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Citrus


Randyp

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I'm not sure if this would be considered tropical looking but was wondering how much abuse citrus can take before calling it quits. Maybe some of you have citrus in the same condition.

Bought several last spring. Some Orange, Lemon, Lime and tangerine still in their containers. Looked fine until fall when they were all hammered by leafminer and most almost completely defoliated . Started to come back with a lot of good growth and then were fried during the freeze earlier this year. I cut back obviously dead branches, watered and fertilized and coaxed some good new growth only to have the new leaves burnt to a crisp during the last several nights of frost. pretty much just sticks in a pot now. I'm hoping to coax more new growth but was wondering if I should just leave them alone , no water etc until the weather turns wamer . I'm hoping they can stay semi dormant without leaves until then.

Anyone dealing with this ?

Randy

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Haven't had any lose their leaves, but I would water sparingly until spring. Don't let them totally dry up, just enough water to keep the twigs from becoming brittle. Put them in the ground without fluffing the roots as soon as the weather warms up. Did the plant die back to the rootstock?

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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(Alicehunter2000 @ Mar. 07 2007,01:27)

QUOTE
Haven't had any lose their leaves, but I would water sparingly until spring. Don't let them totally dry up, just enough water to keep the twigs from becoming brittle. Put them in the ground without fluffing the roots as soon as the weather warms up. Did the plant die back to the rootstock?

Good advice, David. I think once you get through this last bit of cold weather, you should be fine. keep them on the dry side, and protect them from any further cold nights. Then get them into the ground and fertilize with some citrus fert. Keep them sprayed for insects, so that any new leaves coming out, can have a good chance of growing.

Jeff

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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I've found citrus to be a bit on the tempermental side.. I have a Ponderosa lemon, Valencia Orange, Mandarin Orange, key Lime, and a Meyer Kumquat...   Everything is flowering and producing fruit right now, but I've learned the hard way.  At the slightest sign of distress, citrus loves to start dropping leaves. I've had everything from Scale infestations to Mealybugs, to Over & Underwatering to spraying with the wrong insecticide only to watch the tree die 2 days later.  Since most of my citrus stays in my greenhouse in the winter, the only advice I can give is not to overwater - but don't let it dry out either or it will drop leaves. I've found that certain citrus is way more fussy than others. I've found Lemons to be the easiest and Key Limes to be the hardest (most cold-tender).

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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Thank you all for your responses.

Actually with the very warm weather the last week I am seeing them all with green buds on the main trunk and on what is left of the branches. Most of the branches were dead and brown but the trunk itself remained semi green and I never had to cut back on the heigth.I watered some but will take care not to drown them. I still do have a tendency to overwater everything. Once they start to leaf out I'll get them in the ground but I've brought them in under the eaves against the house for the time being until they can recover .

Thanks again

Randy

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Pick the leaves off that are below the graft of the rootstock.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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Randy....it would help to know where you are located.

Coastal San Diego, California

Z10b

Dry summer subtropical/Mediterranean

warm summer/mild winter

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John

I'm in Norco in the Corona / Riverside area. Backyard is still a blank canvas so there has been no shelter out back for them this past year. Heat was not a problem for them but winds and the recent cold was major stress. I guess the limited root structure in the pots doesn't help either.

I keep the palms in the front yard using the house for protection until I can get some shade / windbreaks etc

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Jeff mentioned fert.

I use a 25:15:15 which works well as a palm booster as well.

Over here they also do a winter citrus feed higher in potash.

Sounds strange I know but all the other guys grow under glass and only put the pots out in summer.

I have C satsuma which regularly produces a nice crop of small but tasty fruits and its in the ground and never protected.

My next venture will be to obtain what is known in areas like the Riviera as "Quatre Saisons" (and well named) or technically "Eureka".

I am very surprised that other guys in very mild UK areas dont seem to be attempting citrus.

Regardez

Juan

Juan

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Randy,

I had some palms that tweaked me into thinking they survived the winter until last week... hit that little cold snap and some nasty wind and poof... dead as a doornail!

Looks like we'll be well into the 90's by Monday, so I don't think you'll have an overwatering problem, although I have found by painful experience that the citrus doesn't like quite as much water as I put down for the tropicals next to them.

If they don't have too many leaves, I'd go easy on the fert. until they start to leaf out a little bit.

Dave

 

Riverside, CA Z 9b

1700 ft. elevation

approx 40 miles inland

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I have one grown from seed, hoping to grow as bonsai. It got left in the cold greeenhouse and then the grenhouse was trashed and the [plant got left out in the cold! We had some very low temps that have sen off my pelargoniums yet this plant still lives!

Larry Shone in wet and sunny north-east England!  Zone9 ish

Tie two fish together and though they have two tails they cannot swim <>< ><>

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They are really responding to this hot weather. Lots of good new growth. looks like they will make it.

Tough little trees !!

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They are really responding to this hot weather. Lots of good new growth. looks like they will make it.

Tough little trees !!

That's great Randy.. Yeah, mine are pushing out all new buds now - growing like crazy... It's really starting to warm up here and they've been inside my greenhouse with 90f temps during the day.... very happy.

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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(Randyp @ Mar. 12 2007,14:49)

QUOTE
They are really responding to this hot weather. Lots of good new growth. looks like they will make it.

Tough little trees !!

That's good news. I have a key lime that is about 10' tall by about 5' wide. It was planted from a 45 gallon and planting shock sent the darn thing to lose most of its leaves. It came back after a while and this past winter it had a huge crop.

Coastal San Diego, California

Z10b

Dry summer subtropical/Mediterranean

warm summer/mild winter

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That's good news. I have a key lime that is about 10' tall by about 5' wide. It was planted from a 45 gallon and planting shock sent the darn thing to lose most of its leaves. It came back after a while and this past winter it had a huge crop

Don't ya hate when citrus does that..... You never know if it's dead or just "adjusting"

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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Nothing like that smell though when they are happy and blooming.

Bobby, I bet your greenhouse will get a good dose of citrus scent when they start to flower.

Palms and citrus in New York and I complain when it gets near 32 degrees........

Randy

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Bobby, I bet your greenhouse will get a good dose of citrus scent when they start to flower.

Yeah, Randy.... my lemon tree has loads of flowers on it right now - it's unbelieveable.. It smells like candy.  I'm curious to the correct pruning of these trees..  There is a TON of new growth that seemed to pop up almost overnight.. Should I shape this into a "tree" structure, or let all growth happen even at the bottom?

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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(BobbyinNY @ Mar. 13 2007,15:15)

QUOTE
Bobby, I bet your greenhouse will get a good dose of citrus scent when they start to flower.

Yeah, Randy.... my lemon tree has loads of flowers on it right now - it's unbelieveable.. It smells like candy.  I'm curious to the correct pruning of these trees..  There is a TON of new growth that seemed to pop up almost overnight.. Should I shape this into a "tree" structure, or let all growth happen even at the bottom?

Bobby....citrus do not need pruning except for dead twigs and branches. I wouldn't do it.

Coastal San Diego, California

Z10b

Dry summer subtropical/Mediterranean

warm summer/mild winter

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Bobby....citrus do not need pruning except for dead twigs and branches. I wouldn't do it.

Great, thanks John.... Yeah, I've just been letting everything grow... I thought I heard someone say once that you should prune below the graft-line.. but I dont even know where that is..

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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