Various citrus trees thrive in Yuma heat

Citrus trees offer the desert gardener evergreen foliage along with fragrant, seductive blossoms.

Living in southwest Arizona does have it advantages when it comes to growing citrus trees, which love the heat.

While driving around established neighborhoods in Yuma, you will see an abundance of citrus trees adding a splash of color to front yards, side yards and gracefully flowing over back walls.

Citrus varieties of all types are well suited to the Arizona deserts, producing some of the best tasting citrus anywhere in the world. An abundance of sun is required for proper fruit production, and high heat is the key to sweet fruit, making citrus trees easy to grow in Yuma’s climate.

However, the trunk and branches of citrus trees can burn badly when subjected to direct sun.

Details about how to protect young citrus trees from sunburn will follow.

You can plant citrus trees now through April. Planting during these months helps trees establish hardy root systems before the triple-digit temperatures arrive.

It is time to head out to the nurseries and find your favorite citrus, whether it is oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes or grapefruit.

ORANGES

Blood orange is an attractive small spreading tree producing fruit with various shades of red from small spots to coloring all segments. The flavor has been described as “berry-like.”

Valencia oranges are often called “juice oranges.” This is a medium-size tree producing good-quality eating fruit that is also excellent for juice.

The Washington navel orange is a nice, ornamental tree that flowers profusely. However, this is suited mostly to cooler areas. It will not produce high quality fruit in the desert.

Arizona sweets are a group of sweet oranges that do well here. They are good for juice and eating right from the tree.

TANGELOS

These are a hybrid fruit, resulting from crosses between tangerines and grapefruits. Flavor is excellent and the trees are small and ornamental.

Minneola is a small, open tree that is great for small spaces. The fruit grows on the ends of branches, making a striking display of bright orange against shiny dark green leaves.

The production is reliable and the fruit quality is excellent.

Orlando tangelo has yellowish fruit, which is smaller than Minneola and has many more seeds. The skin is thick and hard to peel, making the Orlando better for juicing.

GRAPEFRUIT

Did you know they are called grapefruit because they produce their fruit in bunches like grapes? Finding 20 fruit in a bunch is not unusual.

Marsh Seedless is a good quality, white fleshed and juicy with fine flavor. High summer temperatures produce the best flavor.

Red Blush, Ruby Red and Texas Red do well in the desert. The fruit is variously colored and similar to Marsh Seedless.

LEMONS

Libson is the common lemon variety, which is highly productive with high-fruit quality.

This tree has some cold hardiness, and is very heat tolerant.

It is a very vigorous, dense thorny tree that needs plenty of room to grow.

Improved Meyer or Hardy is an excellent home garden variety. If you’re limited to space this is the one for you. This tree is small, bordering on the dwarf side. Great for small spaces, or can be grown in a container on the patio.

Fruit are round, thin skinned, and almost orange in color. It bears fruit year-round that is very juicy with less acid than other lemons.

Limes

Limes are extremely frost tender and are not easily grown here. However, planted in a warm area of your yard for protection it is possible.

Bearrs Lime trees do well in the desert and may be best grown in a container that can be easily moved to a sheltered spot during freezes.

Do not be tempted to buy large citrus trees. Trees in containers larger than 5 gallons may not grow as vigorously as trees in 5 gallon or smaller containers.

In general, trees that are container-grown for long periods may have compromised root systems.

The best size tree to plant is a tree with a trunk that is approximately a half-inch in diameter. Additionally, there is a substantial savings purchasing small trees versus large container trees.

And avoid any tree that has fruit on it.

Choose the warmest part of your yard to plant your new citrus tree. If you have a pool, plant citrus around it because the water keeps the surrounding air warm for the tree.

Concrete block walls capture the sun’s heat during winter and create a warm microclimate around the tree.

In addition, find an area that will get eight hours of sun a day, but avoid late afternoon summer sun.

It is best to plant in well-drained soil. Dig the hole at least twice the size of the root ball. At a minimum, make the hole 2 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep, keeping the graft line several inches above the soil level.

Partially fill the hole with water prior to planting and let drain.

Citrus roots are very fragile and easily damaged. Remove the bottom of the container and gently place the tree into the hole. Then cut the sides of the container to remove it.

Use the same soil that was removed and backfill around the roots, and create a water basin around the tree.

Keep the roots moist after planting by watering often. For the first two weeks after planting, water every three days. Eventually you can adjust watering to a slow deep watering once a week.

Protect the trunk of your young citrus tree from sunburn in the summer by painting it with a 50-50 mixture of white latex paint and water, or wrap exposed trunk with shade cloth or burlap.

As the tree matures, the natural, low sweeping branches will protect the trunk.

It will take two to four years for your citrus tree to produce fruit, so be patient. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

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Debi Papp is a member of the Yuma Garden Club. She may be reached at greenthumbs1@roadrunner.com or 928-783-3189.