I bought a house on a large lot in Upland, CA. The back-back yard is the remains of an orange grove. I've been cleaning it up for a couple of years and nursing the trees back to health. Most of them were completely covered in ivy, which finally blocked all light from the trees and they were mostly dead. When I was a kid there were more citrus trees here than people.

I have 4 remaining large Washington Navels that are clearly part of the original grove. The house was built 42 years ago and it appears the original owners replaced some of the original trees with other varieties. The 40 year -old trees I could save are a Minneola Tangelo, as-yet unidentified grapefruit, and an Avocado of some type. There is also a lemon with very rough fruit that are growing up in a circle about 18 inches in diameter. I'm guessing these trees are sprouted from the root stock and was told that they used Rough Lemon rootstock. The lemons are ugly but taste great. They also resemble Pomona Sweet Lemons.

I want a variety of citrus and year round availability.

So I have:
4 full size Washington Navels
1 full size Minneola
1 Grapefruit
1 lemon
I'm thinking of adding:
2 Valencia Midknight
Powell or Lane Late Navel for summer eating
Cara Cara for early eating
Seedless Kishu
Gold Nugget
Oro Blanco and/or Rio Red
Meyer Lemon
Bears Lime
Nagami Kumquat

My son wants a Pomegranate and a Hass Avocado.

Any comments other than I'm crazy, which isn't news?

Greg,

I think you've come to the right place! Welcome to the forum!

Welcome, and I think you've got a great lineup! I would opt for Powell over Late Lane, I think it's a bit better, personally. Let us know how your orchard fares!

Might want to add a Satsuma or two

A Ponkan would make a nice addition.

Greg Bradley wrote---"I want a variety of citrus and year round availability."

Desiring a continuous year around supply of citrus is actually much easier to accomplish than almost people, even most citrus enthusiast realize, and it can be done with only two citrus trees.

With the Washington Navel and the Valencia orange, owing to the length of time that they may be held on the trees in prime condition, completely cover the seasons and provide for picking at all times of the year. In California the Washington Navel begins to ripen in November, and the main shipping season extends to April or May. The Valencia begins to ripen in March or April, and its shipping season extends to September or October. -Millet

Millet is quite correct, and I enjoy this with my oranges (Valencia, Lane Late Navel, Moro, Tarocco, Sanguinelli, Vaniglia Sangluingo) as well as my mandarins (too many to list). Citrus can be a lot of fun here in California, as we can grow just about every variety well here.

Ooh, I agree with the Ponkan. Satsumas are nice, as they're very early, but you can't beat the taste of a Ponkan.

Check my spacing plan, please.

My original trees and the ones I can find on adjoining lots are spaced 10.5-11' apart in rows 13-14' apart.

I used Google Earth to check the spacing on the largest remaining grove two blocks away that has 1200 trees planted on 5 acres in rows 18' apart spaced 20' between rows.

I was going to plant the two full size trees in between two full size Washington Navels 42' apart center to center. (14' centers). There seem to have been 3 in between those two originally. I was going to plant the dwarfs and full size Meyer on 10.5' centers.

Normal commercial spacing in Florida:

Minneola - 35 ft.
Navel - 20 x 20 ft.
Valencia 20 X 20 ft.
True lemon 35 - ft.
Meyer - 15 ft.
Tahiti Lime (Persian) - Similar to orange
Key Lime - 10-ft. (will take long time to happen)

Millet

Normal spacing in my yard... 6Ft.

Hah, me, too But then, nearly all my citrus is on C35 or Carrizo/Troyer, and will be kept pruned down to 7' as I have a "No Ladders" rule in my yard. Only what I can reach up and pick, and I'm somewhat "height challenged".

The Avocado keeps trying to get too close to the 35' power lines 10' north of its trunk and I keep climbing it to cut it back. Since I will be 60 in a few weeks, I assume that will create a problem in a decade or two or three. My father would probably do the same but I'm not sure that he should..... I want it tall enough to block the view of the power pole and transformer but not close enough to be a problem.

The back row has three more full size Citrus and I keep them just tall enough to mostly block the view of the lower cables at around 15 feet. I was going to remove an ugly shed and 20' wide "weed" and put two full size citrus in between the two Washington Navels that are 42' on center. That means the 4 will be on 10.5' spacing. I was thinking grapefruit so there are few fruit to pick on a ladder with a long pole picker. Next is 21' to the Tangelo which nearly fills the space. Adding one more Avocado between the existing one and the east wall will give me 5 full size citrus and two full size Avocados along my 110' north wall. That keeps the two Avos together so the different water and leaf litter requirements don't conflict with the citrus.

I was thinking dwarfs for the rest so they could work well on the 10.5' original spacing. I understand I need full size Meyer to be the normal size.

Mini-Excavator is being delivered Friday so I need to get my plan together for spacing even though I'm only planting shade trees in the house area next week.