Why are my oranges splitting?

Everything seems to be going right. Your citrus trees are loaded with healthy young fruit. One day, you notice tiny cracks down the center of an orange. Soon, the fruit begins to split down the middle, leaving a big gash and ruined fruit. What happened?

A lot of folks who have a citrus tree, especially satsumas, are seeing this lately. Citrus fruit need a lot of water. During dry times, if you don't water the trees, when a series of rainy days like we've had the past month show up, the thirsty fruit suck up as much water as they can, sometimes so much they literally burst, splitting down the middle. The key is to make sure you don't let citrus, especially thin-skinned satsumas, go thirsty during dry days.