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Fruit / citrous trees

Fruit / citrous trees

Postby Fred » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:28 pm

I buy a citrous tree with fruit already on it... orange, lemon, mandarin, tangerine, around 3 to 4ft tall. I've tried them all.
1st year, the fruit matures lovely and then it dies off looking like a twiglet tree! I water them quite regularly. Nearly every day in fact. At very best one came back to life with leaves but no fruit....
so, my question is, how do I get my trees to last longer than a year and fruit regularly?

Thanks for any help or advice
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby PeteKnight » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:07 pm

I thought that citrus trees should be watered less frequently, but by flooding them with water. This seems to be how they do it in the commercial orchards.

Pete.
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby garysl » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:11 pm

Tricky things aren't they? When we bought our house, we inherited a Lemon tree, which was all stunted, with yellowing leaves and, according to other people, it had never grown any fruit in years. I dug it out and saw that it had been planted in a hole that mustn't have been much bigger than the pot that it had been bought in and the roots couldn't go anywhere because the "soil" around it was compact, like rock. It was also connected to an automatic irrigation system that was giving it too much water. I've since put another young lemon tree in different part of the garden and dug a hole big enough to put a full sack of compost in, before I planted it. It seems to be doing pretty well, touch wood.
I've also bought a lime tree that I put in a big pot. After I bought it, I googled how to look after it (which I should have done beforehand really) Basically, if you overwater it, you'll kill it and if you underwater it, you'll kill it. After ending up, like you, with a "stick plant" I've got a healthy lime tree with loads of small limes on it, at the moment. I found that if you let it dry out and then water it, all the leaves will fall off. If you overwater it, and it gets waterlogged, the same thing will happen. So now it gets a full watering about once every three days in summer and once every week or 10 days in winter, depending on any rain, and that seems to be working. It also needs fertilising once every 10 days or so, March to October/November.
I'm pretty certain that you're overwatering, if you're doing it every day. Cut it back and see what happens. It's trial and error really. I've got an orange tree with loads of leaves. It looks really healthy, but it hasn't flowered yet so I'm hoping for a first flowering this year!
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby Jan » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:44 pm

I know I've said this before but we have a lemon tree we planted in our Spanish garden about 7 or 8 years ago and it has flourished with neglect and bears an abundance of fruit almost all year round.

Except for the first year it was planted when I watered it a few extra times each time when in Spain to bed it in, I have only given it a soaking with a 5 litre bottle of water about 3 times a year during warmer weather in May, July and September. Other than that it is gently pruned to keep shape 3 times a year and then neglected...well I do say hello to it now and again so it doesnt feel too lonely.
:text-lol:

Seriously though I see people watering every day in Summer and often their fruit trees do not look as good as my lemon tree. I do beleive that most Spanish indigenous plants and trees are born and bred to thrive in hot dry weather with very little water.
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby Dinkelharper » Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:17 am

Orange trees need to be trimmed yearly. It must be done prior to blooming. (If it has started blooming, don't touch, just water)My suggestion is right about now actually, before it gets warm again. And also remember to rip off the small twigs on the trunk, they will only steal water and nourishment for the tree. After you trim the tree and the warmth of spring comes you should have an exuberant tree with lots of fruit coming. Like previous posts have stated it is better to flood the tree like once a week rather than daily. Of course, in the heat of the summer it may need water more often. More water, bigger juicier fruits.
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby Fred » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:57 pm

:text-thankyouyellow:

Fingers crossed and my twiglet trees may produce some leafs and fruit :lol:
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby GillandRoy2010 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 6:27 pm

What is the best orange tree to buy with fruit for eating and juicing
I live in urb La Marina
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Re: Fruit / citrous trees

Postby jpeg » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:07 pm

Navel and Valencian oranges are good for eating and Juicing I have around 60 plenty of fruit every year
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