Orange Trees

Navel or Cara Cara: choosing your orange tree

The Washington Navel Orange Tree is the orange most Australians actually eat: sweet, seedless, easy to peel and ripening through winter when the fruit bowl needs it most. On its grafted rootstock it builds a rounded tree of 3m to 4m that can be held at 2.5m with an annual prune, and a mature tree will carry more fruit than one household gets through.

The dwarf Cara Cara is a navel with a difference: rosy pink flesh, noticeably lower acid and a naturally compact frame around 2m, which makes it the choice for courtyards, small gardens and large pots. The eating quality is outstanding, and children tend to love it for the same reason adults do, sweetness without the sharp edge.

Where orange trees grow in Australia

Oranges are grown commercially from the Riverina and the Riverland to Western Australia, and a navel fruits best where summers are warm and winters cool enough to colour and sweeten the fruit, which describes most of temperate and subtropical Australia. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane all grow them well in full sun. Established trees tolerate light frost; young trees need cover for their first couple of winters wherever frosts bite. In the true tropics navels crop poorly, and in cold mountain climates the dwarf form in a pot against a north facing wall is the reliable path.

One quirk worth knowing: skin colour follows climate. Navels grown where nights are cool turn that deep glossy orange, while fruit in the subtropics can stay green tinged on the tree yet be perfectly ripe inside. Judge by the calendar and a taste test, not the colour chart.

Planting, feeding and watering

Six hours of direct sun is the minimum. Plant into free draining soil with the graft union above soil level, or pot the dwarf into a 50cm to 60cm container of premium citrus mix. Mulch 75mm deep, clear of the trunk. Water deeply once or twice a week rather than lightly every day; steady moisture is the difference between plump fruit and split fruit. Feed with a citrus fertiliser in late winter and again in midsummer, remove any fruit that sets in the first year so the tree builds its frame, and watch the new flush for citrus leafminer. In New South Wales and Victoria, prune out any citrus gall wasp swellings by late winter. Our guide to growing citrus trees in Australia walks through the yearly routine.

Common questions

Do I need two orange trees?

No. Both varieties are self fertile, so one tree flowers and crops alone. Plant a second citrus for variety rather than pollination; most backyard orchards run an orange alongside the lemon trees and a lime tree, since all citrus share the same feeding and care.

When will I pick the first oranges?

Grafted trees typically flower and set within two to four years. Navels ripen through winter, roughly June to September depending on how far north you are, and the fruit holds well on the tree for weeks, so there is no rush at harvest.

Why is my fruit splitting or dropping?

Uneven watering is the usual culprit: a dry spell followed by heavy rain or a big drink swells the flesh faster than the skin can stretch. Mulch and a regular deep watering rhythm fix most of it. Some early summer fruit drop is natural thinning, not a problem.

How do the trees arrive?

As grafted trees in nursery pots, delivered Australia wide with delivery from $29.95 and our 30 day healthy plant guarantee. Larger container sizes are freighted at cost.