Valencia oranges, John. Any navel variety is going to have too much limonin in it to be able to refrigerate without becoming bitter. For us here in California, we tend to grow the Frost nucellar Valencia. Hopefully some of our Florida folks will chime in for you, as Florida is the big "juice orange" state, whereas California mainly grows navel oranges, commercially. I believe that Florida uses mostly Valencias and Hamlins mixed for their commercial orange juice.

Patty S.

I second the Valencias! Superb juice orange, can squeeze right down to the pith without imparting bitterness and is a gorgeous vibrant orange - not yellow like most other orange juices. Sweet and delicious. Good luck with the new juice enterprise. I just got a Valencia 12/31/11. It is still in the 12" nursery pot, but since I am an apartment dweller, I will pot it on to something larger and keep it potted. It's almost as tall as me and had heavy bloom. Hope it will mature some fruit this year.

Is the Valencia the best orange tree to grow in the Tucson area to use for juicing? Are there different types of Valencia oranges, or is a Valencia a Valencia? Sorry, newbie here.

doc, Valencias will do very well in Tuscon, I would think. Not sure what zone you're in, it's not in your GW signature above. I would check with your local gardening centers or tree farms and see what citrus will grow in Tuscon. I believe you're kind of in the "citrus triangle" of Phoenix-Tuscon-Yuma, where citrus do well. There are several different varieties of Valencias. One really great one to try is the Midknight Valencia orange, as it's seedless (nearly seedless). Here is a link to some info about growing citrus in your area which includes a couple of locations for buying citrus, but think they're in the Phoenix area:
http://www.azcitrus.com/

And of course, the Univ. of AZ Cooperative Extension is your best source for growing citrus in your area, as well. It will provide you cultural practices and even possibly variety selections. You can check with your local Master Gardener's as they are part of the Coop Extension services as well. Great resource for home gardeners.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection: Midknight Valencia orange

An interesting Valencia variety that I'm considering is the smith red. I haven't seen it offered locally, but Four Winds offers it so Mesquite valley growers should be able to order it. The Smith red is a "blood" variety and is shown as pretty darkly colored when conditions are favorable.

Just about all the big box stores in Tucson currently have both standard Valencia and Midnight Valencia offered. I'd expect any of them to perform well in Tucson. Choose the rootstock based on what tree size you want, C-35 is "semi" dwarfing", Carrizo is a standard size tree. I've seen Valencia offered on both locally.

An interesting Valencia variety that I'm considering is the smith red. I haven't seen it offered locally, but Four Winds offers it so Mesquite valley growers should be able to order it. The Smith red is a "blood" variety and is shown as pretty darkly colored when conditions are favorable.

Just about all the big box stores in Tucson currently have both standard Valencia and Midnight Valencia offered. I'd expect any of them to perform well in Tucson. Choose the rootstock based on what tree size you want, C-35 is "semi" dwarfing", Carrizo is a standard size tree. I've seen Valencia offered on both locally.

I would like to buy from "Four Winds" but everytime I add a tree to my cart I cant find where to "view" cart...lol I cant checkout!

From my research on the best rootstock for Phoenix area I have found that Seville Sour Orange is the best if you want to have good quality fruit on your tree.

Midnight Valencia...who wants to deal with the seeds.