| I have orange trees at my new home a lot of the fruit have brown spots does this mean all the fruit should come off tree and what can I do to make sure this doesn't happen again also I recall not picking until they're orange but they seem to be falling off while still green can you re-educate me its been 30 years? |
| The most common cause of brown spots on citrus fruit is the citrus bud mite. You can control these pests with a miticide. I'd remove the affected fruit and destroy it and pick up the fallen oranges as they occur. With any luck you'll still get an edible crop. It's difficult to diagnose a problem without seeing it so you may want to take a sample of the affected fruit to your local cooperative extension office for positive diagnosis. Helpful folks there can suggest control strategies. Orange trees often set more fruit than they can possibly develop to maturity so they drop the excess fruit, sometimes throughout the growing season. It's generally nothing to worry about - it's a natural thinning process. |
