http://www.frap.org/Blog/2009/09/life-and-death-in-garden.html
I haven't done anything with the tree as it's honestly not high enough of a priority, but when it calls attention to itself by having a huge crop of oranges that not even the squirrels will eat (I found one on the thrown on the ground with one squirrel bite out of it), it does grate.
If I leave the oranges on the tree for a year, then they get to a state where I can eat a some if I leave them out in the sun for a few days, but that experience has lost its novelty. I've decided that my conclusion at the end of the first blog entry is probably correct, the original graft died and I'm left with bitter root stock that is really annoyingly thriving.
While this is a bummer, I must remind myself, it's not entirely bad news, The root stock part is very healthy so if I wanted to learn how to regraft a tree successfully (I've tried once with some cuttings from my family's grove trees and that failed), then I have an excellent candidate for a base.
So for now, I'll just cut it back to a manageable size and stop worrying about getting the oranges edible - they're not. Coming to that conclusion is very freeing. I can always take it out entirely if I feel it's a lost cause but as I was writing in the first entry, I do admire its tenacity and love for life even it I don't like what it produces. I wish there was a magic shot I could give it to make it start producing sweet oranges. Could I order that over the internet maybe? I'm sure I could. With guaranteed results too.
1 comment:
I realized last year that my climbing rose had gone down to the rootstock, too. It was very freeing to realize that and just have the damned thing taken out, in favor of a climbing rose I've always loved.
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