What Fall Looks Like for Sumo Citrus

What happens in the Californian Sumo Citrus groves during the fall?

Throughout the summer, growers in California follow very specific farming practices that ensure your favorite fruit will have that enormously delicious taste and iconic Top Knot® you wait for all year long.

But fall weather can be a challenge — especially if California’s Central Valley experiences an early frost.

According to seasoned Sumo Citrus grower Kellie Neufeld, if temperatures even hint at dropping into the frost range, the growers and their crews will be out in the fields overnight. They keep a close eye on temperatures, and do whatever they can to keep the fruit warm and out of danger.

The combination of wind machines and irrigation can actually insulate the fruit, to make sure they stay cozy and continue to ripen into the juicy, sweet, no-mess fruit you crave all year. Technically speaking, Neufeld says, this is called an inversion layer. It can raise the temperature in the fields by about three degrees, which is generally enough to prevent freezing. 

Autumn rain poses another threat to the ripening fruit as harvest approaches. Too much rain can spoil the fruit and impact yields! (Not to worry: The growers know how to maintain the quality so that you never experience anything less than the best when you sink your teeth into a Sumo Citrus.)

On the bright side, the same weather that can overwhelm Sumo Citrus is also what leads to a milestone in the growing season: color break.

This is when the fruit — large but still dark green — starts to turn orange. “It happens fairly quickly,” says Neufeld. “As soon as the weather cools down, we see the orange color come. Then we come back a few days later and the fruit is half orange.”

Soon they turn fully orange, meaning they’re mere weeks away from harvest.

By January, the fruit is ripe and ready to pick by hand. After spending all year cultivating the harvest and tending to each piece of fruit, says grower Kelly Smith, harvest day arrives — and what an exciting day it is. Learn more about the annual Sumo Citrus harvest here.

There’s nothing more exciting than watching a year of hard work come to fruition, says Smith. “We see the size, we’re tasting the fruit — we have success,” she says.

Look for Sumo Citrus in stores between January and April each year.