Last edited on April 06, 2020. View history
Blood Orange
Blood Orange
A variety of orange
How to sow blood orange: Transplant grafted sapling
Sun requirement for blood orange: Plant in Full Sun
The blood orange is a variety of orange (Citrus × sinensis) with crimson, almost blood-colored flesh.
The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of polyphenol pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus fruits. Chrysanthemin (cyanidin 3-O-glucoside) is the main compound found in red oranges. The flesh develops its characteristic maroon color when the fruit develops with low temperatures during the night. Sometimes, dark coloring is seen on the exterior of the rind, as well, depending on the variety of blood orange. The skin can be tougher and harder to peel than that of other oranges. Blood oranges have a unique flavor compared to other oranges, being distinctly raspberry-like in addition to the usual citrus notes. The anthocyanin pigments of blood oranges begin accumulating in the vesicles at the edges of the segments, and the blossom end of the fruit, and continue accumulating in cold storage after harvest.
The blood orange is a natural mutation of the orange, which is itself a hybrid, probably between the pomelo and the tangerine,[4] Within Europe, the arancia rossa di Sicilia (red-orange of Sicily) has Protected Geographical Status.
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Blood 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 blood 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 blood 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.
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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) |
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