Why Does My Orange Tree Have No Fruit?

Q. I have a dwarf orange tree planted a little over a year
ago. There have been no oranges on the tree. I have fertilized and I think I’ve
been watering it correctly. The tree appears to be healthy just no fruit. Any
suggestions?

A. Dwarf orange is not much help to me. The subject of
oranges is huge. I need to know what type of orange it is, whether it has
produced flowers or not and no fruit, or no flowers and no fruit. Varieties
vary from early ripening – about 8 months from bloom – to late – up to 16 months
from bloom.

There are three main groups: The
normal fruited, without navels and with light orange colored flesh; the navel
oranges, with a distinct navel development at the end; and blood oranges, with
red flesh and juice.

There are about 73 varieties but US production focuses on Valencia,
Washington Navel, Hamlin, Parson Brown,
Pineapple and Temple.
For home gardening there are many more than these six available from nurseries.

Remember, in southern Nevada
growing citrus is marginal. Our winters or just too cold. That is the major
limiting factor. The usual reason for not producing fruit are winter freezes.

Citrus should be planted in
protected areas out of winter wind. They should be protected in the wintertime
from cold. There is an excellent publication from Arizona on protecting citrus
from cold weather.

Protecting citrus from winter cold Arizona