Orange tree

moparpete, Jul 5, 2:15am
My dog chewed and destroyed my lovely fruit laden 1yr old tangelo tree yesterday. Now I am thinking of planting a orange tree in it's place. Question is, if this is the right time of the year to plant a new one also any tips from preventing dogs chewing on your trees greatly appreciated
cantabman1, Jul 5, 2:54am
A good time of the year to plant out your Orange tree, prepare the ground well before hand.Borrow Palmers Citrus book from the Liberary.
As for your dog, the only suggestion I can think of is to run a fence around it with mesh and Waratah steaks.
[sorry spelling isn't the greatest]
mack77, Jul 5, 10:59am
I wouldn't recommend putting steaks around your orange tree as suggested above, since the dog will eat them. I suggest erecting an electric fence but make sure that you get an electric fence unit that can produce at least 8000 volts to give your dog a decent "kick".
I strongly recommend ''Washington Navel" as the best variety for the home gardener to grow. It is the only one with a rich intense sweet flavour.
I could only locate three nurseries that could supply that variety; one in Tauranga the other two in the Huapai region of Auckland.
dibble35, Jul 5, 7:24pm
Washington Navel - most garden centres would stock this. Its the quintessential(big word hard to spell) Kerikeri orange. All/most? of the garden centres such as Palmers, Bunnings and Mitre10 in the north Island are supplied by a Citrus nursery in Kerikeri and are all able to get Washington Navel if they want to stock it.
megafish, Nov 27, 3:08am
Spraying the tree with a mix of 2/3s water and 1/3 tobasco sauce works on all chewing animals. Have used it for rabbits and possoms in NZ and deer in the USA. Not harmful to animals or plants but they sure learn to leave the plants alone very quickly