your update next year when you should get a decent crop

Brian you cannot compare my trees to yours. Mine don't hold fruit and yours are constantly covered with delicious looking tasty morsels of citrus goodness. Your trees always look much nicer than mine.

Junk, I'll be lucky if my tango holds onto the single fruit it has right now. Between the wind and the heat, mandarins don't seem to fair well in the desert. Nonetheless I will still update the thread next year.

Evan

Great dark green color on the foliage also. Looks fantastic!

This tango is out of control, Macrophylla is an unbelievably vigorous root stock.

Evan

Evan, what kind of soil mix are you using for your new citrus plantings. Is it 100% local soil or are you adding anything to it (for water retention, etc..)?

John

Hey John, I do not amend my soil when I plant trees. The only thing I do is place mulch on the top of the soil 3”-4” thick in the summer. I have sandy Loam type soil so the mulch helps retain moisture when my temps are in the 110’s during the summer months.

Evan

evan - have you tried putting up some shade clothes? perhaps a wind barrier? anything to help the trees keep the fruitlets?

Junk, I’ve shaded my trees when they were young, their first year in ground. I have not put up a wind barrier, nor will I. I may baby them but I’m not going to baby them that much. They’ll hold fruit eventually, I just need to be patient.

Evan

Guess I really take that for granted as my trees are pretty sheltered from the wind and we don't have the constant high winds and triple digit temps you have out in the desert.

Would someone be so nice as to send me a couple of tango cuttings? I'll pay for the shipping fees. Pretty please!! I'm so desperate to graft this variety!!

I don't have Tango variety and I am all the way up in Canada. Where are you located?

How is the flavor or taste of the Pomona? I am torn between getting a New Zealand Lemonade or a Pomona because they are both suppose to be sweet. I cannot get both because I only have room for one more tree so I have to be sure on what I get.

Hey Evdesert,

thanks for the info about the greening.

Do you know how long after the infection the trees start showing any sign of infection?

I'm not too worried about it though, I live in Paris France, pretty cold climate and we don't have any citrus industry around here.

I only keep my trees indoors cause I love growing citrus.

I did contact CCPP at UCR but they said they couldn't ship since i would need a whole bunch of documents I can't be bothered with.

It's a real shame cause they have an AMAZING collection.

Anyway, thanks again. And keep up the good work, you sure do have amazing trees!

Denise, I can only speak to the flavor of the Pomona Lemon because I have not tried the New Zealand lemon, if it were me I would not get a Pomona. It does not taste very good, insipid kind of like watered down lemonade without sugar. I like my lemons tart and not for eating out of hand, that’s what oranges, mandarins and grapefruits are for.

Funky monkee, I found a site that has a murcott mandarin in the UK. I am not sure of the shipping laws between countries in Europe but this is the mandarin that the tango is based upon and may be the best bet to get the flavor you want. If you don’t mind a few seeds in your fruit you could buy one of these trees and use it for budwood. Here is a link to the Nursery I found. Hope this helps.

https://citruscentre.co.uk/collections/mandarins/products/murcott-tangor

Evan

Funkee_monkey2 the Mediterranean basin and surrounding areas are some of the only areas left that doesn’t have citrus greening.

if you lived in Scandinavia it would be one thing but you importing an infected tree would, not could, would result in you removing billions of dollars from the European economy.

sound drastic and impossible? It was one person that brought greening to Florida. Billions of dollars later the industry is basically in ruins over a pomelo that wasn’t anything special compared to what we have here.

Also, if you want a “tango” in Europe, just buy an afourer mandarin aka w. Murcott. All a tango is, is a w. Murcott that was mutated to not make seeds. You can net the tree during flowering to get seedless fruit. There is no reason to belive that anyone can tell a seedless w. Murcott from a tango fruit.

For the record, I belive serious hobbiests should be able to import trees from quarantined areas to quarantined areas when purchased from the certified to ship out of state retailers. As long as they are under “supervised quarantine” until enough time has gone by to have the tests come back negative to be equivalent to what the budwood cleaning programs require.

There is no reason I couldn’t make a double containment screen house with a sealed greenhouse in the middle. And if you are willing to pay for the same inspections that the budwood programs go through what’s the difference?

So I feel your pain, but it’s a pipe dream.

