Why do blood oranges tend to have so many pips?

Whenever I cut into a blood orange I find it has more pips/seeds than a regular orange. Why is this so?

Please read this article because it explains that there are more than one variety of blood orange--and some have more seeds than others--it has nothing to do with the ripening process. You may well be getting a variety that has a lot of seeds.

Q: Many years ago we bought a tree labeled and tagged as a grapefruit tree that turned out to be an orange tree when it bore fruit the first time. Since then, we have been getting great eating oranges with good taste, and without many pits, but not that big of a yield. The oranges have red spots in the meat, which was new to us. Why does this happen, and how can we get more red in the slices? We recently viewed a video that showed a "blood orange" that was completely red inside. Anything we should do on watering or feeding to this tree that will increase the yield and color?

Al and Inge Hofmann,
Sun Lakes


A: Carotene is the substance that gives oranges their orange color. The red in blood oranges comes from a pigment called anthocyanin.

There are several varieties of blood oranges, each with its own degree of redness. They are highly prized not only for their crimson juice, but their berrylike flavor.

John Babiarz of Greenfield Citrus Nursery in Mesa said you might try keeping the oranges you have longer on the tree to see if they will ripen further, possibly increasing their color. Babiarz also suggests following a regular fertilizing schedule. Go to www.greenfieldcitrus.com and click on "growing citrus" for details for fertilizing and watering citrus.

The blood orange varieties that grow here are:

鈥?Moro - Medium-size fruit with red-orange flesh and many seeds.

鈥?Ruby - Small- to medium-size fruit with red-orange flesh and many seeds.

鈥?Sanguinelli - Medium- to large-size fruit with red flesh and none to few seeds.

鈥?Tarroco - Large fruit with red flesh and few seeds.

Virtual garden: I've found thefruitpages.com to be a fun site that includes everything you wanted to know about fruit, their nutritional qualities and how to use them in recipes.

it is what it is

cross grafting

to reach the wonderful color, blood oranges are left to mature longer on the trees. Not by much though. If you have more than u normally do, odds are the oranges you have were the last of that harvest. The younger the orange, the less seeds. Thats how seedless fruit is made.

I think it might be Moro because it is most commonly grown in the US and tends to have the darkest flesh.
The Sanguinello is grown in Spain, and is an almost seedless variety. It tends to have a deeper red color.