Tips For Growing Citrus Fruit

Watering:- I hate this part! I have found citrus to be difficult to please.

I always worry that I have over watered citrus has I have killed a number of plants this way Here are some good tips. Newly potted trees require more frequent watering until they ar established. If new growth wilts or leaves are dull you are waiting too long to water. Excessive leaf drop a few days after a good watering means that the tree became to dry before it was watered. In future be consistent, do not let the tree dry out. Watering must take into account of the plants changing needs during the season. Citrus must never be allowed to become dry or continuously wet. To ensure this aways water well (fill the pot) this may be daily in a hot summer but once a fortnight in winter. In summer the foliage should be sprayed daily with soft rain water if available. This maintains healthy foliage and helps to ward off red spider mite and other pests. Conservatory plants need a moist atmosphere that is relative to the temperature. Dry heat can cause leaf drop and twig die-back. Pebble trays part filled with water with pots standing on top and above water level - or room humidifiers will increase humidity considerably.

Feeding:- If newly repotted leave a 6 week gap before starting to feed. Once the plant starts to actively grow in spring summer feeding can begin. You can use any good general purpose fertiliser that contains trace elements. Nitrogen is the main requirement in spring and summer. I have found a number of feeds that work ok, these include specially made Citrus feeds (see your local Nursery and find out what they use) to off the shelf products like chempak No2 for Summer and No3 for Autumn. No 2 is a high nitrogen feed and has an NPK of 25:15:15 where as No 3 is a more balanced feed of 20:20:20 both having 7 trace elements present. Buying off the shelf is the cheapest way to buy feed, so i have seen no difference between this and the expensive specialist feeds. This works for me so if you can get hold of both try them and see which you give you the better results. Living in a hard water area causes a few problems with lime so a few times in the summer month i have been using a Product called Bio Multitonic that adds 8 vital trace elements to the soil. This includes sequestered Iron, Manganese and Magnesium. This still works out cheaper than the Specialist food but you may prefer not to cope with different feeds, in which the specialist cover by having high strength trace elements in the first place. Nutrient deficiencies and excesses can often be detected simply by watching the leaf size, colour and shape. So when you see changes in the leaf you need to know what to do.