Storing chlorophyll

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Glen Payne, Extension agent in Beaufort, was with us recently. For show and tell, he had a tangerine whose grower was concerned. All the fruits on the plant seemed to be turning brown. But all was well – just like autumn leaves, citrus fruits, too, want to store that precious chlorophyll, and the tangerine tree was reabsorbing the green chlorophyll. When we looked closely, we could see that the orange color was coming through, and the color of the fruit itself was becoming more orange, too. Isn’t that just about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard of? The only advice Glen had for this person was that he might want to thin the fruits some next year to get larger tangerines, but once a good orange color, they’ll be delicious to eat!