I was talking about something like a licensing program that they have to shoulder the costs for.

i for example couldn’t order from fourwind in Florida, but ”my” inspector after my regular site visits could.

but as Ive said this would be for serious collectors or businesses willing to pay the costs of bringing a variety into their state. (and therefore be the only supplier)

and i did say its a pipe dream.

I agree pip, its not going to happen. The "industry" perceives too much risk

But on the bright side, I have been getting upper 50's to mid- 60's peaks the last couple of weeks with overnight dips to 30-34F; a few to 28F. Dry - need rain. But the Tango's fruits are coloring up nicely and the tree is even pushing blooms! I took a couple of pictures yesterday:

Evan, since you don't like the Pomona, are you going to keep the tree or replace it with something else? I know space in your yard is premium real estate when it comes to citrus.

I am debating right now if I tear it out and plant a minneola tangelo in its place this spring. Not sure yet.

If you put in a minneola, it is recommended to have a pollinator. If you plant one without a pollinator, I would like to know how much fruit is produced. I read online that it is seedy with a pollinator. Darn if you do or don't. lol.

Evan :

thanks for the link, but the Brits are a trip!!! £64 for a tree, I wouldn't put that much money on it if it were the last on Earth.

I basically really wanted a Tango for the sole reason of not having to deal with seeds, I simply hate it. Murcotts I can get from virtually any nursery in Spain.

Pip313 :

Again I live in Paris, nowhere near the Mediterranean. It's not a citrus cultivation zone either, not that citrus wouldn't produce crops, it's just that they couldn't survive our freezing cold winters.

Even our part of the mediterranean basin is not warm enough to grow them.

I'm a citrus enthousiast and eventually I'll get that variety, I'm not being inconsiderate, I would not take any risk if I thought there was any. Furthermore, I have a sharp enough eye to spot any problem should one of my tree present any symptom of any desease...

But thank you for the warning. One can never be careful enough...

Molewacker :

You are one lucky man!! Beautiful tree and really really nice crop!

Thread update:

This tree has been in ground for about 3 years now and I finally have my first edible fruit this season. As you can see below it held onto about 3 dozen mandarins.

Small citrus harvest January 2019 · More Info

I pulled a couple to sample

Small citrus harvest January 2019 · More Info

A quarter for size reference, they’re about 2.5” in diameter.

Small citrus harvest January 2019 · More Info

Zipper skin came right off with little adhesion to the fruit.

Small citrus harvest January 2019 · More Info

As you can see one segment had one seed, so it’s pretty much seedless according to industry standards.

Small citrus harvest January 2019 · More Info

The fruit was extremely sweet and juicy, there’s nothing better than getting completely ripe mandarins right off your own tree.

I had my first Tango fruit for the season yesterday. It was kinda firm, but very juicy and good tasting. Is that normal? This is the 2nd year I had fruit, and wasn't sure. Last year I picked the fruit too soon so I have nothing to compare with.

Yes that’s normal, they’re firm because they’re packed full of juice. They’ll get even better over the coming weeks.

Thanks. I will wait 2 more weeks before picking another.

Evan, beautiful tree and fruit, those mandarins look delicious, making my way to the kitchen :)) ( no inground fruiting mandarin tree here, only store bought fruit).

This was very cool to look over the progress of your Citrus tree, congrats on the first edible harvest I am sure you will have many more.

Congratulations on your first harvest Evan! Those look incredibly good and I hope you and your family will enjoy them. After looking at them, they look an awful like the mandarins I bought last year with stems from Trader Joes that I grafted. I remember they were wonderful. I hope that they are tangos....they are one of the mandarins that I do not have (or maybe I do ;)

Evan - congrats on your now grown up Tango! I know it will only get better after this. :-D

Thanks Julian, I always tell folks when they plant their trees to take photos at planting time and then progress photos, you forget how small they were when you first planted them!

Thanks Laura, my kids have been slowly but surely picking one or two here and there. My wife confessed that she has even been grabbing them as snacks during the day. I’d be willing to bet you probably have a tango from the Trader Joe’s mandarins you grafted last year. They seem to be growing in popularity every year with their seedlessness.

Jenny, thank you! I hope the bounty keeps increasing too with every passing year.

Those fruit look delicious! May I ask what kind of whitewash you use on the trunk?

This is what I use, it’s pre-diluted 50/50 and ready to go. It’s available at most big box hardware stores.