Last edited on February 03, 2024. View history
Bitter Orange
Bitter Orange
A variety of orange
How to sow bitter orange: Transplant grafted sapling
Sun requirement for bitter orange: Plant in Full Sun
Bitter orange, Seville orange, sour orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the citrus tree Citrus × aurantium and its fruit. It is native to southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is probably a cross between the Pomelo, Citrus maxima, and the Mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata.
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Bitter orange facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For bitter orange, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 13°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 2160 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your bitter orange will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow bitter oranges
Sunniness
Planted from
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Photos
Photos
Bitter orange crops
Video
Where bitter oranges grow
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What people are saying about bitter oranges
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Who's planted bitter oranges
Bitter orange harvests
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 180 to 365 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Sapindales Rutaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -10 °C |
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about bitter oranges
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