citrus fruit care

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kezlou

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citrus fruit care
« on: November 22, 2008, 11:49 »
Hello all,

Just ordered the citrus fruit collection off t & M website.

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/fruit1/product/p03883/1.html

Here's the bumpf

    * Flowers in : July - Sets fruit in August & September
    * Ideal for : Patios
    * Height : 24 inches

Description

These delightful Panama Orange and Citrus Lemon trees make decorative pot plants all year round. Kept indoors from October and moved to a patio in summer, they flower in July and set fruit in August and September.

Delivered to you pot-grown, approximately 15-25cm (6-8 inches) high, they grow to a maximum height of 50-60cm (20-24 inches) depending on the conditions they are grown in and the care given.

Can anyone give some advice regarding whether i should use manure/compost or just compost when the plants arrive.

Thank for looking appreciate any info even if its just a joke, :)

Regards

Kerry
Who needs a guard-dog when you can have cats for guards!

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Kate and her Ducks

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2008, 17:38 »
Citruses like acid/ericacious soil so get this if you can. I had a lime for years while I moved about a lot and it flowered and friuted regularly and the taste is incomparable. Have also had a lemons that have never done as well. One thing that seems to be problem with them in my experience is scale insect so be vigilent!
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

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kezlou

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2008, 20:18 »
Hi kate,

Thank for replying, really appreciate it.

Couple of questions
1)how do mike the compost more acid
2) what is a scale insect  :?

Sorry for sounding so daft :oops:
Kez

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SG6

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2008, 08:40 »
Have lemon and lime. They flower whenever they please, the lime has flowers on it at the moment, the lemon didn't flower at all this year. It just grew to about twice the size it was a year ago. :D

I just pot mine in normal everyday potting compost.

6-8ins seems pretty small so take care of them at that size. Mine started out at about the 15ins size. Presently 3-4ft. I have found that the smaller they are the more difficult they are to keep.

I do not have mine in a heated room ever, usually outside most of the year to be honest. I have found that it is too dry for them (leaf loss). Overwinter I tend to place them in an unheated room that is bright. So far so good. The lime grew happily in this last winter (3 limes off it). Odd but I cannot recall where I placed the lemons. :shock:  :shock:

Lemons are more hardy then oranges, so may not like the same conditions as the orange. :?

As to watering I have mine in large pots, pots says 39cm dia but the inside is 34 across, and I allow them to just about dry out on the surface before I water again, then I water until it appears that the base. Sometimes with an ericaceous fertiliser.

Scale insect: Small grey brown things about 3-4mm across that cling to the bark and leaves. Complete pain! Only thing I can suggest it to spray with a systemic insecticide. But even that seems limited in its effect. Also if indoors spraying is not easy. They secrete a sticky goo that gets on things.

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Kate and her Ducks

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2008, 15:03 »
SG6 has pretty much covered it :lol:

I miss my lime, must get round to getting another :D

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SG6

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2008, 21:48 »
Just squeezed one of my limes onto a papaya. :wink:
Yummy :D  :D  :D

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calibra

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2008, 22:26 »
The main problem with citrus is overwatering and not using the corect fertiliser (needs micronutrients) ,

use a compost made up of something like 70 percet perlite and 30% ericaceous compost (make sure its not one with added water retaining crystals), a better compost mix is 70 percent CHC (coconut husk) and 30% the same ericacieous compost
If using CHC you need to presoak it in water for a few days, with a few spoons of epsom salts and calcium nitrate ( to act as exchange ions to remove salts in the CHC)
You can get citrus compost, but still they tend not to drain quickly enough, so its best to add some perlite or bark chippings

You need to let it dry out to very dry, dust dry on the surface and dry till about 3 inch deep, then soak the pot totaly , never give a bit of water here and there , the roots will rot

Use a fertiliser made for citrus, best with a summer and winter fertiliser, the different formulaton gives a boost for fruit development and holding , and leaf growth at the correct times, every now and then spray with epsom salts to boost magnesium levels
If the compost needs to be more acid, use sulphur powder, it works slowly, but works well
dont over pot them, its harder to water them and you get less fruit for some time as it grows roots and branches

Its the overwintering that gets difficult!,

If its light, the roots need to be over 70F, with humidity of something like 60%+
If the roots are cold, with light the leaves all fall off, then it needs to be left dry, if roots are wet with no loaves the roots will rot

But if theres fruit on it you still need to water and feed occasionaly in the winter

You do need to keep them inside in the winter if small, but in the summer there best outside,

I have a few large trees outside, even now in the snow there outside.... too large to move in the house! (280 litre pots, 12 foot high),  wrapped in frost cloth with Christmas lights to keep them a bit warmer

Mandarin tree

Lisbon lemon tree


My trees inside the house are on heater mats to keep the compost at 88F with metal halide growlights, to keep them growing for now instead of going dormant, in january i will let them go cold to get required chill hours to flower next year

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kezlou

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citrus fruit care
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2008, 09:57 »
They look amazing calibra, mine are supposed to be dwarf varieties i think.
Thanks everyone again, i'm off to look for some nice pots for my new trees, and some citrus fertilizer, hope mine survive the first couple of weeks.
 I'm not good with starter trees managed to kill  gooseberry, blueberry, redcurrant and raspberry plants so far in the past three months.



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