I have one and it was purchased from Four Winds Growers last year. The tree has doubled in size and bloomed for me this year. I have some fruitlets too so far.

Is Smith Red a true blood orange or a Cara Cara type one?

Pac. I have not treated it any differently than my other trees so I guess yes it is easy to grow. I put it in a north facing sunroom from maybe the end of November or early December and it didn't drop any leaves until I put it outside around March. I forgot to mention that I ordered a premium size too.

Four Winds has the Smith Red grouped in with the blood oranges they sell. There is a picture of the fruit. I hope it tastes good.

I have a tree so I can say it. The skins look ugly. I hope it tastes better than it looks. lol.

Taste is pleasant with minimal acid and not too sweet. A bit of berry and little to no trace of orange. It was not as juicy as those 4-6 weeks ago, but was not dry. Not all were this dark and pebbled... I'd say about 40-50%. Perhaps because it is a young tree and this is the first crop. [?]

BTW: its planted on the east side of the house with exposure to the south. The neighbor's tall redwoods block the early morning sun and the house blocks mid-late afternoon sun.

One of the last four Smith Red fruit on the tree.... its from the interior and less colored...

still - yum!

Too pebbly skin on orange can sometimes be attributed to too much potassium. Conversely it may be a symptom of too much nitrogen in relation to too little phosphorus.

Indeed, it could be the extra N I have been dosing my trees with. My main goal with the trees is to get them to a large size so as to fill in the landscape - after ripping out 30 redwoods (19 were over 100 ft. tall). I have begun to back off on the N as they are getting close to target.

Here is an update on the very last few Smith Reds and Sanguinelli. Two Smith on the left, and two Sanguinelli on the right.

Sanguinelli cut and ready to juice; SmithR juice ready to mix:

Smith Red juice - "diluted"

And then the Sanguinelli were juiced as a comparison::

The Sanguinelli were darker, less juicy, but flavor preferred by the CEO of the house.

(I preferred the Smiths!)

Happy growing - George

George - that would probably be good with some champagne mixed in (given the glass you used)!