All posts in Grove Update

The weather and other growing conditions are being good to our Valencia Orange crop. Our Valencia Oranges are looking very good and will continue to get better over the next few weeks. The weather has been very kind and will be very good for growing citrus over the next few months.

The weather and other growing conditions are allowing for amazing quality, both inside and out. Our Cara Cara Navels are really juicy and we will have a good supply of them until the end of the month. Our Navel Oranges are excellent in taste and should be available through the first week of June. We are looking forward to our Valencia Orange crop as they are on track to be exceptional!

The weather is great and is being kind to our fruit. Our GoldenBelles continue to improve in taste! Our two navel varieties are in the peak of their seasons and waiting to be picked for you!

We’re still a month away from harvesting, but our early varieties are maturing nicely. Our navels are starting to break color and are sizing up well. Grapefruit are on track as well and we are anticipating having good size to kick off our season. The weather has been kind for the majority of our growing season which should improve the overall internal quality of our citrus.

A Red ripe Minneola that is ready for harvest. This is the ideal color we??e looking for When we are spotting a crop. Spotting a crop involves clipping/picking only the The brightest color fruit and only the sizes we??e looking for. The rest of the crop is left on the tree to continue coloring and sizing. We will typically spot across a block 2-3 times. The picker is using his clippers to harvest fruit. Honeybells require clipping to remove the fruit from the tree. If pulled by hand, the large stems will tear the skin off the fruit. A mixture…

The navels look as good on the inside as they do on the outside. The deep orange internal color indicates high brix/sugar content and you can see how the cells are full of juice and ready to eat. Our navels have sized up well and the cool nights have aided in them coloring up nicely. Bins of freshly harvested navels in the field.

One of our tractors mowing in between the rows of navel trees in our grove. The internal color is getting a deeper orange which indicates the sugars are building. The brix are currently testing between 9.8 ad 10.40 which is very good this early in the season. Our navels are sizing up nicely with the average size ranging from 3 to 3 1/2 inches which is perfect for this time of year.  

Our citrus expert is using a set of citrus calipers to measure our navels. They are currently averaging 2.75 inches which is right on track to start harvesting in November. We constantly monitor size and quality so we can plan the right time to harvest and pack a given crop. You can see the internal color of the navel turning a deeper orange color as the sugar and juice continues to develop. A red tail hawk leaving its perch on top of a navel tree.

Looking down a row of our 25 year-old grapefruit you can see how we keep the trees pruned and the ground clean under the trees with grassed centers. This is part of our cultural care program. The trees are kept at a manageable size which aids in the harvesting and movement of equipment up and down the rows and reducing mechanical injuries to the fruit and trees. The ground under the trees is kept clean and the grass middles mowed. This aids in air circulation and helps prevent the harboring of insects. You can see copper residue on the fruit…