Hello all,
I've heard several people say tha once citrus trees reach a certain age, they are no longer viable fruit producers. Is that true and if so, at what age does that occur and what is it that makes it not viable (yield, flavor, etc?).

Thanks,
Phillip

As far as I know the oldest citrus in existence is a Sour Orange that is growing at the Catholic convent of Saint Sabrina in Rome. According to the book "The Citrus Industry" (pages 45-46) this tree was thought to have been planted by Saint Dominic in the year 1200, making this tree now 809 years old. This tree is still producing a full crop of fruit today. I was EXTREMELY fortunate to receive seed back in 2006, from fruit of the Saint Sabrina tree, through Sister Mary Catherine. Today my seedling tree is almost 3 feet tall and growing in a 5-gallon container in my greenhouse. Actually, it is AMAZING you ask this question just today, as a three year old post dating back to April 2006 concerning the Saint Sabrina tree was brought back up once again this very day on the UBC Forum. What a coincidence. More to the point of your tree, one of the common methods to rejuvenating older citrus trees, is to cut them back hard, and let they re-grow - Just what you are doing to your trees. I think your trees should do fine. Yours are just babies compared to the above tree. - Millet (1,273)

Some neighbors of ours down the street own a 40-50 year old Washington Navel. Its a wonderful looking tree, about 12 feet high with a thick trunk and very neatly pruned. I spoke with the owner a few days ago for the first time, expressing my appreciation of what a beautiful tree it was. She told me that it is incredibly prolific (she makes fresh orange juice almost every day) and that they never need to fertilize it. I have major tree envy.

-Brett

I have an Orange tree that is ~ 60 years old. It still produces hundreds of great tasting oranges each year. It does have some decay in some of the major brances which is the only problems with it. With the two varieties on the tree we have oranges for 9 months out of the year.

Good, I'm glad to hear that it was just an old wives' tale. Actually, the people I heard it from could be classified as "old wives", but I wouldn't say that in the event that they found this forum .

Many of my trees look pretty good despite the neglect and fire over the last couple of years. The largest problem I see is bark missing from half of the trunk of some trees. I don't know if this is enough to girdle it or can be cured with inarching, but I'll keep 'em around for a little while.

From an aerial photo taken right after the fire, it looks like there were a lot more trees before the fires. Here's a couple of links to aerials flown right after the fire and an aerial taken a few months ago. I have the two parcels to the south and west of the pond shown in the second picture:


About November 2007 (Witch Creek Fire)
(See trees that used to exist in the south):
http://www.dauben.us/house/Aerial400.pdf

About March 2009:
http://www.dauben.us/house/Aerial2.pdf

Phillip