Grow Blood Oranges In Your Backyard Garden This Winter

You should try the unusual blood oranges if you enjoy oranges. You will fall in love with this luscious fruit, so don't be alarmed by its name. They resemble regular oranges on the exterior, but they're a little different inside.

Blood oranges are dark red fruits with a crimson colour. These reddish-orange fruits, scientifically known as Citrus Sinensis, are native to the South Mediterranean region and date back to the 18th century. Here’s how to cultivate them.

How Should Blood Orange Trees Be Grown?

1. A blood orange tree can be grown into a robust plant from seeds and cuttings. They can be planted within or outdoors your home.
2. Cultivating Blood Orange Plants From Seed
3. It's important to remember that blood orange trees do not bear fruit for the first twelve years before considering planting one from seed. Take a look!
4. Cut a healthy blood orange into pieces, and save the seeds.
5. Gather and thoroughly clean the seeds.
6. Remove any unnecessary membranes that are delaying germination by peeling the seed.
7. Only certain blood orange seeds will sprout into seedlings, so one must plant seeds from various blood oranges.
8. The ideal time of year to plant seeds is in the spring when the temperature is around fifteen degrees Celsius.

Planting Seeds In Pots

Plant the seeds in a large container, spacing them three inches apart. Every seed should be spaced one inch apart. Sand and seed potting soil mix make up a nice soil mix. Gently plant the seeds in the soil mixture and give them some pressure. Next, generously cover the seeds with a layer of clean, freshly washed river sand about three inches deep. Using a dark plastic bag to cover the pots can help produce a greenhouse effect.

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For at least 12 days, keep the pots unattended in a warm, dark environment. To encourage the growth of seedlings, make sure the soil stays moist. When the seedlings are about eleven inches tall, move them to a large pot. Oversized individual pots should be filled with high-quality fertiliser and manure. Provide adequate sunlight for the young seedlings, but during severe winters, move them inside.

Growing Blood Orange Trees From Cuttings

• This is the simplest and least expensive way to plant a blood orange tree in your backyard. 
• Select a tree that is developing robustly and healthily first. Having blood orange trees already established in one's backyard is preferable because the tree was previously well-raised there.
• Your primary objective should be picking branches one to two years old from a young, robust-looking tree.
• Cut five to six branches, each about ten inches long, from different tree parts.
• Eliminate every leaf from the lower two-thirds of the branches.
• Place the powdered root hormone in the lower third of the branches.
• Dip branch tips into a solution containing root growth hormone.
• After that, plant the branches in pots with turf soil, sand and speciality soil mixtures.
• Place the dirt in the sun and keep it moist.

The branches will show signs of adequately established roots in fourteen weeks. Move the mature branches to larger pots filled with soil and manure. This method works best in areas with moderate winters.

How Are Blood Orange Trees Pruned?

To cultivate fruit on your trees, you must prune them. Select February or March as the pruning months. Trim any intruding branches that obstruct light from penetrating the tree's interior. Remove any branches that cross over one another as well. Light pruning will preserve the tree's overall structure.

How Are Blood Oranges Harvested?

Blood oranges can be harvested 12–14 months after they begin to flower but not until they are overripe. However, the cultivar and planting location also affect when to harvest. Blood oranges are traditionally harvested by hand, which involves pulling and twisting the wrist. Clippers are required to cut the stem when harvesting fruits with a thin crust.