Hi, I have an 'old-fashioned' orange tree in my current Auckland garden. It has small fruit with incredible flavour intensity & quite high acidity - wonderful for cooking purposes. Might there be a propagation method by which to transfer to a new site?

Hi Leon, there are several propagation methods for citrus and it sounds like your tree is a real gem so worth trying to propagate. A lot of citrus are propagated by grafting, this is where seeds from citrus fruit are germinated and grown on for a season, then fruiting wood from the mother plant is grafted on to the seedling. If the graft is successful, this will give you a plant exactly the same as the mother plant and it will fruit in 2-3 years. The reason for grafting is for root stock effect, a well rooted vigorous fruiting tree that has a degree of disease resistance. Another method is to germinate seeds of the fruit from the tree and grow-on, but there is no guarantee the seedlings will be the same as the mother tree due to cross pollination of the flowers, but worth a try if you have the space to do this. Taking cuttings is another way to propagate, do this in late spring, early summer (October, November, December). Ensure the cuttings are not flowering, fruiting or diseased, make them 3-4 leaf nodes long (where the leaves join the stem), always take cuttings using sharp secateurs and make clean cuts just below a node, remove the leaves from the node, this is where the highest concentration of naturally occurring plant rooting hormones are, and from where the roots will emerge. Place the cuttings in a free draining mix such a 50/50 seed raising and pumice mix, water the mix well, avoid using garden soil as it can have soil borne diseases. Reduce the leaf area by half, dip the cutting into rooting hormone available from garden centres and DIY stores, and place the cutting into the mix. Cover with a plastic bag and place the pot in a bright spot, not direct sunlight. Hopefully in 8-10 weeks the cuttings have rooted, to test, tug on the cutting, if it doesn't come loose, it could be starting to root, or, roots will emerge from the bottom of the pot. Uncover the cuttings and grow on once they have rooted. Cutting grown citrus will flower and fruit in 1-2 years. Good luck propagating your orange tree. Lianne.