Indoor orange tree?

JamieB

Hi all, I’m looking for an indoor orange tree but I’m sort of getting bewildered by the internet and can’t quite seem to pin down the right cultivar etc. Ideally it’ll grow to about 2m and have a strong fragrance when flowering and good fruiting. Any suggestions? I’m in the south west and I’ll make sure it sits in a sunny spot. Cheers James

philippasmith2

There used to be a specialist Citrus nursery in Dorset - not sure whether it still exists but if you look up Citrus Specialist Nursery/Grower, you may be able to find it ( or similar ).
I no longer grow Citrus but I think @Nanny Beach and @Obelixx do so perhaps they may have some ideas.
There are many new varieties now but just be aware that they are still Trees and don't always thrive indoors.
Good luck with finding what you want

Nanny Beach

Yup,here I am! Firstly,there is no such thing as "an indoor orange tree". They are trees, they don't like being indoors as in a heated house, certainly not in a sunny spot. I have 2 calamondins,and a mandarin,(that produces full size fruit) in the summer they are outside in semi shade,late October,go into the north facing conservatory,with a night time temp at the moment of 10c. They aren't as hardy as the lemons that overwinter in the green house. A lot of mine were purchased in the budget supermarkets.we have had some of them quite a few years, maybe now a MTR high. One this size in our local garden centre will set you back £100, I've not seen any as tall as 2mt not in this country. Now they are indoors,they drop their blossom everywhere,suffer quite a few pests,need rain water weekly,and spraying with rainwater regularly. Summer and winter feed. On a good year we get edible fruit,I certainly wouldn't fork out hundreds of pounds (if you can find one this big) just for the scent. Happy to provide pictures if required.All have highly scented flowers

JamieB

Nanny Beach said:

Yup,here I am! Firstly,there is no such thing as "an indoor orange tree". They are trees, they don't like being indoors as in a heated house, certainly not in a sunny spot. I have 2 calamondins,and a mandarin,(that produces full size fruit) in the summer they are outside in semi shade,late October,go into the north facing conservatory,with a night time temp at the moment of 10c. They aren't as hardy as the lemons that overwinter in the green house. A lot of mine were purchased in the budget supermarkets.we have had some of them quite a few years, maybe now a MTR high. One this size in our local garden centre will set you back £100, I've not seen any as tall as 2mt not in this country. Now they are indoors,they drop their blossom everywhere,suffer quite a few pests,need rain water weekly,and spraying with rainwater regularly. Summer and winter feed. On a good year we get edible fruit,I certainly wouldn't fork out hundreds of pounds (if you can find one this big) just for the scent. Happy to provide pictures if required.All have highly scented flowers

Nice one. Going to have a think….be nice to see a photo or two

Nanny Beach

jamie,first picture is the mandarin,last 2 calamondins. I use them for cooking, just like a shop bought orange ( a flourless incredibly moist cake) and marmalade. The lemon trees (in green house) do produce full size fruit,but you need a heatwave. My husband said,yes you can buy one 2mtr tall if you have £800 to spare. Oh, I've got 3 calamondins in here. Don't know where you are situated,we have bought feed in the past from The Citrus Center in Pulborough,Sussex. Orange/lemons about the size of ours,will set you back around £100,a 165cm orange £400.

JamieB

Hi Nanny Beach, thanks for those photos. For practicability’s sake I think calamondins will be the way to go offering something visually interesting and some fruit hopefully….and cakes seem to be the way to go! Thanks again Jamie

Nanny Beach

Happy to give the recipe. As I said unless you have hundreds of pounds £25 will buy you a nice one from Aldi or Lidl. These calamondins produce a good yeald  every year. 

JamieB

Thanks Nanny Beach, I’ll bear that in mind. I’ll probably buy the plant next summer. Kindest regards Jamie

Fire

@msqingxiao kindly gave me a little orange seedling grown from a pip - now about three inches tall. Would it be ok living on a windowsill through the year, for the rest of next year (where it is now)? Or would it be miserable?

Thanks

Dovefromabove

When @WonkyWomble was small we grew oranges, lemons and grapefruits from pips ... they lived in our big conservatory/porch which got bright sunshine for a couple of hours but otherwise it was in light shade ... the little plants grew to about 18" and their flowers scented the conservatory wonderfully ... we never got fruit but they were worth keeping just for the perfume ... when we moved it was to a house which had nowhere suitable for them to live, so I passed them on to other folk ... 

The perfume from grapefruits seemed to be the best. 

Fire

Thanks Dove.