Washington Navel Orange
2005: 10/6/05: Planted this tree in place of the Black Jack Fig
several weeks back. It's doing OK so far. 10/20/05: There's
no new growth yet, and the tree just seems to be sitting there
not knowing what it's supposed to do.
2006: 2/26/06: The new growth began just before the cold spell hit, but somehow it seems undamaged. The tree is still very small, and doesn't look particularly healthy. We should have plucked off all the oranges that were on the tree when we bought it, because one or two branches broke due to the weight. In mid-January we pulled off the last 4 fruits and were ready to toss them, but I juiced them instead. They were nearly ripe, and the juice had a lot of good flavor. I suspect that we will need to pluck any fruit this year to allow the tree to grow better. 3/28/06: The blossoms have been visible for weeks, and new growth is strong. Still, we'll probably pluck all of the fruit before it gets heavy enough to weigh down the tree. 4/29/06: The blossoms finally opened up a few days ago. I'd like to let two fruits grow to maturity (to get more data on approximate harvest time), but the rest will be plucked. 5/19/06: The tree has had plenty of blossoms, but nothing has yet taken. The tree looks sickly, so I wonder what is going on here. 6/21/06: Some of the small fruits have finally set, though we lost a good many before now. 7/4/06: I'm trying to save this tree by watering it in smaller amounts but more frequently, and giving some VF-11 on the first and third weekends of every month. 7/19/06: The tree survives, but is still sickly. 8/13/06: This tree still looks ill. 9/8/06: Tree still looks ill.
2007: 3/11/07: We trimmed back the dead branches yesterday, leaving the tree in very sad shape. This one may get pulled. 5/13/07: We saw some new blossoms come on about a week or two ago. The tree looks very weak, however.
2008: 3/14/08: The tree has had some good growth since we transplanted it to the pot. But so far I see no blossoms. 3/29/08: A few small blossoms are visible. New growth continues well. 6/7/08: We had a number of small fruits form, but they've all dropped by now.
2009: 3/26/09: The tree is bursting with blossoms. Leaves are yellow, so I fed the tree a fertilizer spike containing iron and zinc, among other things. 4/23/09: This tree is going nowhere. I'll pull it up soon, as it just seems to wither and die. 5/7/09: We gave up on this tree, gave it away to someone who thinks they can nurse it back to health. But where we're concerned, the book on this tree is closed.