How to grow Blood Orange

Where to plant

Choose a sunny spot with well drained soil, protected from strong wind, and keep citrus out of lawns and beds that are watered often. Blood oranges develop their best red color when winter nights while the fruit ripens run about 46 to 59°F (8 to 15°C), after a warm growing season.

They suit Northern California and the Central Valley, inland Southern California and the Arizona desert, where the color is strongest. In Florida they crop well, but UF/IFAS notes they are not grown commercially there because the warm, humid climate gives weak red color, and in Hawaii the flesh often stays orange. In North Florida and the Gulf South they are risky in freezes, so plant in a sheltered spot and cover young trees, or choose satsuma instead. In Texas, they grow outdoors only in the Rio Grande Valley. Everywhere colder, grow a dwarf tree in a pot and bring it in for winter.

Citrus quarantines and varieties

Before you buy, know the rules. The Asian citrus psyllid spreads huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening), a bacterial disease with no cure that kills citrus trees, in as little as five years according to UC. To slow it, USDA and state agencies quarantine large areas. As of 1 October 2026, USDA lists all of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and parts of Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas, as quarantined for HLB, and a wider area, including all of Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana and Texas and much of California, as quarantined for the psyllid.

Inside a quarantine area, citrus plants and close relatives cannot be moved out, and fruit may be moved only when washed and free of stems and leaves. Wherever you live, buy citrus only from a licensed nursery in your own state, never bring citrus plants, cuttings or budwood from another state or country, and do not graft budwood from unknown trees; UC traces California's first HLB tree to illegal grafting of an infected bud. Report suspected HLB to your county agricultural commissioner in California or to your state department of agriculture elsewhere.

How to plant

1. Buy a certified, grafted container tree from a licensed nursery in your state.
2. Plant after the last spring frost, or in South Florida in the cooler, drier months so roots settle before the summer rains.
3. Dig a hole about twice as wide as the root ball and set the tree so the top of the root ball sits about 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the soil. Planting too deep lets water sit against the trunk and causes root and crown rot.
4. Backfill with the native soil, water well, and keep the root ball moist until roots grow into the surrounding soil.
5. In hot desert areas, paint the trunk with white interior latex paint diluted half and half with water to prevent sunburn.

Watering and feeding

Water young trees often enough to keep the root ball moist, moving the water further from the trunk as the tree grows. In California's summer heat, UC suggests about 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) of water a month for citrus, split into several deep waterings depending on soil. Underwatering gives small, sunburned fruit; overwatering brings root rot.

Feed mature trees with nitrogen. UC suggests the first feed in January or February before bloom, a second in May and perhaps a third in June, and no late season feeding, which delays coloring and roughens the rind. Use a citrus fertilizer with micronutrients if leaves show zinc or iron deficiency.

Pruning and care through the year

• Prune lightly, just before bloom or after fruit set, and remove any suckers from below the graft. Avoid late season pruning, which pushes tender growth that frost damages.
• Let the canopy grow as a full skirt almost to the ground for the most fruit.
• A drop of many pea sized fruit about a month after bloom is normal.
• Check new leaf flush every month from spring to fall for Asian citrus psyllid: tiny brown insects that feed with their tails up, waxy white nymph secretions and twisted new leaves.
• In freeze prone areas, cover young trees before hard frost and pick the fruit if a freeze is forecast.

Harvesting

Blood oranges ripen from December to March, depending on variety and region, and hold on the tree for some weeks. Taste a fruit to judge ripeness, as rind color is not a reliable guide. The red flesh color deepens as the season goes on after cool nights.

Clip or twist the fruit off with a little stem. Blood oranges keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge and make a striking juice.

Growing in pots

A blood orange on dwarfing rootstock grows well in a pot at least 20 inches (50 cm) wide with drainage holes and a free draining citrus mix. This is the only way to grow one outside the citrus belt: keep it outside in summer and move it to a bright, cool, frost free spot in winter. Potted trees need more frequent watering and lighter, more regular feeding than trees in the ground.