I bought my dwarf orangequat tree from a reputable nursery in March of 2009. The tree is in direct sunlight for much of the day (on the west side of the house) and the leaves and flowers are flourishing. there is a ton of new growth and I get a great many fruit buds, however before they fully mature into fruit, they turn yellow and die. It is incredibly frustrating because the fruit seems to be growing and then it suddenly does not. Has anyone ever encountered this? Any ideas?
What your tree is experiencing is completely normal. Of all the flowers produced by a citrus tree, orangequats included, only about 3 to 5 percent of the blooms will produce fruit, the rest of the blooms drop from the tree. Of the small fruitlets originally produced at bloom, only about 2 to 3 percent will ever remain on the tree until maturity, the other 95 percent will be discarded by the tree. However, as your tree grows larger, each year your orangequat will produce more and more flowers, thus more and more fruit will remain on the tree until maturity. However, the ratio of the amount of fruit that drop, and the amount of fruit that stay attached to the tree will always stay the same. If a citrus tree produced a fruit for every bloom, the tree would be crushed under its own weight. - Millet (1,249-)
Millet, Thank you so much for your thoughtful answer. It makes sense that they won't all fruit, but I am sure eager to see them!! Thank you again!