The Generous Kumquat Tree, Prosperity and Taste
About 7 years ago I bought a kumquat tree that was about 2 feet tall. Today it is about 9 feet tall where it has been growing in my front yard since purchase. Although I have read that some trees do not produce fruit and there could be issues with soil being too damp, I was definitely lucky because I planted the tree near the center of the front yard, underneath a tall pine and oak tree, and it has produced fruit every year. I am not sure if it benefits from the shade provided by the oak and pine, but it does receive a fair amount of sunlight each day. Since I have herbs in the sections around the tree, it does receive regular watering but nothing prodigious. Mobile is a rainy city so the tree does benefit from a generous amount of natural watering. This summer was not as rainy as it could have been. I would say if you look at the tree and it does not look on point, meaning there may be dry looking or even drooping leaves and branches, the tree needs a good watering. As with most plants and trees, soil should be able to drain properly since root rot kills a lot of plants. Not only does it produce fruit every year, it produces several times during the fall right into winter. I live in USA climate zone 8b-9a, which basically means borderline 9, a semi-tropical climate that can sometimes experience below freezing temps but typically rare and not for very long. Usually below freezing comes here where there is a very strong artic blast from Canada. If it freezes here in Mobile that usually means the rest of you above us are really freezing your butts off. One year it got so cold I covered as much of the tree as possible. It looked pitiful after the freeze, and the fruiting cycle was over save a few fruit I had left on the tree to see how they would fare. They froze. In case you want to buy a kumquat tree and have it delivered to your home or business, here’s an Amazon link:
While there are several variety of trees, the common kumquat is the tree I have. To this day the taxonomy of the kumquat tree is in question. meaning it’s classification. One thing I can say with certainty is it resembles an orange, only much smaller. It’s glossy, firm leaves look like the leaves you find on an orange, lemon or lime tree. It does not need another tree to pollinate. The featured photo in this blog is the current state of the fruit on my tree as of yesterday. It won’t be long before the fruit is orange and ripe. Although there are seeds in the fruit, you bite into it and eat the entire thing including the peel. It has a sour, sweet, woody flavor, more pungent than an orange. Most of the scent and nutrients are in the peel. As you might expect, there are people doing amazing things with kumquat such as making jams and liqueurs. This year I may “experiment” with making a kumquat-pecan-mint pesto for serving with fish and rice. Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you can catch the results later this year. Here is a pic of some fruit from my tree last year:
Kumquat Fruit, Herbscapes.com 2023
