Harvest method determines orange’s life once off tree

There is no pruning class Saturday at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Orchard in North Las Vegas, but I will be there pruning. Community members are invite to come out around 9 a.m. and learn by pruning. I will be pruning peaches and nectarines.

The next pruning class is Jan. 7 and it will be on pruning apples, pears and quince.

The orchard is located 100 yards east of the intersection of North Decatur Boulevard and Horse Drive.

Q: I have a tree loaded with oranges but I am not sure when to pick them. I read in the paper about the Meyer lemon tree and you said to pick them now. Should I pick my Washington navel orange now?

A: Since this is not a commercial growing area for oranges we have to take our best guess at the time for picking. It is not the same for Meyer lemon. Different oranges will be ready at different times. The problem here is if you wait to pick through the winter, we may get a hard freeze and you could lose the fruit.

Washington navel oranges mature at the Christmas season in California. In hot tropical climates the fruit may never turn orange. In cooler climates the fruits turn orange when they mature.

If the fruit is orange, harvest it. Use shears and leave a small nib or piece of stem attached to the fruit, especially if you plan to keep them for any length of time. If the stem is pulled from the fruit, it leaves a fresh wound where disease organisms can enter and cause early rotting. Pulling them is OK if you are going to use them right away .

By the way, if you are going to juice this particular orange, then remove the peel first or it may be bitter.

Q: I live in Pahrump and last winter we had a cold spell that turned the fronds on most of my Canary palms brown. One of them is still recovering. How can I protect them from the cold the rest of the winter? A few neighbors have wrapped theirs with burlap where the fronds meet the trunk. Will this help?

A: There really is no magic way to do it. Many palm trees generate their new growth from the terminal buds located at the tip of the trunk. The bud is usually good to about 10 F for short periods of time.

If cold kills the terminal bud, the tree will eventually die because it cannot grow without that terminal bud. Damage also can occur to the trunk from freezing temperatures so wrapping it or wrapping some lights around the trunk might help if there is wind and low temperatures.

Remember that cold damage is measured by how low the temperature gets combined with the amount of time it stays at that temperature. Wind makes it worse. Then you have to figure the time of year as well.

Extreme cold is usually more damaging in late fall and early spring than midwinter. Winter damage to palms may not show up right after the cold temperatures. In some cases the extent of the damage may linger for years. This is not very encouraging but I hope it helps.

Q: I planted turnips from six packs in September. I harvested two beautiful turnips but their flavor was terrible, approaching inedible. They were very bitter. What may have happened?

A: The timing for planting sounds OK but heat will do that to turnips and many other root crops. Turnips have a higher germination threshold temperature, about 60 F, so they have to go in a bit earlier in the fall than beets, parsnips or rutabagas and later in the spring.

Also, a lack of water would affect taste, too, but if they are a good size and shape, then I doubt it is a water problem.

Another thing to note is that turnips, like rutabagas, can contain a bitterness that some people find intolerable. This is an inherited trait in people so that some people will taste the bitterness while others may not. You may be one of these people. You might try boiling them first, throw the water out half way through boiling and replace it. This may help remove bitterness.

I would switch to a different variety or grow kohlrabi instead, which I find much more enjoyable and easier to grow. Make sure your soil has been prepared with plenty of compost and phosphorus prior to planting. Make sure they get adequate water and I would even mulch them with some straw after they emerge if the temperatures are still warm.

Q: I now water once a week but my shrubs look like they might in the hottest part of the summer. The leaves look dry and burnt, and are falling off. My average shrub is about 3-foot-by-3-foot and receives 3-4 gallons per week based on my emitters and time they are on. Did I cut back too much? What should I do to try to revive them?

A: Your watering sounds very appropriate and probably what I would have scheduled as well. You have to make sure, however, that the water which is scheduled to be delivered to your plants is actually getting there. Make sure you check for plugged emitters when the system is on. You should have a filter on your drip system, even if you are on city water.

It could be several possibilities. I have to walk through them with you because I don't know much about their previous history. For me, it looks as if the problem could be watering, collar rot at the base of the trunk where the rock mulch sits against the stem or damage from very low temperatures.

If there were some very low temperatures just prior to that, then this could be just that. If there were no low temperatures, then it is most likely not.

Next we have to look at watering issues, including whether the rock is against the trunk.

First, determine whether the plant is dead or not. Bend some branches and see if they snap. If they are still supple and just have damaged leaves, then it is a temporary setback and the branches will regrow and set new leaves in the spring.

If they snap when you bend them, the plant may be dead. You will have to pull it anyway so start bending the branches and see how much of the plant is dead. If the amount is sizable, remove it. When you remove it, look at the trunk where the rock mulch was resting against it.

Use a knife or your thumbnail and scrape the bark away from the trunk starting about an inch above where the rock mulch sat and down along the stem to the roots. Look to see if there appears to be a dark or rotten area in the trunk or bark around the rock mulch line. If there is, then it is collar rot.

When planting new shrubs, make sure that rock mulch does not lay against the trunk or the plant is not planted too deeply. It should be planted the same depth as it was growing in the nursery container.

Nurseries don't have many plants this time of year because they are trying to reduce their inventories. You can look for a replacement plant but chances are you may not find one that you like until next spring when it gets warm.

Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.