Robertson Navel Orange
2002: Planted about September 15, already had 5 fruits at the
nursery. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one goes.
Fruit turned orange in early November. Not sure how to tell
when these are ripe. Dec. 8 we picked one, but it was still kind
of sour. Flavor was good, but expect to wait 2-3 weeks before
they sweeten.
2003: We harvested the last of the oranges on Jan. 1 or thereabouts. For all that we picked we could have waited longer for them to ripen further. The skin is harder than we like. We covered the tree frequently during frosty nights, apparently with some success. By early March we see a lot of young growth and a few buds waiting to bloom. First blossoms opened in early April. 6/1/03: The tree is suffering from over-watering, so the leaves are yellow and much of the fruit has dropped off. 8/2/03: The tree still doesn't look particularly good, but it now has a few more blossoms.
2004: We have two oranges on the tree, but they are far from ripe, and one of them may never see maturity. But the tree continues to bloom, and the blossoms are fruitful. 6/5/04: The tree was traumatized somehow, and most of the growth has died off. I'm using a special fertilizer to help it recover. We are still hopeful that one lone orange will ripen next month. A number of new fruits have started, but they're very small and so close together that few if any will survive. 7/11/04: The fruit from last year never ripened, and we have only two survivors from the new crop. I sure hope that they ripen in January or so.
2005: Two small oranges ripened in February, but I picked them slightly early as they were both slightly tart. The flavor was good, and the flesh was firm. As of Feb. 27 there are blossoms beginning to form. 9/6/05: I pulled this tree up 3 days ago. The root system was very poorly developed. Replaced this tree with a Hass avocado.