[pgkevet]

I decided to grow an orange tree from a pip. My reading suggested they should grow true to the parent and would fruit from a set internode number. To make life more intersting i decided to grow it as a standard.

Out of the half dozen seeds i got a nice seedling and potted it on, nipping out any side shoots to get a lovely straight stem about 4 foot long before allowing it to bush at the top. And some 4 to 5 years of pruning i had a very nice looking head on a stick.

That was when i first realised mistake No1. By now my Orange tree was in a 40 litre pot and pot height plus 4foot stick plus the bush on top was overall some 7-8 feet high so overwinter it was going to be dead centre of the conservatory we had then into the pitch.

My hard work was rewarded by 5 tiny tiny oranges about an inch across. Hardly the Jaffas i was expecting! But the really exciting thing was how deliciously sweet they were.

My mind raced on the possibilities here. Cuttings would start from the cuttings internode number and theoretically fruit from a tiny plant. Forget the christmas calamodins that give you the squirts. plan A was to corber th market in miniature tatsy orange trees and plan B was to grow a forest of them and make the world's best candid cake decorations out of whole miniature oranges.

I did try a few cuttings and I've tried before and never been successful with citrus cuttings. It was going to have to be a commercial venture with someone who could do that - or invest in misting systems and soil warmers. Never mind i could always try again the next year.

Thenext year my tree was covered in the tiny oranges. We picked two kilos. It wasn;t such a small tree now.. pushing 9 feet high and a problem for the conservatory.


Those oranges were horrible! Bitter and nasty. We did turn them into marmalade but that was really too 'orange peely tasting' - I like orange peel but this was too much. And the practcality of half-peeling these tiny things in bulk isn't on.

Strangely it's never fruited  for 5 years since. I suspect it got a bit too big for the huge pot it was in by then although my lemon isn't much smaller and fruits regularly - several kilos this year.

Last year Mrs Orange got too big for my current citrus house so with mixed feelings I chopped it down to convert it to a bush.. which has knocked it back and it'll be hard to reprune it neatly - and it grows vicious thorns.

Will it ever fruit again? Who knows?