How the rain can affect the maturing trees in your garden

Q. A couple of columns ago, you wrote about people’s peaches and other stone fruit that didn’t mature due to the early & late heavy rains we had last winter. I have a 40-year-old Valencia orange with the oranges still green and barely the size of a tennis ball from this year’s past fruit setting. Usually, the oranges are closer to a softball size. Could the problem of not maturing be the same reason? And what should I do if anything before next year’s crop?

The most common cause of undersized citrus fruit is inadequate water. A full-size, mature citrus tree can take quite a lot of water, especially in the hottest summer months. For instance, if the tree’s canopy is 18 feet across, it can require 37 gallons of water per day in July and August. 

In an otherwise healthy tree, delayed ripening can be a result of a shorter summer or fewer hours of heat exposure. Remember that we had an unusually cool early summer, so your tree may think it’s earlier in the year. Hopefully, the fruit will color up eventually, albeit a bit late.

For more information on citrus care and cultivation, go to https://ucanr.edu/sites/home_orchard/files/140618.pdf

Q. We transplanted a 14-year-old Ficus benjamina from a pot to the ground. Now we have read that these trees (especially their roots) can be super destructive. Did we make a huge mistake?

Ficus benjamina, or weeping fig, are notoriously fussy about being moved or transplanted. Even relocating one to a different corner of the same room can result in a botanical temper tantrum in which it drops all its leaves and plays dead for a while. I am amazed that you were able to transplant one outdoors and have it survive.

These trees will always have some surface roots, whether in the ground or in a pot. In tropical areas, they have been known to grow up to 60 feet tall, but I doubt that will be the case with your tree. Since it was confined to a pot for so long, the roots have likely grown into a spiral as they follow the shape of the pot. Even with some root pruning at transplant, most of the roots will be permanently formed into a circle (in other words, rootbound). 

Since your tree seems to actually like being outdoors and is showing signs of vigorous growth, I would advise you to keep an eye out for obnoxious root growth or signs that it’s aspiring to be a 60-foot tall tree. Or you could wait for it to drop all of its leaves during the next solar eclipse.

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu