Perante: an orange you’d love to eat and grow
PERANTE ORANGE is one that you would love to eat because it is juicy and sweet. The fruit is a slicing type. You will also love to plant it because it is easy to grow in the lowland as well as in higher elevations.
For the urban farmer/ gardener, Perante orange may be grown in a rubberized container or something similar. A container with a diameter of 1.5 feet at the mouth and 1.5 feet tall is good enough for planting a grafted or marcotted planting material. A marcotted Perante orange 2 feet+ tall will already bear fruit if given the right care.
The planting medium is important. It should be rich in organic matter and friable for good drainage. The medium could be a combination of top soil (40 percent), 40 percent rice hull that is not necessarily carbonized although carbonized would be excellent. The remaining 20 percent could be processed organic fertilizer. What we use is Durabloom organic fertilizer. But other brands could also be used. Well-decayed chicken manure is also good. The percentage composition of the growing media need not be very precise.
The Perante in container should be placed under full sun. The plant should be watered regularly, avoiding extremely dry conditions. Chemical and organic fertilizers may be added monthly. Also foliar fertilizer may be applied every 15 days.
Of course, Perante orange can be grown in the ground, especially in big numbers. Just the same, the best planting area is loamy or clay loam soil that is rich in organic matter. If the site is flat, drainage canal should be provided. Regular fertilization and spraying against pests and diseases should be done as necessary.
The trees should be fertilized with a formulation that contains several micronutrients, especially when the trees are already fruiting size. One such fertilizer that we use is Z-Fert from Malaysia which is now available in the Philippines, distributed by Zetryl Chem Philippines.