Woman in the Middle

It is the end of February folks and I decided this past weekend that it was time to get serious about getting those delicious oranges off the tree and distributed to neighbors, friends and coworkers. Mind you, that had already been going on since the end of December, but those were the “wimp” oranges, the ones I could pick just by reaching out and plucking them off the tree. But there are more, many more left on the tree.

As you can see, there are still quite a few oranges way up high, and I can’t reach them without a ladder. I am not going to drag the ladder out of the garage so yesterday I brought out the big gun – the orange picker.

This handy-dandy item allows the homeowner with a full-grown orange tree to reach way up high and gently yank an orange off its stem. It then falls a few inches into the basket, safe and sound. Here is a better photo of the basket:

However, it isn’t quite that easy for all the high up oranges. Let me show you another photo:

Can you see all those oranges hiding deep in the tree? They are too high to reach and are buried so deep amongst the twigs and branches that the orange picker is useless. That is when I bring out the really big gun – Hubby! I think he sees it as a challenge, kind of like a computer game. He finds a way to ease that orange picker deep into the tree to get those hard to reach oranges. Sometimes he turns the orange picker around and uses the handle to try to knock the oranges out of the tree.  Whatever the case. he is the one who is sent in to get the last of the hard to reach oranges off the tree.

Lots of people have orange trees in my neck of the woods. But my orange tree isn’t a regular Navel, it is a Red Navel, or a Cara Cara orange tree. So I can usually get folks to at least take a few. I had a meeting at my house last night and everyone got a free parting gift – oranges! Today I am going to juice some for Hubby. Yep, it is that time of year and it is time to get serious!!!

We have been informed, my neighbors and I, that the Asian citrus psyllid has arrived in our neck of the woods (or desert, actually) and that isn’t a good thing. This small bug from, you guessed it, Asia, can carry a disease that kills citrus trees. While that would be devastating for the citrus industry it doesn’t really make us home owners very happy either. In inland Southern California a house without a citrus tree…is just weird. We all have them. The concept of buying a lemon is so foreign to me that when we moved into our new house that didn’t have a lemon tree (it did have an orange tree) I promptly went out and bought one. It now has baby lemons and in the fall all will be right and sour in my world again.

Some times it can be a little hard to get people in our area to come out for meetings. It isn’t unusual for only six or so people to show up for the Planning Commission hearings. Last night was a community open house to give us information on the plans to eradicate our psyllid friend and people came out of the woodwork. I told Hubby that if you want a turnout, threaten people’s citrus trees. The powers that be will soon be coming onto my property and spraying my citrus trees. I am OK with that. The dog needs another reason to bark and I need my lemons and oranges.

From the California Department of Agriculture