I have tangerines and oranges with the same problem - dry sections . Someone told me that this happens when the fruit is first setting and the ground is too dry . Not sure if this is true but makes sense .
My Satsumas are super ripe now . They are the best ever - amazingly juicy and sweet this year . My trees have been in the ground ten years or more . Last year they were awful - maybe due to hurricanes ? With 22 trees , I just move on until I find good fruit and enjoy .

Okay, Gatormom, I'll go pick a green Satsuma today for a breakfast treat. I loved them last year-they were superb. But I picked them in September, and last year's heavy producer has no fruit this year. Only my smaller, in-ground Satsuma trees have a few now-most were blown off.

This year, the Ruby Red Grapefruits are wonderfully sweet.

I had to remove my Pumello fruits the day before Wilma, so my little tree wasn't split. It sure hurt to not get to taste those awesome fruits!

I'd really like to know how to prevent the dry sections, I hate to waste fruit!

How is your Persian Lime treating you? A pine tree fell on one of mine and crushed it, but it is recovering and blooming.

Lisa

'Dancy' is susceptible to making dry sections, as is its daughter 'Minneola'. Several factors contribute to it:
1. Picking the fruit too late in the season
2. Young tree (it improves with age)
3. Too much N fertilizer throughout the season
4. Rootstock has an effect (fast-growing, vigorous rootstocks make the problem worse in the first few years of the tree's life).

Assuming yours is a young tree, it may just need some time to grow up.

Thank you very much M. Manners! It *is* a young tree, this is its first year bearing. I have young Minneolas too, will know to not be surprised by dryness there, thanks to your info.

Lisa

In our area, (very hot summers) the main reason for dry fruit is summer stress. The fruit will look nice and keep on growing, but the stress it encounters will produce dry fruit when ripe. The dry parts tend to be worse at the top and bottom of the fruit. This is much worse for young trees, especially the first 2 or 3 years that it has some crop. Satsuma are the most sensitive to summer heat (as are many oranges and pummelo). Many other tangerines love the heat though. Grapefruit loves the summer heat the most. Even the most heat loving still stress the first 2 years, and improve as the years go by.
Arthur the Date Palm Guy

Hmmmm- great advice but I still don't understand why one of my
mature tangerine trees and one of my older orange trees are producing dry fruit .
It is early in the season - not too late .
The trees are ten or more years old .
Used citrus fertilizer sparingly .
Old rootstock so no vigorous growth .
Very hot summers with tons of rain- yes !
My Persian lime produced one magnificent lime that was out of this world with flavor .
Can't wait for more fruit in the future . Sorry a pine tree fell on yours - how sad ! Happy New Year !

stress
Arthur the Date Palm Guy